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On the lead up to Christmas, we love to decorate our homes, pick out gifts for friends and get into the festive spirit. But have you thought about how much damage the commercial Christmas season can impact the environment? With 30% more waste created at Christmas than usual [1], it’s important that we are looking at more sustainable ways of celebrating this fabulous season! I’ve thought of some fun, easy and, most importantly, environmentally friendly Christmas crafts for you to try! These can be used to decorate your homes, give as gifts and as a way to use items one more time, before you throw them out.
Light Up Glass Bottles
As students, the glass bin is one which is regularly full, whether that’s your Aldi under a fiver wine, a classic tomato sauce jar or a fancy one-off bottle of gin. With the average household throwing out 500 glass bottles a year [2], why not save a few for a simple craft that can light up your bedroom. For mine, I reused two gin bottles from the pub I worked at over the summer, but you could use any glass bottle or jar you can find!
Start by thoroughly cleaning out your glass bottle and, decide if you want to incorporate the label into the design or not. You can use decopatch paper, wrapping paper, sweet wrappers or even newspaper to decorate your bottle. You want the paper to be thin enough for the lights to shine through. I went for a red theme for one of my bottles and, a multi-coloured patchwork design for the other one. I used a flat paintbrush to stick the paper onto the bottle with decopatch glue (PVA would also work). I find it easier to rip up the paper into really small pieces and smooth it over with the glue, on the top as well as underneath the paper. To finish it off, pop some fairy lights (or cork lights if you have them) inside the bottle.
If you’re looking for more inspiration, Pinterest is the place to go!
Christmas Stockings
At this time of year, who doesn’t love a Christmas stocking? They can be used as a decoration, handmade gift or even instead of wrapping paper to put a present in. You could source your fabric from: old scraps, used clothes and charity shops! You can make this craft as easy or complex as you like, machine or hand sew and add your own touches.
For the one I made, I drew my own stocking pattern on an A4 piece of paper. I used some old scraps of fabric I had around the house for the outer and lining pieces. I made the lining pieces slightly taller than the outer pieces, so that when I turned the stocking back through, the lining turned over the top of the stocking. I then placed a piece of ribbon between the fabrics, to be able to hang the stocking up after. In order to have no raw edges showing I sewed all right sides together before turning the stocking the right way out. I didn’t add any extras this time, but binding, buttons or a design could easily be added to spice up the stocking!
Click here for an example of a step by step You Tube tutorial of how to make one!
Christmas Paper Stars
One of my family’s favourite Christmas crafts are these paper stars. Easy, cheap and fun to make! You can use recycled paper, old music sheets or newspaper to be more environmentally friendly and give an authentic look. You can also make them in a variety of sizes to suit the room. My personal favourite look is by making them with old A4 music sheets. You’ll also need scissors, a stapler and string to hang the stars up with.
Here is an example of a You Tube tutorial on how to make them. (However I would recommend using staples or sellotape instead of glue for ease and to make it more secure) and there is an online step by step guide here.
Recycled Paper Chains
Recycled paper chains are a great way to decorate your house for free, whilst reusing your paper one more time before it goes in the bin! You could start collecting all those flyers you get through your door, use old newspapers or scrap paper you might have lying around. Last year in my flat we made a paper chain out of the flyers which had come through the door.
By Rebecca Reece
My partner brought me a single share of Reckitt's stock as a present after seeing it on here https://shareholderperks.co.uk/f/reckitt-benckiser-shareholder-perkser and it allowed me to get a tree planted for free!