Upcycle where possible
Ucycle materials where you can. Any wallpaper remnants for example can make great paper chain alternatives and you can also use any textiles remnants (old tea towels, upholstery fabric, old clothes) to create garlands instead of tinsel. I will find offcuts of fabrics in co-ordinating colours (two colours maximum) and then create strips from these which I’ll tie onto a string and then wrap around the tree. It’s a fun activity and one you can get the family involved with, and again these can be used year after year. Also if, like me, you’re trying to avoid buying wrapping paper, use old newspaper for wrapping, the pink paper looks best! Use any spare ribbon or string to tie it together to avoid using tape and makes the paper easily recyclable.
Sustainable tree decorations
When you’re looking to decorate your tree, again avoid plastic where possible – if I buy new baubles I’ll always try and select ones that are made from wood, glass or metal – and I’ll make sure to wrap them carefully so they can be used again year after year. A really wonderful natural way to decorate your tree is by using dried out orange slices with cinnamon sticks. Simply slice up a bunch of oranges and dry out in the oven for 4-6 hours. This will make the orange slices harden and then you simply skewer and thread and string through to create a garland. You can add on cinnamon sticks too as these give a lovely scent and the garlands will look wonderful strung around a tree.
Upcycle your existing decorations
Now is also the time to take a look at that stash of decorations you have in the attic and think about whether you need to buy new, or whether you could repurpose what you already have. We have a large collection of wooden and ceramic baubles that we use every year and we make some time to re-paint some of them as a family activity. It’s engaging for kids and we get new bauble patterns every season – plus they are cute mementoes as we see how our tastes change each year.
