Here are 5 simple tips and Ideas for a Green Christmas. If you are planning a Christmas party start by sending Eco-Friendly Party™ e-invitations with an Eco-twist.

1. Decorations 

Flowers  

Passion Growers beautiful roses that promote environmental friendly practices, committed to being socially responsible caring about the community and people shared some of their best tips!

• Incorporate fresh flowers into your wreath, garlands, or even your Christmas tree as ornaments! Simple cut stems short, place in a water tube or pick, hang or weave in with clear nylon filament for a seamless presentation or call attention by using colorful ribbon.
• Use Fresh Flowers as a colorful accent for napkin rings or placeholders
• Hang Fresh flower pomanders from stairwells or high ceilings for a dramatic presentation when entertaining
• Incorporate fresh flowers with ribbon for breathtaking gift wrapping, if you’re not a talented bow maker simply put fresh flowers in water tubes and hide with tissue in your gift bag so the flowers are “springing up” out of the top.
• A small cluster of flowers tied with ribbon makes a great “Wine Topper” and beautiful presentation.

LEDs 

Light-emitting diodes (or LEDs) can keep the holiday spirit alive without unduly running up your electricity bill. A 60-bulb LED string consumers 80% less energy than a string of incandescent holiday light and glows just as beautifully.

In addition, LEDs

• Can last more than 50,000 hours;
• Are “built tough” and long-lasting;
• Are safer to operate than incandescent holiday lights, as they stay cool and pose a lesser fire hazard;
• Don’t overload a typical household’s electrical circuits; and,
• Are easy to replace – if one bulb burns out, the others stay lit.

Natural Candles

According to Bethany Gonzalez Moreno of B-EcoChic.com, you should “Ditch the toxic paraffin holiday candles. You don’t want your loved ones exposed to toxic chemicals like toulene, benzene and phthalates. Look for Eco-friendly candles made with soy or beeswax and that use essential oils for fragrance. When in doubt, check the label. If the ingredient list can’t be found, just don’t buy it. The companies that care (and know you do) will have their ingredient list there for you to read”.

Gonzalez Moreno continues “Try mixing your own holiday scents. Use them in a diffuser or in an atomizer with water. Frankincense, Balsam Fir Needle, Clove Bud, Cinnamon Leaf, Sweet Orange, Ginger and Nutmeg are all really great holiday scents. You can get creative and make your own recipes up. Here is one from our site: 6 drops Sweet Orange, 2 drops Fir Needle and 1 drop Clove Bud. Use the spicy scents sparingly as a base, and add in others from there. Fir Needle, alone, makes the whole house smell like Christmas, and Sweet Orange brightens up any recipe”.

Natural items

Professional organizer Maureen Nuccitelli from Harmonious Life Designs shares with us her Eco-tips with natural items:

•  Try to use natural items like pine cones, plant pods and twigs for holiday decorations and display. Take a walk in your backyard or a local woodsy area and collect anything that looks interesting. You can spray paint (outside on a drop cloth) the items for a festive touch.
• Instead of buy potpourri with chemicals, make your own. You will need a small votive candle potpourri scantier (many found on ebay) to start. Fill the bowl part with whole cloves and cinnamon sticks and some water. Light a tea light candle underneath bowl. Keep an eye to make sure that there is enough water to keep it simmering and filling the house with a wonderful natural scent. More green option: use soy tea light candles.

2. Reuse 

 Use Your Real Dishes

A great green tip at your kitchen Yep. Might seem like a pain to wash all those plates and spoons after a night of entertaining, but wouldn’t you rather serve your nosh on the real thing vs. flimsy disposable plates that wilt, wither, fill up your trash bin, and end up in the landfill? The earth will thank you… and you get to reuse your dishes. Serving appetizers and don’t have appetizer plates? Invest in a small set and re-use them year after year! *Tip: *Kindly ask your closest friend/guest to help you load up the dishwasher as the party starts winding down. They will love to help and it will make your clean up job much easier!

3. Eco – wrapping options  

The Shamrock Green collection is based in Greensboro, N.C, uses gift wrap designs that contain recycled fiber and all gift wrap papers are recyclable.   uses paper from several mills that support a variety of environmental initiatives from local to global programs. Suppliers are involved with WWF (World Wildlife Fund), SFI (Sustainable Forest Initiative), FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), and are concerned with responsible forestry and recycling.

Other sustainable and fun ideas shared by Debra Baida, Professional organizer
from Liberated Spaces  on different Eco-ways to wrap gifts:

• Reuse gift wrap – Consider reusing gift wrap you already have, or this year, plan to take the initiative and save paper from gifts you receive to reuse next year. Remember to save some ribbons and strings, too.
• Homemade gift wrap – If you have young children who are prolific artists – perhaps too prolific with works on paper – ask them if you can use their creations as wrapping paper. They can help you choose whose gift gets wrapped in which masterpiece!
• Textiles – Surplus or recyclable textiles make for colorful, soft, and reusable wraps for your bundles. Maybe Japanese furoshiki or Korean bojagi will inspire you!
•  Natural embellishments – Go foraging! Adorn your wrapped gifts with fresh tree trimmings (from your own trees!), fallen twigs, or other elements from your immediate natural world.
• Cereal boxes – Reuse cereal boxes as packaging for gifts. Can you visualize a herd of cereal boxes under the tree? Silly can be practical.

 4. Give meaningful gifts 

Green professional organizer Nuccitelli about gifts:  

• Try to buy gifts that are made locally. There are usually a number of local artisans/craft fairs in your area. Check newspapers and online for listing of these events.
• Give the gift of “experience” or “memories” instead of a thing. Give a gift card to a restaurant, play, or event. Better yet, include yourself with the recipient so you can both share the experience.

 5.  Recycle

• Make sure all organic waste like wrapping paper and left over food is composting. There is a lot of wastefulness during the holidays. Let’s try to minimize our environmental impact by using less packaging and wrapping and composting anything that is organic like left over food. Compostable BioBags are a great way to collect that waste. The bags along with the contents can be composted.
• Recycle your electronics ! All holiday parties can be associated with an abundance of holidayclean-up. All Green offers the easy, cost-friendly solution to getting rid of your holiday party junk. They offer pickup services as well as hundreds of convenient drop-off locations. Pickups are often free of charge and can be done at your convenience. They currently collect over one million pounds of electronics per month and we have the capacity to process up to 100 million pounds of electronic waste (e-waste) per year.

Finally Celebrate with a good Organic wine  And don’t forget to unplug your interior holiday lights before going to bed or leaving the house.