I have either knitted or crocheted lot of my own Christmas decorations including tinsel which means I can wash and re use them every year. No 2 of my decorations are the same.
Our “gingerbread” style houses are baked and decorated with bird seeds and raisins so they become the Christmas presents for the squirrels and birds we feed daily. I have also stopped buying decorations and reuse the small toys my grandchildren played with when they were little, you would be surprised how small dinosaurs, hello kitty and peppa pig get along! Did you know that if you take the bottom part of celery and dab it with food color you can use it as a stamp the makes beautiful cabbage roses on recycled paper…Rinse off food color and insert in water you can regrow celery 😀
My parents also use old toys as year-round decor now that all of us kids are grown up and out of the house. There are many Pokémon and Hamtaros hidden around with the rest of their trinkets.
I found you last year and your videos rapidly made me aware of how ignorant I was towards my carbon footprint. I’m a huge Christmas person, my entire family are and I just said STOP to many things this year that I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid to last year such as decorations, Christmas clothing, specialised wrapping and accessories. I’ve also adopted a green thumb and eat more plants than ever before. You’re really changing how people live… Thankyou for that 💚
I'm back in Aus from Sweden for Christmas, which I mention because we have something here called "Hard Rubbish". People put unwanted items on the curb of their property, and the council collects them to take to landfill. A lot of it is 'junk' that's difficult to dispose of, such as broken appliances or broken bricks or used mattresses. However, it can be incredibly depressing what quality items people put out, which is why there's a tradition of going treasure-hunting around your neighbourhood (dumpster diving vibes!). This year was a total bonanza, probably because of the pandemic--a huge amount of what was being thrown away was still brand new in its original packaging, never even bothered to be used. It just left me aghast. I took home a LOT (my personal highlights were a BaByliss hot air brush styler; an unopened ceramic pizza oven worth about $100; a standing fan to deal with summer heat; and a brand-new, tags-on basic pair of everyday flats, since I wore through my old pair). However, I mention all this because one of the things I took home was a giant plastic storage tub, only to discover it was full of beautiful, upmarket Christmas decor--about 6 unopened boxes of breathtaking Christmas baubles, as well as a box of expensive Christmas crackers, among other things. I'm resembling a broken record here, but I just cannot understand how anyone could dump all of that (and just prior to Christmas, too!). Why did they buy it all in the first place?! I'm so confused. Commercial seasonal decor really isn't... great. One of the items inside the box is fake snow. Not something I would EVER buy, since I've never even bought Christmas decor before, but I'd been contemplating what exactly to do with it. It said non-toxic, but I had no idea whether it was plastic or had some other hidden ecological impact. It's so not my thing... and is extra absurd in the Southern Hemisphere, but it's a timely coincidence that you brought it up. At least I can confidently make some use of it now instead of letting it go straight to waste.
I am the same with everything here. I baked gingerbread cookies 2 years ago with my Star Trek cookie cutters, so I had little spaceships which was cute and I added vegan sprinkles. I bought a bit of Christmas décor in a charity shop and got my hands on these little cute wooden figures and hangers. Also reusing the Christmas cards my 10 neighbours give me every year ( I don't write cards to them ), they only write "best wishes" and nothing else. So I tear the left side apart with usually the image on the front and use that card to send it to my close friends who don't live in the same country. Using leftover fabric to wrap gift inside and I collect branches around and twigs which I hang onto my walls, then hang my decoration to it. A friend already gave me a present (haven't unwrappend yet) and she said it's something someone can never have enough of .... already a deal breaker for me that sentence, lol. I can see from the shape of this gift that it's probably a coffee cup, which I have 4 of and I don't need another one. I wish people would ask me beforehand, if I want anything. My partner donated money to an animal sanctuary here in Scotland who got hit very badly by a storm some weeks ago. I asked him to do that instead of giving me a present.
When I was little my mom and I made a 'cake' for the birds- we used the old fat from the fryer and decorated it with leftovers from candy, nuts, seeds, bread,.. anything of those things we could find in the cupboards. One of my most cherished childhood activities.
In Poland we celebrate christmes the most on 24th of December and it's tradition to avoid meat at family dinner that day ( only fish is accepted😅) so there's a lot vegetarian dishes to choose 😊 Thanks for interesting video ☺️
It's funny how a lot of things from your list is something that I do/buy on Christmas, but in a sustainable way... Like owning a second-hand Christmas jumpers that I wear non-stop in December year after year. And I adore fun/gag gifts, but I make them 100% personal, and make sure that it's not trash after 5 minutes, e.g. my boyfriend discovered Bee Movie this year and he talks non-stop about it, so one of his gifts will be my old copy of the movie on DVD and honeycomb shaped soap. And my Mum loves candles so I make sure to buy a lot of packaging-free candles for her. When she runs low she ask me for new ones instead of purchasing some unsustainable ones.
I remember that canned snow. When I was a kid(63 now) there were snowflakes stencils to use with it on the windows. That stuff was greasy & hard to remove. It was never seen again. I love re-using wrapping paper etc. My favorite “gift bag” is actually a nice pair of pillow cases(hopefully thrifted!). They can hold a much larger present(also hopefully thrifted). Proud to say that I have never had an ugly jumper for Christmas. Very cool video Gittemary! Sending you, Jens, & Mols lots of hugs and love ❤️❤️❤️
I don’t use wrapping paper. The adults in the family gave up giving each other presents several years ago. We buy for the children, we have a clutch of little ones, and I put their gifts in a big jute sack printed with Rudolph and their name. They are very excited to receive a Santa sack of gifts and don’t think about wrapping paper. And of course the jute sacks are very robust and come out every year. I have had my decorations for a long time. I have a fake Christmas tree that will stay until it is bald. I upcycle decorations I am tried of. I use knitting yarn, old beads and buttons, twigs from the garden and ribbon that I save off everything. My house always looks lovely
@@Gittemary its just that I've got my family on organic food but most of them are in plastic packaging. P.S. my friend with Pica gave the citrus vinegar cleaner recipe to her kids and now they're using it to. Your message is spreading!
