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Tell Whirli your tips for little ways you can make Christmas more eco-friendly: £200 voucher prize

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  • All the Xmas wrapping paper and cards etc, even the paper hats from crackers gets shredded and into our compost heap. little things hopefully making a difference.
  • All year we have been buying toys from charity shops and car boot sales. Also clothes which have been bought from both car boot sales and ads on FB marketplace. We have bought a couple of things new and made a conscious decision to buy wooden toys. 
    For family & friend gifts we have shopped local and bought Fairtrade or garden centre vouchers. 
    Kids will draw pictures and decorate brown paper for personalized wrapping.

  • You can get huge bundles of clothes and toys on sites like marketplace very cheap and often in excellent condition.

    Make a baby sensory box recycling items from your own home. You can use empty bottles filled with rice and pasta as rattles, acorns from the local park, a sponge (unused) from your kitchen cupboard, a pot or pan with some spoons or a basin etc and baby will love it!
  • Buying 2nd hand items will not only help save money but is environmentally friendly too. 
    We were given decorations from my mum that she used when I was young, so they are atleast 30 years old. Reusing means less going to landfill. 
    Reuse cards, paper, bags etc where you can, only buy what you absolutely need in terms of food and make sure there is no food waste. 
    Buy less plastic when buying presents or even make things for people. 
    Buy local ingredients for your dinner so there are less food miles and if you can walk to the shops instead of driving when buying items. 
    Use an airfryer for things like potatoes, stuffing and veggies as it uses less energy.
    Whilst lights on the tree look nice, it saves energy not switching them on, so only turn them on for an hour on Christmas, saves some money on your bills that way too.
  • Bought eco shampoo bars, bamboo toothbrushes, bought from small businesses in the UK
  • Get a real Christmas tree and plant it in a suitable spot in your garden after Christmas, as they capture and store Carbon Dioxide as they grow and release Oxygen. 
  • My mum and niece has been jazzing up old pillow cases and rther than wrapping paper and sellotape all the presents go in the reusable bag
  • if when gifting, use gift boxes than be reused year after year. Or extra big stockings. 
  • Wrap everything in reusable stuff and recyle everything you can
  • My son is Star Trek mad but also into eco matters so i managed to get him lots of second hand star trek books from amazon and then wrapped them up in newspaper he was thrilled, Another thing is to buy brown paper get the kids to decorate it with paints and pencils and wrap the presents up in homemade wrapping 
  • When Searching for toys I ensure I look for eco friendly or wooden products. I have found that some of these toys can be slightly heavier on your pocket so we've started looking at pre owned items. Many of the toys and baby items my little one has are 2nd/3rd hand which actually makes me feel really good. Many of these toys/clothes are just as good as when they were new. We've asked family members to just pick up second hand items for our baby this year. They will have just as much fun with these items as brand new ones. 🎁🎅🎄😊 
  • Make your gifts experiences rather than anything tangible. The chances are that our kids will remember and value it far more than toys and games for example. Do something special... and explain why you are doing it.
  • Rather than wrap presents I use gift bags and re-use them each year until they literally fall apart!
  • Completely recyclable wrapping!
  • Our most eco friendly Christmas was when we bought all the presents from charity shops or second hand.  We've made it even more so by cutting down the number of presents bought and actually hardly exchange any gifts for adults.  It's more about the company and some nice meals together.  
  • I always send e-cards instead of real ones, because I strongly believe it’s a waste of paper. I reuse any gift bags I receive to gift presents, because they’re still perfectly fine, I just write new tags.
  • Regular Christmas crackers contain horrible plastic rubbish that know-one wants and it all ends up in landfill. This year, we are going to make our own crackers using left-over wrapping paper and paper scraps and will be filling them with favours and promises instead.
  • We wrapped all our daughters pressies up in old magazines last year and will be doing the same this year . she isnt bothered what they are wrapped in just loves opening them ! 
  • I use sourced sustainable trees and then throw them away correctly 
  • Re-use gift bags by putting a new tag on them, By Cutting out of old Christmas cards to make new tags.
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