Easy Ways to Have a Super Sustainable Christmas

From the delicious festive snacks, tasty tipples and endless glittering parties to gathering around the table for some seriously fun Christmas activities with your nearest and dearest, there’s a lot to love about the most wonderful time of the year. If you’re a keen eco warrior who’s passionate about the planet, though, it can be hard to really embrace the festive season and stick to your sustainability goals at the same time – after all, how can you reduce your environmental footprint when you’re knee deep in glitter and gift lists?

You can relax, though, because help is at hand! With all the Christmas present buying, snack eating and tinsel tying, it might not seem like the most eco-friendly time of the year, but there are several ways you can make the festive season a little bit greener with a few simple changes and a little bit of creativity. We’ve rounded up some easy ways to have a super sustainable Christmas with a few of our fun craft classes and creative sessions – you bring the enthusiasm, and we’ll do the rest! 

Craft some homemade cards and DIY wrapping paper

Rolls of wrapping paper are one of the biggest sources of waste during the festive season, and as most of them contain glitter or plastic, they can’t even be recycled. Boo! But if you’ve got some perfect Christmas presents for your favourite people, don’t despair – with a little creativity you can still package them up beautifully without sending metres of paper to landfill! 

If you’re keen to use paper, ditch the traditional wrap and try grabbing a roll of recycled kraft paper instead. It might be brown and boring at first, but once you’ve printed, painted or stenciled your own designs over it, it’ll look fabulous! You could even master the art of calligraphy or brush lettering and write festive words, phrases or even personal messages over your packages once they’re wrapped. Alternatively, leave paper behind completely and cover your gifts in fabric at a Furoshiki gift wrapping workshop. You can either use a light scarf that could act as an extra Christmas gift, or a piece of fabric that can be reused for future presents – either way, it’s better than glitter covered paper that’s going to end up in the bin!

Writing and sending cards is one of the great Christmas traditions; settling down with a tasty tipple, a festive film and a pen that writes perfectly is definitely one of the cosiest things to do in December. The great news is that if you’re trying to be more sustainable, you don’t have to ditch this totally – opting for homemade cards is a great alternative to heading out to the shops, and you can choose to make them fully recyclable by only using paper embellishments. The best thing is that you can make them as personal as you like; create some crazy collage designs using leftover cards from a previous year, or get involved with a lino cutting workshop or Christmas calligraphy class and create something truly arty that can be framed once Christmas is over.

Ditch material gifts and give a Christmas gift experience

Sick of sending socks? Fed up with presenting your marvelous Mum with the same bottle of perfume every year? It’s natural to want to surprise and delight loved ones during the festive season, but if you find yourself buying things for the sake of it, it’s time to overhaul your Christmas present list and up your gifting game! 

Swapping material presents for a Christmas gift experience is one of the most sustainable (and fun!) things you could do this yuletide, and we’ve got craft classes, workshops and creative experiences that will suit everyone. Got a budding baker to buy for? Instead of presenting them with the latest recipe book, give them a real life chef experience with a desert class in London; they’ll get to spend some time in the city, immerse themselves in kneading, rolling and stirring in a sleek kitchen and will be able to pick up some top tips from a professional patissier. Is Grandma a green fingered guru who’s already got too many pairs of gardening gloves? Treat her to something a bit different this Christmas with a Kokedama making workshop or a clay and ikebana class, where she’ll learn how to create a beautiful clay sculpture and a stunning floral arrangement to fill it – that’s two new skills for the price of one! Whoever you’re buying for, from promising potters and keen chefs to mixology maestros, macrame masters and fabulous floral fans, we’ve got a craft class, cooking workshop or cocktail making session that will make this Christmas their best one yet!

Craft your own festive decorations

Who doesn’t look forward to decorating the tree during the festive season? Whether you pop yours up as soon as Halloween is over or you like to hold out until Christmas Eve, indulging in a few tasty tipples and surrounding yourself with twinkly lights and beautiful decorations has to be one of the best Christmas traditions there is. 

If you still want to enjoy making your home yuletide-ready, simply ditch the tinsel and plastic baubles in favour of more thoughtful and considered decorations – being green at Christmas doesn’t mean you have to embrace your inner grinch and go without completely! If you’re a keen yarn crafter, learn how to knit or crochet Christmas decorations from eco-friendly cotton – not only do they look beautifully rustic, they also last forever and can be pulled out year after year. Our pre-recorded  macrame decorations class with DIY kit is perfect if you want to cosy up on the sofa with your hook, yarn and a few festive films. If papercraft is more your thing, opt for origami or get to grips with quilling and learn how to curl and twirl your way to snowflake heaven with a Christmas quilled decorations class? 

If you’re a nature lover who likes to bring the outside in during the festive season, why not decorate your home with finds foraged from the forest and shoreline? Driftwood, pine cones, berries and foliage all make beautiful decorations that are completely waste-free and will biodegrade once they come to the end of their life. A festive wreath is another great way to decorate with nature's finest offerings; opting for a class that shows you how to make a sustainable Christmas wreath will teach you everything you need to know about sourcing local, seasonal fresh materials from responsible places, while a dried wreath workshop will help you create a beautiful decoration from your door that will stand the test of time and be able to visit your home every year – just like Santa!