Planning for a Budget Friendly + Sustainable Holiday Season!

[@baywillow9272]

Fully onboard with this, a couple of years ago I gifted everyone calendula seeds, and last year used brown paper saved from packages for gift wrapping, stamped with golden polar bears (need to pick up a couple more wooden stamps for future use). Now if only I could get the grandparents onboard with second hand gifting, I nearly fainted with the amount of plastic packaging from their gifts to the kids last year 😭

[@thewholehome]

I love that! I have calendula seeds for people I know would love them this year too :)

[@coraclouden2506]

Amen to not having to have a Hollywood Christmas. And home made gifts are always well received. I have previously done mini food hampers with jams, chutney and flavoured oils, body care hampers, and scented candles. They were cherished so much more than shop bought gifts That's a good idea about buying reduced meat and freezing it. Thanks for the tips and ideas 🤎

[@thewholehome]

There are some amazing DIY gift options out there! This year I saved seeds from our garden and in designing some seed packets to put them in and gift with a terracotta pot! And yes, the meat one saves a lot.

[@mariabooks264]

Love this content! I was wondering if you had any ideas for gift wrapping. At the moment I'm experimenting with painting my own using the brown paper that comes with packages. But i was wondering if you had any sustainable ideas for the holidays ☺️

[@thewholehome]

Such a great question and a place my husband really had to work on undoing norms in favour of something with better impact! 😜 Sometimes you can find rolls at charity shops, or even old wall paper which I've used before. But we find that we can save enough bits through the year to get us through Christmas without buying more. In the states we saved paper grocery bags that would inevitably end up in our lives and even decorated them - but in England people are just better at bringing their own bags and there are less paper ones which I love. Also in terms of wrapping, some are made of recycled materials and are recyclable which I'd opt for if buying new, whereas some are mixed materials and can't be recycled. My top choice buying new would be a craft paper that can be thrown the compost. You could also, dpending on how crafty you are - buy and old sheet and sew bags for items - you can make a drawstring bag quite easily that could be a great way to wrap!

[@MM-fq6tr]

The Japanese method of Furoshiki using fabric scraps has also been a lifesaver, though can take a bit of practice.

[@thewholehome]

Ah yes I love that!!

[@mariabooks264]

@@thewholehome thank you for the tips!

[@GoOnWalkBarefoot]

Great video. Thank you. Id love to know how you did the silhouettes. It would be a great gift!

[@thewholehome]

Yes! There are more grandchildren than there were last year so I have some more to do 😆 and I’m going to make a full video. But I got a silhouette photo (harder than I thought with the little ones!) then removed the background digitally. You could turn it black here and just print and go but I wanted more handmade and a piece of art. So I traced it with thin paper and manually adjusted as needed so it really looked like the person. Then cut the thin paper, stuck it onto thicker black paper backwards… and cut out the black paper which was the final one! Then I finished it by sticking it on card-stock and signing them. I need to post a photo!

[@georgiagreenfield]

This is a fab attitude, and I'm all for personal sustainability. But often it feels like eco folks put a monumental effort into reducing our own individual consumption, when I think its much more important, especially when posting to thousands, to encourage political and social activism. Reducing our personal consumption makes us feel better but doesnt create the systemic change that will curb climate change.

[@thewholehome]

I think both are important - I’m all for both and we need both and I talk about both! Totally with you. I think often these small personal acts of change (a) all people feel capable of, and I want to empower that piece of the journey too. But (b) they are part of the journey in building the amount people care. It often starts with reducing our own personal waste, or choosing to reduce our consumption around the holidays, or something else, and then grows into something bigger. I also think it’s not genuine to write to MPs, campaign, vote etc, if we’re buying fast fashion gifts for people around the holidays, buying plastic decorations, and creating the statistical level of waste. So we need both together - each one is part of the puzzle!