I heard you talk about the wrapping paper situations before but just realized now that you can coordinate them 🎉 a coffeemaker or glasses in kitchen towels, soaps in a small bathroom towel, the newspapers for books and noteblocks and things. I will be doing this in the future, great video! ❤
For a candle replacement which makes your house smell devine I use a pot of water over the stove and I put in Christmas spices or sometimes even leftover orange peel and I just boil it adding more water when the water levels go down ❤️.
I don't like gingerbread, so I've decided to make "gingerbread" houses/people out of sugar cookie or chocolate chip cookie instead. This way I actually want to eat it 😋 Maybe I'm weird, but I still like stale cookies haha.
We do small gingerbread houses, one for each person, about the size of a 1/2 pint milk carton. Then the kids eat them immediately after decorating. One of these years I'm going to get my act together and make them myself to avoid a lot of the packaging, but I haven't gotten there yet. This is our first year living somewhere with room for more decorations than just the tree and I've added some lovely things from the thrift stores. We have a tradition of letting the kids pick an ornament each year and they get labeled with their name and the year. I'm hoping to have them pick them from the thrift shops next year.
My parents have been using pillow cases for their kids gits for like 20 plus years. They first started it as a parenting tool. They noticed that kids wanna keep unwrapping and unwrapping. And with the pillow cases the kids can see this is what I have and when I pull it all out that's it. Also we have saved a lot of money and trees that way as well.
We got a hexagon cookie cutter and since then have been making a catan board out of gingerbread every year 🤗 much easier to grab one (and VERY satisfying to bite into a game board piece) cookie so none ever go to waste
I love these kind of videos! I could do with a video on how to stop looking for things to buy and those kind of behavioural changes. With gingerbread houses they aren't massive here but it could be a nice Christmas eve activity (for adults and children) and then use it in the Christmas day desert.
One of the coolest/ most creative sustainable Christmas decorations I have seen is a weeping evergreen shrub that was in someone’s yard that they dressed up to look like a gnome with a hat and gloves and a nose. It was super cute.
Love these types of video’s! This is the second year that i bring myself something to eat at my Family’s place for Christmas as they also just have meat and potatoes with butter and milk. No vegetable in sight. They are not interested at all in my food but they are ok with me bringing my food and eating differently than everyone else at least!
In my Mexican American family it's the same. Meat everywhere during celebrations and no vegetables. I'm making veggie pasta and vegan deserts for the family Christmas dinner.
Thank you very much for the tips! Especially the wrapping paper stuff. My family is not really into sustainability but the table cloth will "hide" the sustainable aspect :D
I buy my Christmas Eve outfit secondhand and make sure it is something I will wear all year (and on Christmas Eve or weddings, etc for years to come ). I also use up cycled wrapping materials and save holiday cards to put on paper bags to put gifts in. I’ve veganized our traditional holiday foods and we reuse the same advent wreath and calendar countdowns every year,
When it comes to decorations for winter I honestly like to bring things in from outside :) Branches from huge pine trees can be used to make wreaths, some pine cones can be tied on along with any other random seed pods you find. Also when plants start to wither and die and become hard sometimes they make really neat decorations in vases! Things like pussy willows, they give such a cozy vibe. You don't need to buy a bunch of plastic stuff if you have access to the great outdoors :) Though I realize people in the city might not have this option, I'll take the opportunity to do so because I can. PLUS! It smells SO nice to have fresh pine in the house, makes it super seasonal feeling.
We haven't phased out paper gift wrap but instead reuse all we can as you said and if necessary buy like one wrap of non-glossy recycled paper that is available at a zero waste store nearby. But just reusing it saves sooo much paper it's quite surprising how sturdy it can be when manipulated with just a bit of care!!
A great tip for anyone wanting to decorate their windows without spray paint: Acrylic paint. Clean your windows, draw whatever you want (Star stencils, trees or whatever) and when you get more of them, simply scrape off after making the paint wet with a cloth. It's honestly the cheapest decor that can change the vibe instantly.
The thing with funny gifts is also when all the clutter overwhelms you but it feels bad to give away or throw away a pointless gift someone gave you and then its just 😰😰
I'm still using up the rolls wrapping paper I bought a few years ago. It is recyclable printed matt brown paper. I may use them up this year. I won't be buying more as I plan to move on to reusable wraps and bags. I've never understood buying completely new decorations each year. I treasure my beautiful glass baubles, some of which date back to my mother's childhood in the 1920s.
Christmas cards! Especially the glittery ones D: I just don't understand the need to send everyone you know something that is almost always completely impersonal and will just get thrown in the bin (most can't even be recycled) after two weeks... My family has a box of decorations that we've had for 20+ years and decorate the tree with each Christmas. We don't buy any new ones except for a tradition me and my sister have of giving each other a decoration on Christmas Eve. For the past several years we've both managed to find either locally and ethically made, or second hand ones!
