A Very Sustainable Holiday

As we enter the Holiday season, it’s easy to lose sight of our efforts in sustainability with all of the gift buying and consuming, traveling, decorating and celebrating going on. We want to invite you to stay mindful about the ways in which you celebrate, so we put together some tips below for eco-friendly Holiday-ing.  

Opt For Dried Florals 

We’ll take a home filled with flowers every day, but especially around the Holiday season we love to use them to make our spaces festive. For a sustainable way to decorate with florals, opt for dried over fresh ones. 

A few reasons why dried florals are a better option- they don’t require constant watering and they last a long time. Like, forever. This means you can reuse them year after year instead of tossing your flowers at the end of the week (we tear up a little just thinking about that).

You don’t have to look far for dried florals for your festivities- we sell bouquets right here in our shop, handmade by our founder, Rachel. They’d make a natural and beautiful addition to your Holiday table setting, around your home or the perfect gift for friends.

 

Wrap Your Gifts Sustainably 

Reusable gift wrapping is one of the most impactful ways to reduce your impact around the Holidays. You can use materials such as fabric scraps, cloth napkins and linens, reusable tote bags, brown butcher paper, old newspaper, baskets, or any other materials you’ve saved up throughout the year like shipping boxes or packages. 

Decorate with dried florals or greenery  from your tree, tie a bow around the gift using fabric scraps, or decorate paper wrapping with paint or markers. Incorporate elements that can become a part of the gift such as a hair scarf used to tie the gift together, or one of our sustainably-made hair scrunchies tied together with a name card to top off the gift. 

Your wrapping doesn’t have to be perfectly sustainable, but the goal is to package gifts with materials that can be used repurposed by the recipient or recycled. Of course if you do choose to use, or are gifted, single use gift wrapping, save as much of it as you can to reuse next year or recycle it. 

Gift Consciously

Gift sustainably by shopping with brands who make their goods ethically and eco-friendly, and support local makers or shops when you can. Here's where we're shopping for gifts this season! 

Back Beat Co.

SOKO

Prism Boutique 

PF Candle Co.

Mate the Label 

These gifts tend to be the most meaningful, and you can feel good about their impact. You can also consider gifting experiences such as tickets to a show or museum passes, or e-gift cards, that don’t require packaging or transportation. 

Need some more ideas? Our Sustainable Marketplace has got you covered with goods from all our favorite ethical and sustainable makers. Oh, and we've got gift cards too.

Buy a Real Christmas Tree

This tip is especially helpful if you’re starting your own Christmas traditions this year and don’t already own a plastic tree! Besides the nostalgia and magic of picking out a tree from a Christmas tree farm, buying a real tree is the better option in terms of sustainability too. Real trees are compostable, support local farms, and when they’re cut down more are planted in their place.

Cutting down trees is also a normal process that helps reduce C02 in the environment when managed sustainably. Trees made from plastic require extreme carbon emissions to produce and ship around the world, and cannot be recycled after their use. 

Purchase Food Locally 

If you’re hosting a meal over the Holidays, consider purchasing locally-produced food from your farmers market or organic grocery store. And if cooking isn’t your thing, find a farm-to-table restaurant to support and cater from. The negative impacts of food production are largely reduced when it is kept local, the food tends to be more nourishing, and it helps support farms in your area. 

Happy sustainable celebrating!