by Jane Fellner @ loopster

The Christmas season is beginning. Time to get out your warm sweaters, sip hot chocolate and rush around socialising. But Christmas is also the time of the year when we stress about finding the perfect gift and is it even possible for Christmas to be eco-friendly.

Brits throw out 108 million rolls of wrapping paper every year. Instead of using standard wrapping paper, which is often unrecyclable due to the plastic it’s made with, try using brown or recycled paper instead. You can get your little one involved too, decorating the paper with potato stamps and festive coloured paint.

Or you could get something like this https://www.happywrap.co.uk/product/star-print/

This handmade paper is made from the bark of the Lokta shrub found in the Himalayas. It is harvested by the locals, turned into paper and dyed using natural dyes, so is a natural, renewable source.

Christmas gifts can be difficult, so try to make every gift count.

If you want to make something more sustainable, a homemade gift is a great option, not only is it often cheaper but a homemade gift is also a way of showing that you took the time to make a loved one something special.

One universal gift is candles. You only need 4 ingredients, and once you get going, you can make a whole batch. Re-use jars from the kitchen cupboard to hold the candles. Check out how to here: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com

Homemade biscuits are always a great Christmas option from fantastic Gingerbread men to melting snowman biscuits and also your children can get involved. Or you could get crafty and make bunting or a cushion cover from your old clothes.

Another alternative to be more sustainable is to shop second-hand or vintage. You could checkout local car-boots sales, to find vintage garden tools or unique garden accessories.

For the book worm you know, an antique book or first edition is also a great second-hand gift. Or you could buy a fantastic designer fashion piece at a fraction of the price at one of the many clothes resale sites, like www.loopster.co.uk.

Christmas has become the season of consumption but maybe this year you could rebrand yours as a season of sustainability. Not easy to do but certainly a worthwhile gift.

Find out more

Jane Fellner is an entrepreneur, she started Loopster, an easy way to buy and sell nearly new kids clothes, last year. Previously an investigative filmmaker for twenty years, Jane learned about the human cost of fast fashion when she went undercover in Bangladesh for a film about child labour making clothes for a major retailer.  Ever since she has been passionate about extending the life of clothes.  When she became a working mum, Jane was continually frustrated there wasn’t a quick and easy way to get quality checked nearly new kid’s clothes for her son rather than having to buy new. The idea for Loopster was born.

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