I like to mention this on all the Christmas decor videos I watch: Live Christmas trees, with intact root balls, that are planted after Christmas. Sometimes if you look really hard in your area, there are companies that will bring you the potted tree, then pick it up to plant it for you, no muss no fuss!
I really kind of grew to hate fireworks as well. I live in a medium sized city, and every year I'm chocked how comfortable people are shooting off fireworks, and then just leaving it on the ground to slowly disintegrate. And, yes, I know you can't clean it up the same day, but the next day, and if it's something that is still on the ground, like a battery, or something, please clean it up.
Last week I went to a Christmas market in my city, and I walked straight past all the stalls that were selling ‘things’ ie objects, Christmas decorations because it occurred to me that neither I nor anyone else I know has any use for new things at the moment, least of all the gifty type things. Instead I look for consumable products, like local food and handmade soaps and cosmetics. They always go down really well 😊 I know they’re gifts that people will actually use and they don’t generate clutter.
Love this video! Thank you for the gift wrapping ideas! I personally have second-hand Christmas lights which are little Santa Clauses, so cute! I have had them for 2 or 3 years now and every year I get so excited again to hang them up! I feel like the fact that they are second-hand makes it feel even more special, maybe that's crazy but just knowing they are second-hand makes me love them, even more, lol because it is sustainable.
I take the old wrapoing paper all torn up by the kids and glue it to a box that is ugly- like a cat food box. Then I'm reusing 2 things and u can reuse the whole box next year, its just a pretty box now
Few years ago moved from apartment living into a house. We didnt buy hoilday string lights. Reused ribbons from last year to tie onto our porch columns & a wreath... our goal is simplistic design.
Sustainability is sooo important for our future generations! great tips for reducing your carbon footprint- we are trying to be as eco friendly/sustainable as possible. Fabric gift wraps for Christmas are my fav and also thrift gift shopping. Love watching your videos x
Loved this video! I agree with everything on your list but I was surprised that you did mention anything with glitter. Of course you have mentioned this in another video 👍! Thanks for what you do and happy holidays!
I have some Christmas dresses from Asda that I’ve had for years and because of the shape of them I can wear them with any weight loss/ weight gain and I think I’ve had them for 5/6 years now. I wouldn’t buy one again though!
I love my ugly Christmas sweaters 😂 I have 2 and I've had both at least 4-5 years now and wear them November-January 😊 next year I def want to start using reusable gift wrapping, I love this idea!
My sister really wanted to gift our parents ugly christmas sweaters to wear this christmas eve and I was able to convince her to buy second hand ones, and my parents love them! They are even kinda cute, my mom says she'll wear hers the whole winter 😊🥰
I never understood people who made a gingerbread house like a month before Christmas only to look at it... In my family, a gingerbread house is made like 3-5 days before it's eaten, because eating it is without a doubt the best part lol xD
I chatted with a lady the other year whose job was deviating people's houses for Christmas. I had no idea- it was a concept that would never have occurred to me. But this people with picture perfect houses with perfect Christmas trees and perfect wreaths have to do it somehow.
my mom buys gingerbread houses at the end of the holiday season for suuuuper discounted and then saves them to use the next year! no one wants to eat them anyway, so its okay that they're a year old!
I started using cloth gift bags and stopped buying wrapping paper about 4 years ago after visiting a friend and seeing her do that. I have a bit of a candle addiction but I'm trying to do better about only getting soy ones. I have bought Gingerbread house kits only twice in my life, so it's not really something we do anyway. I've never bought spray snow. My spouse gives his brother an ugly Xmas sweater every year and I hate it. I wish he'd stop. I'm getting to be less and less a fan of fireworks.
I have a bag in my closet with wrapping paper and cute bags ive received over the years, lol now when my mom needs a gift bag she comes into my room to get one. She and my step dad wrap my gift bags and tons of tape and wrapping paper and we shove all of it in a huge garbage bag..... so horrible I wish she would use reusable stuff..
Hi! I am looking to get zero waste gifts for my family to start on their journey and one place I wanted to start was with beauty items. One company that is easily accessible for us is lush, but I noticed that you no longer list them on your zero waste skin and hair care list on your website. Would you still recommend this brand, specifically for hair care? If not I will look into other brands for similar products
Gifts- lol feels like Grinch - I really try to stop buying stuff, especially this time of year. Normally if I find something that I think someone would really like/need I just buy it and give it to them whenever that is. ...but everyone in our family is not onboard with that so might end up buying 1 gift (probably something eatable or so) for the christmasgame ( everyone bring one gift and then you toss a dice to play and see what gift you get...).
Thanks for this. What do you suggest to say to people who give you Funny gifts that are not useful at all? Do you suggest to comment or just let it go? Thanks
I did discover a zero waste dilemma recently. What happens if you buy a throught through item but then the issue is its useless as in not as you expected of brakes easily?
What I like to do for "funny gifts" is just giving away old hideous stuff that I don't use anymore or my parents don't use anymore, so I don't buy anything new or even second hand
For me more non-sense than Christmas sweaters are Christmas T-shirts( especially in north,cold countries) People buy them, don't ware at winter(because too is too cold) and then don't use them at spring/summer.
When you wrap your presents in fabric, do you ask for the fabric back? This is the thing holding me back... the fabrics are sort of expensive and if they then also take it, I cannot afford it! Is it awkward to ask for it back? My boyfriends family is huge so this year we had 25+ gifts to wrap!!
