The time has finally arrived: since the first Advent, we can get into the Christmas spirit without feeling guilty that it’s too early for that. And by Christmas spirit we mean getting buzzed with mulled wine! Don’t get us wrong: we love Christmas! Christmas is a magical time full of lights, sparks, cookies and gingerbread. But it’s also a time when consumerism and the pressure to buy more stuff, intensifies. The shops all around town fill up with crowds of people in a shopping frenzy for Christmas presents. Fast fashion, plastic toys and unsustainable cosmetics tested on animals are often bought in even larger quantities than usual. Not to mention all the packaging waste that comes from just wrapping gifts.
For climate-conscious individuals, this can be hard to watch. But if you don’t want to appear stingy to your entire family, you’ve got to buy gifts anyway. And by the way, aren’t gifts the best way to make sustainability appealing to our friends and family? So here are a few ideas for a not-just-white Christmas, but a green one too.
Sustainable Xmas Gifts
1. Vintage Ugly Xmas Sweater
One of our favourite ideas is a Vintage Ugly Xmas Sweater. Christmas movies like Bridget Jones Diary or The Grinch have given the Xmas jumper a real renaissance. In cool second hand shops you can find a bunch of jumpers embroidered with reindeers, elves, snowflakes and Santa Claus himself. In bright colours like green or red, the Ugly Xmas Sweaters are so tacky that they’re actually cool. Plus, this gift will undoubtedly bring a smile to the face of the giftee and add to the wearing and spreading of the Christmas, year after year!
2. Zero Waste Cosmetics
Beauty products are always a good idea for grandmothers or the distant aunt whose interests you don’t really follow. Instead of buying classic cosmetics that contain micro-plastics and have been tested on animals, there are now plenty of sustainable and vegan Zero Waste cosmetics that are respectful of the environment and better for the skin. The list stretches from solid shampoos and Aleppo soaps, to bamboo toothbrushes and reusable organic cotton make-up wipes. You definitely can’t go wrong with zero waste cosmetics for Christmas (or any other occasion to be fair)!
The Perfect Boxers by SANVT are the perfect sustainable Xmas gift.
3. Sustainable boxer shorts
Did you know that two of the most popular Christmas gifts are actually socks and boxers? Sustainable socks are neat, but let’s face it, socks aren’t really cool as a gift. A more daring gift, on the other hand, are sustainable boxer shorts. The Perfect Boxers by SANVT, for example, are incredibly soft, extra durable and made from a fine blend of premium cotton and sustainable Tencel™ Modal. Climate neutral and fairly produced in Portugal, our boxers are the perfect sustainable Xmas gift for partners, siblings or friends.
4. Annual subscription to carbon offsetting
Probably one of the most pragmatic (but also greenest) gifts on our list is a subscription to a CO2 offsetting project. After all, despite our best efforts, we still all have a rather large carbon footprint. Our ecological footprint depends on our lifestyle, what we eat, our means of transportation and our energy consumption. Initiatives like Project Wren allow us to estimate our average monthly ecological footprint. Once that’s done, Wren allows that carbon footprint to be compensated through hand-picked, high quality offset projects. Climate neutrality as a subscription!
5. Homemade biscuits
No gift comes as much from the heart as the one you have made yourself. Home-made vegan biscuits are the ideal gift for parents, friends and acquaintances of all kinds (also very popular in the office by the way). Especially when the biscuits are festively decorated, made from sustainable and wholesome ingredients, vegan and organic, and presented in a beautiful reusable biscuit tin. Homemade biscuits are probably one of the warmest, least expensive and most sustainable Xmas gifts that will put a smile on absolutely everyone’s face. Especially those with a sweet tooth.
More ideas for a Green Christmas
Of course, there is a long list for other sustainable Xmas gifts, such as sustainable toys and soy wax crayons for the kids, sustainable kitchen tools like beeswax wraps or vegan cooking classes for the food enthusiasts, biodegradable phone cases or solar power phone chargers for the techies, reusable coffee mugs to-go, and much more. So get inspired to choose your gifts consciously this year to give your loved ones a merry, green Christmas.
And last but not least, here’s a tip: use recycled wrapping paper or wrap your gifts in old newspaper to make both the content and the packaging sustainable. Click here, to read more about how to wrap gifts sustainably.