Eco-Friendly Christmas Gift Guide

Who went from Halloween mode on October 31st to full on Christmas planning on November 1st? Gone are the scary Halloween costumes in the shops, in favour of everything festive. Tis the season of buying gifts. As I have grown older though and my awareness of our environment has increased, it’s struck me just how bad Christmas is for the environment. Just the packaging alone is scary. All the single-use plastic, cards and wrapping paper are environmental nightmares. Not to mention the fast fashion Christmas jumpers that people only wear once a year or the production of many gifts themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas. It’s my favourite festival. Getting to see family, playing games, singing along to Christmas songs and the copious amounts of food are amazing. However, when it comes to sustainability, the most wonderful time of the year, is in fact, not so wonderful. To combat this, here’s a little eco-friendly Christmas gift guide which will (hopefully) provide some inspiration on how to make the festive season kinder to the environment.

*Some items in this post are gifted, but all opinions are my own and 100% honest. Please see my disclaimer for more details.

Let’s start with the cards:

Paperless Post – Send Your Cards Digitally*

How many Christmas cards do you send and receive each year that all end up in the bin or industrial recycling? I imagine it’s quite a few. Plus, you’ve got the envelopes and the emissions from transporting your post.

To reduce waste and to ensure that your cards arrive on time, why not send your Christmas cards digitally? Paperless Post have so many beautiful card designs that you can send through email and they are equally as professional as any paper card. You can also customise the text, envelope and background to create your perfect Christmas card.

Paperless Post kindly gifted me some tokens to test out the cards and it worked so well. I sent a ‘Just because’ card to my mum and dad and the email arrived straight after I sent it.

Wooden Reusable Cards

If you still have a few people that for whatever reason have a preference for traditional physical post, wooden cards that can then be used as decorations are better options. You can personalise the message and the card is not single-use. Brands such as Coulson Macleod sell these using FSC-approved materials and low waste packaging.

Gift Ideas:

Soap Folk – Perfect for Beauty Fans*

Since starting my sustainability journey, beauty and skincare products have been some of the toughest to make more environmental. I have finally found some organic cotton makeup pads that I like and have become a permanent bamboo toothbrush user. 

However, the actual products are a different matter. Trying to find cruelty-free, low waste or zero waste packaging and good ingredients all in one product is hard.

Therefore I was so excited when the team representing Soap Folk got in touch. Soap Folk is an independent soap company and all soaps are handmade here in the UK.

I was kindly gifted the travel mini gift set to try out and the soaps are so nice. 

As a Christmas present for skincare aficionados, the full size soap gift set with 6 bars is a beautiful gift.

What’s more, the soaps are cruelty-free, palm oil free and don’t contain nasty ingredients (you know, no detergents,  SLS, alcohol, parabens, sorbates, silicones, sulphates, preservatives or artificial fragrances, all those kind of things). 

The packaging is also fully recyclable and plastic free.

For the Travel Lover

If you are buying a present for someone who has the travel bug and likes exploring, then sustainable travel gifts are definitely out there.

Choosing to buy from local brands that create handmade gifts is a great sustainable option.

Go Your Own Way is a Lake District-based brand and produces some lovely, customisable travel gifts including wash bags, keyrings, luggage tags and even travel-themed Christmas tree decorations!

Go Your Own Way and Coulson Macleod are not gifting collaborations, but I have discussed with the brands about featuring them in this gift guide.

Create an Eco-Friendly Starter Kit

You’ve heard me rambling on about reusable bags and water bottles so many times now. As a gift idea, turn these basic sustainable lifestyle items into an ‘eco’ starter kit. You could have a bag, water bottle, bamboo brush, travel mug, you name it. All the things someone needs to kickstart their eco lifestyle made into a Christmas hamper!

Alternatively, pop into your local zero waste store and see if they are selling any Christmas gifts.

Pin for later

I hope you find this eco-friendly Christmas gift guide useful and that it inspires your card and gift buying this year. Let me know if you are making Christmas more sustainable this year!

Megan x 

Let’s connect on social media:
Twitter ་ Instagram ་ Facebook ་ Pinterest