As I mention in the video, I ask to have it back unless they want to use it, but I don’t use expensive fabric at all, ai bought an old table cover for $1 in a charity shop and cut it up into smaller pieces ☺️ but I don’t think there is anything wrong with asking for the fabric back ✨
I love what you do I enjoy your Christmas video and there's nothing wrong with reusing what you already have in your home I had my tree since last year it's a white Christmas tree from Walmart that is fake but it's pretty and it's white and has Christmas lights already made inside the tree all you do is plug it in and it changes three colors online Christmas tree I got my tree at Walmart on clearance a real pretty white Christmas tree with lights that are already on it all I do is plug it in and it's really beautiful and some of my Christmas ornaments are from through the years and sound from my kids school from last year and pictures of my kids on the tree pictures of my kids that they got pictures from school they made homemade little Christmas ornaments in picture of them kids smiling online pictures homemade picture frames made out of popsicle sticks painted with little Christmas lights on and I really pretty angel on top of my tree and a picture of Mary and baby Jesus on my Christmas tree 🤗🤍🎄😃🎊🎉🎁🎀✌️🇺🇸🙏😁
I was always very aware/not a fan of the fact that when you try on clothes you basically wear clothes a bunch of other people have worn and they didn’t get washed. Now with the pandemic this is even more 😬 so I haven’t bought any kind of clothes in 2+ years. The majority of my clothes is much much older than that and a combination of that, weight changes, and my living situation has made it pretty unavoidable at this point to buy some new clothes. How can I go and try on clothes etc safely?
I don't know if this would work for you but you could keep it from touching your body as much with something skin tight underneath when you go to try them on. You could also get fitted measurements and instead of trying them on purchase them from size and wash them before wearing. This would not be the best if you want to know how it looks on you but it is likely to fit Loose fitting clothing as well.
As a non-vegan, I like beeswax candles from local beekeepers to support them. Also, ugh, my mum is a huge fan of ugly Christmas sweaters but at least we reuse ours for years. Also also, I love Christmas crackers but they usually come with cheap plastic BS that no one needs.
Hey Gittemary… you and I should not go shopping together and not buy the same stuff! We are two peas in a no-shopping pod!! Instead we could play board games, drink a glass of wine, dance in the kitchen, and maybe do some yoyoing… you know… do some fun things that are social and do not create waste or damage the planet. Happy No-Shopping Holidays and Merry Christmas to you ma fren… 🌎💦Ⓜ️ary☃️🍷🪀
Where I live ppl love fireworks. I always hated them. My reason is my animals. All our dogs from my childhood were scared. And I was as well. I hate fireworks and every year I have to get a special tranqualizer for my dog who is a rescue and anxious on a normal day but around new year she just shivers all day. Makes me so angry. Every year there is a campain against fire works put out by animal shelters. This year especialy it is heart breaking. They posted pictures of beloved dogs that ran away and were never found because they got spooked by the booms. The title is "we are not looking for them anymore". So I hope this stupid tradition will stop someday. We do enough harm to animals as it is. No need to add anything. Ok, rant over.
I cannot understand the decor buying. Who are these ultra wealthy people throwing away and re-buying decor? This seems crazy to me. I have a lot of cheap, plastic decor that was gifted to me or that I bought way back 10 years ago in college before I was zero-waste… and the $1 plastic garland from 10 years ago is still functional! We use it annually. I bet it will last decades or maybe even forever! It’s like the plastic Halloween pumpkins. They’ll never break down in landfill but also this means they never need to be thrown away! We should all still have the same ones from the 90s right? That’s what we are using! Anyway sorry let me step down from this soapbox.
I have either knitted or crocheted lot of my own Christmas decorations including tinsel which means I can wash and re use them every year. No 2 of my decorations are the same.
Our “gingerbread” style houses are baked and decorated with bird seeds and raisins so they become the Christmas presents for the squirrels and birds we feed daily. I have also stopped buying decorations and reuse the small toys my grandchildren played with when they were little, you would be surprised how small dinosaurs, hello kitty and peppa pig get along! Did you know that if you take the bottom part of celery and dab it with food color you can use it as a stamp the makes beautiful cabbage roses on recycled paper…Rinse off food color and insert in water you can regrow celery 😀
Absolutely love the bird ans squirrel feeder gingerbread houses idea. Lovely
such a cool idea to reuse kids' toys! My parents kinda did the opposite: we had christmas decorations the doubled as toys for the rest of the year.
@@alicechoux973 that sounds like so much fun. 😊
My parents also use old toys as year-round decor now that all of us kids are grown up and out of the house. There are many Pokémon and Hamtaros hidden around with the rest of their trinkets.
I found you last year and your videos rapidly made me aware of how ignorant I was towards my carbon footprint. I’m a huge Christmas person, my entire family are and I just said STOP to many things this year that I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid to last year such as decorations, Christmas clothing, specialised wrapping and accessories. I’ve also adopted a green thumb and eat more plants than ever before. You’re really changing how people live… Thankyou for that 💚
I'm back in Aus from Sweden for Christmas, which I mention because we have something here called "Hard Rubbish". People put unwanted items on the curb of their property, and the council collects them to take to landfill. A lot of it is 'junk' that's difficult to dispose of, such as broken appliances or broken bricks or used mattresses. However, it can be incredibly depressing what quality items people put out, which is why there's a tradition of going treasure-hunting around your neighbourhood (dumpster diving vibes!).
This year was a total bonanza, probably because of the pandemic--a huge amount of what was being thrown away was still brand new in its original packaging, never even bothered to be used. It just left me aghast. I took home a LOT (my personal highlights were a BaByliss hot air brush styler; an unopened ceramic pizza oven worth about $100; a standing fan to deal with summer heat; and a brand-new, tags-on basic pair of everyday flats, since I wore through my old pair).
However, I mention all this because one of the things I took home was a giant plastic storage tub, only to discover it was full of beautiful, upmarket Christmas decor--about 6 unopened boxes of breathtaking Christmas baubles, as well as a box of expensive Christmas crackers, among other things. I'm resembling a broken record here, but I just cannot understand how anyone could dump all of that (and just prior to Christmas, too!). Why did they buy it all in the first place?! I'm so confused. Commercial seasonal decor really isn't... great.
One of the items inside the box is fake snow. Not something I would EVER buy, since I've never even bought Christmas decor before, but I'd been contemplating what exactly to do with it. It said non-toxic, but I had no idea whether it was plastic or had some other hidden ecological impact. It's so not my thing... and is extra absurd in the Southern Hemisphere, but it's a timely coincidence that you brought it up. At least I can confidently make some use of it now instead of letting it go straight to waste.
I am the same with everything here. I baked gingerbread cookies 2 years ago with my Star Trek cookie cutters, so I had little spaceships which was cute and I added vegan sprinkles. I bought a bit of Christmas décor in a charity shop and got my hands on these little cute wooden figures and hangers. Also reusing the Christmas cards my 10 neighbours give me every year ( I don't write cards to them ), they only write "best wishes" and nothing else. So I tear the left side apart with usually the image on the front and use that card to send it to my close friends who don't live in the same country. Using leftover fabric to wrap gift inside and I collect branches around and twigs which I hang onto my walls, then hang my decoration to it. A friend already gave me a present (haven't unwrappend yet) and she said it's something someone can never have enough of .... already a deal breaker for me that sentence, lol. I can see from the shape of this gift that it's probably a coffee cup, which I have 4 of and I don't need another one. I wish people would ask me beforehand, if I want anything. My partner donated money to an animal sanctuary here in Scotland who got hit very badly by a storm some weeks ago. I asked him to do that instead of giving me a present.
So many amazing efforts and SO COOL that you have Star Trek cookie cutters 😍✨
I watched an “influencer” stick her gingerbread house together with hot glue because “it wasn’t going to get eaten anyway”. Cue internal screaming
Nooooo 🥲🥲🥲
When I was little my mom and I made a 'cake' for the birds- we used the old fat from the fryer and decorated it with leftovers from candy, nuts, seeds, bread,.. anything of those things we could find in the cupboards. One of my most cherished childhood activities.
Uh we used to make those as well, it is a great activity instead of making gingerbread houses and much more usually often 👌
In Poland we celebrate christmes the most on 24th of December and it's tradition to avoid meat at family dinner that day ( only fish is accepted😅) so there's a lot vegetarian dishes to choose 😊
Thanks for interesting video ☺️
I am in Australia but my mother is polish and we do this too :)
It's funny how a lot of things from your list is something that I do/buy on Christmas, but in a sustainable way... Like owning a second-hand Christmas jumpers that I wear non-stop in December year after year. And I adore fun/gag gifts, but I make them 100% personal, and make sure that it's not trash after 5 minutes, e.g. my boyfriend discovered Bee Movie this year and he talks non-stop about it, so one of his gifts will be my old copy of the movie on DVD and honeycomb shaped soap. And my Mum loves candles so I make sure to buy a lot of packaging-free candles for her. When she runs low she ask me for new ones instead of purchasing some unsustainable ones.
I remember that canned snow. When I was a kid(63 now) there were snowflakes stencils to use with it on the windows. That stuff was greasy & hard to remove. It was never seen again. I love re-using wrapping paper etc. My favorite “gift bag” is actually a nice pair of pillow cases(hopefully thrifted!). They can hold a much larger present(also hopefully thrifted). Proud to say that I have never had an ugly jumper for Christmas. Very cool video Gittemary! Sending you, Jens, & Mols lots of hugs and love ❤️❤️❤️
I don’t use wrapping paper. The adults in the family gave up giving each other presents several years ago. We buy for the children, we have a clutch of little ones, and I put their gifts in a big jute sack printed with Rudolph and their name. They are very excited to receive a Santa sack of gifts and don’t think about wrapping paper. And of course the jute sacks are very robust and come out every year. I have had my decorations for a long time. I have a fake Christmas tree that will stay until it is bald. I upcycle decorations I am tried of. I use knitting yarn, old beads and buttons, twigs from the garden and ribbon that I save off everything. My house always looks lovely
Holy crap, it is hard to phase out plastic! But I'm not going to give up.
keep going little by little, you rock 💚
@@Gittemary its just that I've got my family on organic food but most of them are in plastic packaging. P.S. my friend with Pica gave the citrus vinegar cleaner recipe to her kids and now they're using it to. Your message is spreading!
I heard you talk about the wrapping paper situations before but just realized now that you can coordinate them 🎉 a coffeemaker or glasses in kitchen towels, soaps in a small bathroom towel, the newspapers for books and noteblocks and things. I will be doing this in the future, great video! ❤
Yeeeees exactly 😍❤️👏
What a brilliant idea, I like this.💖
For a candle replacement which makes your house smell devine I use a pot of water over the stove and I put in Christmas spices or sometimes even leftover orange peel and I just boil it adding more water when the water levels go down ❤️.
Great idea! I wonder if you could drink the water as a tea when you are done?
@@coralovesnature I guess you could along as you made sure everything is sanitary then it would be food safe 👍
I don't like gingerbread, so I've decided to make "gingerbread" houses/people out of sugar cookie or chocolate chip cookie instead. This way I actually want to eat it 😋 Maybe I'm weird, but I still like stale cookies haha.
That is knowing your own preferences and if it helps to combat food waste - even better 😎👏✨
We do small gingerbread houses, one for each person, about the size of a 1/2 pint milk carton. Then the kids eat them immediately after decorating. One of these years I'm going to get my act together and make them myself to avoid a lot of the packaging, but I haven't gotten there yet.
This is our first year living somewhere with room for more decorations than just the tree and I've added some lovely things from the thrift stores. We have a tradition of letting the kids pick an ornament each year and they get labeled with their name and the year. I'm hoping to have them pick them from the thrift shops next year.
My parents have been using pillow cases for their kids gits for like 20 plus years. They first started it as a parenting tool. They noticed that kids wanna keep unwrapping and unwrapping. And with the pillow cases the kids can see this is what I have and when I pull it all out that's it. Also we have saved a lot of money and trees that way as well.
We got a hexagon cookie cutter and since then have been making a catan board out of gingerbread every year 🤗 much easier to grab one (and VERY satisfying to bite into a game board piece) cookie so none ever go to waste
I love these kind of videos! I could do with a video on how to stop looking for things to buy and those kind of behavioural changes. With gingerbread houses they aren't massive here but it could be a nice Christmas eve activity (for adults and children) and then use it in the Christmas day desert.
One of the coolest/ most creative sustainable Christmas decorations I have seen is a weeping evergreen shrub that was in someone’s yard that they dressed up to look like a gnome with a hat and gloves and a nose. It was super cute.
That is so cute!! 😍
Love these types of video’s! This is the second year that i bring myself something to eat at my Family’s place for Christmas as they also just have meat and potatoes with butter and milk. No vegetable in sight. They are not interested at all in my food but they are ok with me bringing my food and eating differently than everyone else at least!
It’s great that they are not giving you a hard time, and perhaps overtime they will be curious about your food ☺️✨
In brasil we usually don't do presents and I love it
In my Mexican American family it's the same. Meat everywhere during celebrations and no vegetables. I'm making veggie pasta and vegan deserts for the family Christmas dinner.
Thank you very much for the tips! Especially the wrapping paper stuff. My family is not really into sustainability but the table cloth will "hide" the sustainable aspect :D
I buy my Christmas Eve outfit secondhand and make sure it is something I will wear all year (and on Christmas Eve or weddings, etc for years to come ). I also use up cycled wrapping materials and save holiday cards to put on paper bags to put gifts in. I’ve veganized our traditional holiday foods and we reuse the same advent wreath and calendar countdowns every year,
When it comes to decorations for winter I honestly like to bring things in from outside :) Branches from huge pine trees can be used to make wreaths, some pine cones can be tied on along with any other random seed pods you find. Also when plants start to wither and die and become hard sometimes they make really neat decorations in vases! Things like pussy willows, they give such a cozy vibe. You don't need to buy a bunch of plastic stuff if you have access to the great outdoors :) Though I realize people in the city might not have this option, I'll take the opportunity to do so because I can. PLUS! It smells SO nice to have fresh pine in the house, makes it super seasonal feeling.
Outdoor pinecone have bugs. Read I should put in oven, which caused smoke to fill the kitchen and smoke alarm went off.🙄
We haven't phased out paper gift wrap but instead reuse all we can as you said and if necessary buy like one wrap of non-glossy recycled paper that is available at a zero waste store nearby.
But just reusing it saves sooo much paper it's quite surprising how sturdy it can be when manipulated with just a bit of care!!
A great tip for anyone wanting to decorate their windows without spray paint: Acrylic paint. Clean your windows, draw whatever you want (Star stencils, trees or whatever) and when you get more of them, simply scrape off after making the paint wet with a cloth. It's honestly the cheapest decor that can change the vibe instantly.
Or if you want to avoid plastic entirely you can get special crayons that are made for drawing on windows.
@@mellyq92 Of course there is always a better option, but most families have acrylic pain at home.
@@woolypuffin392 I wasn't criticizing you. I was just sharing.
The thing with funny gifts is also when all the clutter overwhelms you but it feels bad to give away or throw away a pointless gift someone gave you and then its just 😰😰
I'm still using up the rolls wrapping paper I bought a few years ago. It is recyclable printed matt brown paper. I may use them up this year. I won't be buying more as I plan to move on to reusable wraps and bags.
I've never understood buying completely new decorations each year. I treasure my beautiful glass baubles, some of which date back to my mother's childhood in the 1920s.
Christmas cards! Especially the glittery ones D: I just don't understand the need to send everyone you know something that is almost always completely impersonal and will just get thrown in the bin (most can't even be recycled) after two weeks...
My family has a box of decorations that we've had for 20+ years and decorate the tree with each Christmas. We don't buy any new ones except for a tradition me and my sister have of giving each other a decoration on Christmas Eve. For the past several years we've both managed to find either locally and ethically made, or second hand ones!
Omg yes! Christmas cards! Saaaaame, sounds like you have found a really good sustainable solution 😍👌
I like to mention this on all the Christmas decor videos I watch: Live Christmas trees, with intact root balls, that are planted after Christmas. Sometimes if you look really hard in your area, there are companies that will bring you the potted tree, then pick it up to plant it for you, no muss no fuss!
I really kind of grew to hate fireworks as well. I live in a medium sized city, and every year I'm chocked how comfortable people are shooting off fireworks, and then just leaving it on the ground to slowly disintegrate.
And, yes, I know you can't clean it up the same day, but the next day, and if it's something that is still on the ground, like a battery, or something, please clean it up.
Last week I went to a Christmas market in my city, and I walked straight past all the stalls that were selling ‘things’ ie objects, Christmas decorations because it occurred to me that neither I nor anyone else I know has any use for new things at the moment, least of all the gifty type things. Instead I look for consumable products, like local food and handmade soaps and cosmetics. They always go down really well 😊 I know they’re gifts that people will actually use and they don’t generate clutter.
Nothing is better than walking up on a gloomy morning and Gitte uploading a new video. I've got my tea ready too
Aw thank you 😍✨
Love this video! Thank you for the gift wrapping ideas! I personally have second-hand Christmas lights which are little Santa Clauses, so cute! I have had them for 2 or 3 years now and every year I get so excited again to hang them up! I feel like the fact that they are second-hand makes it feel even more special, maybe that's crazy but just knowing they are second-hand makes me love them, even more, lol because it is sustainable.
I take the old wrapoing paper all torn up by the kids and glue it to a box that is ugly- like a cat food box. Then I'm reusing 2 things and u can reuse the whole box next year, its just a pretty box now
Few years ago moved from apartment living into a house. We didnt buy hoilday string lights. Reused ribbons from last year to tie onto our porch columns & a wreath... our goal is simplistic design.
Sustainability is sooo important for our future generations! great tips for reducing your carbon footprint- we are trying to be as eco friendly/sustainable as possible. Fabric gift wraps for Christmas are my fav and also thrift gift shopping. Love watching your videos x
Merry Christmas and a Happy New year ✌️😊
Loved this video! I agree with everything on your list but I was surprised that you did mention anything with glitter. Of course you have mentioned this in another video 👍! Thanks for what you do and happy holidays!
please do a Christmas food video
My husband make soya candles for me in recycle tins for many years
I have some Christmas dresses from Asda that I’ve had for years and because of the shape of them I can wear them with any weight loss/ weight gain and I think I’ve had them for 5/6 years now. I wouldn’t buy one again though!
Ahhh I've been watching your videos all evening as I cooked, so excited for a brand new video 😍
Aw I am so happy to hear it 😍✨
I love my ugly Christmas sweaters 😂 I have 2 and I've had both at least 4-5 years now and wear them November-January 😊 next year I def want to start using reusable gift wrapping, I love this idea!
Yeah my husband and I have our traditional ugly Christmas sweaters that we've had for years
My sister really wanted to gift our parents ugly christmas sweaters to wear this christmas eve and I was able to convince her to buy second hand ones, and my parents love them! They are even kinda cute, my mom says she'll wear hers the whole winter 😊🥰
do you have a video on what is on your walls? it looks so pretty :)
Thank you ☺️ I have an apartment tour video 🌿
LOVE THIS
1. Spray snow
2. Gingerbread houses (she makes edible cookie ornaments instead)
3. Paraffin wax candles (Also bad for you) (she uses other types of candles or fairy lights instead)
4. Ugly christmas sweaters
5. "Funny" gifts
6. Gift wrapping paper (she uses reusables, upcycled material, and reuses old gift wrapping paper)
7. Fireworks, table bombs, firecrackers, etc.
8. Trendy decor
9. Musical/electric decor
10. Christmas/holidy meats
Really intetested in vegan christmasfoods, particularly the recipe for vegan wellington 😍
I put it the recipe for it in the description ☺️🌿
@@Gittemary Thank you!
Your videos are so good....love watching you
I haven't bought a Christmas tree for 6 years, I think. I make our Christmas tree with my mother's books, because she has so many ^^
I never understood people who made a gingerbread house like a month before Christmas only to look at it... In my family, a gingerbread house is made like 3-5 days before it's eaten, because eating it is without a doubt the best part lol xD
I chatted with a lady the other year whose job was deviating people's houses for Christmas. I had no idea- it was a concept that would never have occurred to me. But this people with picture perfect houses with perfect Christmas trees and perfect wreaths have to do it somehow.
my mom buys gingerbread houses at the end of the holiday season for suuuuper discounted and then saves them to use the next year! no one wants to eat them anyway, so its okay that they're a year old!
I started using cloth gift bags and stopped buying wrapping paper about 4 years ago after visiting a friend and seeing her do that. I have a bit of a candle addiction but I'm trying to do better about only getting soy ones. I have bought Gingerbread house kits only twice in my life, so it's not really something we do anyway. I've never bought spray snow. My spouse gives his brother an ugly Xmas sweater every year and I hate it. I wish he'd stop. I'm getting to be less and less a fan of fireworks.
I have a bag in my closet with wrapping paper and cute bags ive received over the years, lol now when my mom needs a gift bag she comes into my room to get one. She and my step dad wrap my gift bags and tons of tape and wrapping paper and we shove all of it in a huge garbage bag..... so horrible I wish she would use reusable stuff..
Hi! I am looking to get zero waste gifts for my family to start on their journey and one place I wanted to start was with beauty items. One company that is easily accessible for us is lush, but I noticed that you no longer list them on your zero waste skin and hair care list on your website. Would you still recommend this brand, specifically for hair care? If not I will look into other brands for similar products
Gifts- lol feels like Grinch - I really try to stop buying stuff, especially this time of year. Normally if I find something that I think someone would really like/need I just buy it and give it to them whenever that is.
...but everyone in our family is not onboard with that so might end up buying 1 gift (probably something eatable or so) for the christmasgame ( everyone bring one gift and then you toss a dice to play and see what gift you get...).
Thanks for this. What do you suggest to say to people who give you Funny gifts that are not useful at all? Do you suggest to comment or just let it go? Thanks
we dont get to see the christmas suit jens made? if he is okay with it, i would love to see some stuff he has sewn?
I’ll make sure to show it in the upcoming Christmas vlog ☺️
I did discover a zero waste dilemma recently. What happens if you buy a throught through item but then the issue is its useless as in not as you expected of brakes easily?
not me watching this video in front of my gingerbreadhouse lol
A reminder to eat it then 👏😂
What I like to do for "funny gifts" is just giving away old hideous stuff that I don't use anymore or my parents don't use anymore, so I don't buy anything new or even second hand
Hahaha Beat Wellington. XD
For me more non-sense than Christmas sweaters are Christmas T-shirts( especially in north,cold countries)
People buy them, don't ware at winter(because too is too cold) and then don't use them at spring/summer.
When you wrap your presents in fabric, do you ask for the fabric back? This is the thing holding me back... the fabrics are sort of expensive and if they then also take it, I cannot afford it! Is it awkward to ask for it back? My boyfriends family is huge so this year we had 25+ gifts to wrap!!
As I mention in the video, I ask to have it back unless they want to use it, but I don’t use expensive fabric at all, ai bought an old table cover for $1 in a charity shop and cut it up into smaller pieces ☺️ but I don’t think there is anything wrong with asking for the fabric back ✨
You can use nice printed sheets from calendars as well 🥰
I love what you do I enjoy your Christmas video and there's nothing wrong with reusing what you already have in your home I had my tree since last year it's a white Christmas tree from Walmart that is fake but it's pretty and it's white and has Christmas lights already made inside the tree all you do is plug it in and it changes three colors online Christmas tree I got my tree at Walmart on clearance a real pretty white Christmas tree with lights that are already on it all I do is plug it in and it's really beautiful and some of my Christmas ornaments are from through the years and sound from my kids school from last year and pictures of my kids on the tree pictures of my kids that they got pictures from school they made homemade little Christmas ornaments in picture of them kids smiling online pictures homemade picture frames made out of popsicle sticks painted with little Christmas lights on and I really pretty angel on top of my tree and a picture of Mary and baby Jesus on my Christmas tree 🤗🤍🎄😃🎊🎉🎁🎀✌️🇺🇸🙏😁
Bridget Jones!- the jumpers, anyway
I was always very aware/not a fan of the fact that when you try on clothes you basically wear clothes a bunch of other people have worn and they didn’t get washed. Now with the pandemic this is even more 😬 so I haven’t bought any kind of clothes in 2+ years. The majority of my clothes is much much older than that and a combination of that, weight changes, and my living situation has made it pretty unavoidable at this point to buy some new clothes.
How can I go and try on clothes etc safely?
I don't know if this would work for you but you could keep it from touching your body as much with something skin tight underneath when you go to try them on. You could also get fitted measurements and instead of trying them on purchase them from size and wash them before wearing. This would not be the best if you want to know how it looks on you but it is likely to fit
Loose fitting clothing as well.
@@xerrias that helps thanks
Thrift shops are overflowing with Christmas decor - say what? I didn't saw a second-hand shop in my life with sth else than clothes in it. O.o
Some stores are just clothes, for decor you need to visit one that sells interior or homeware ☺️
ours here are mostly not clothes haha
As a non-vegan, I like beeswax candles from local beekeepers to support them. Also, ugh, my mum is a huge fan of ugly Christmas sweaters but at least we reuse ours for years. Also also, I love Christmas crackers but they usually come with cheap plastic BS that no one needs.
Outdoor lights bug me. Flashing lights all over houses - not good for wildlife and the planet
Hey Gittemary… you and I should not go shopping together and not buy the same stuff! We are two peas in a no-shopping pod!! Instead we could play board games, drink a glass of wine, dance in the kitchen, and maybe do some yoyoing… you know… do some fun things that are social and do not create waste or damage the planet. Happy No-Shopping Holidays and Merry Christmas to you ma fren… 🌎💦Ⓜ️ary☃️🍷🪀
Where I live ppl love fireworks. I always hated them. My reason is my animals. All our dogs from my childhood were scared. And I was as well. I hate fireworks and every year I have to get a special tranqualizer for my dog who is a rescue and anxious on a normal day but around new year she just shivers all day. Makes me so angry. Every year there is a campain against fire works put out by animal shelters. This year especialy it is heart breaking. They posted pictures of beloved dogs that ran away and were never found because they got spooked by the booms. The title is "we are not looking for them anymore". So I hope this stupid tradition will stop someday. We do enough harm to animals as it is. No need to add anything. Ok, rant over.
I cannot understand the decor buying. Who are these ultra wealthy people throwing away and re-buying decor? This seems crazy to me. I have a lot of cheap, plastic decor that was gifted to me or that I bought way back 10 years ago in college before I was zero-waste… and the $1 plastic garland from 10 years ago is still functional! We use it annually. I bet it will last decades or maybe even forever! It’s like the plastic Halloween pumpkins. They’ll never break down in landfill but also this means they never need to be thrown away! We should all still have the same ones from the 90s right? That’s what we are using! Anyway sorry let me step down from this soapbox.
Soy isn’t good or sustainable I use battery powered batteries which look nice and I can have for years hopefully