Make do...Festive style!

OK, so this post is about to vear off the fashion path for a minute or two. But don't worry, i'm not about to ask you all to stop buying presents and start buying goats for the third world instead. As admirable a gesture as that would be, this is far too consumerist a blog for me to start pretending that I don't want any lovely gifties!

But there are some ways you can be environmentally friendly this christmas without sacrificing to the ugliness Gods. In fact your friends will probably be more impressed by how much effort you put in!

1. Wrap your presents in newspaper. This was something I first experiemented with when I was at uni. £1 a roll might not seem like much now, but back then.....

Have no fear, i'm not talking about tearing a page out of the london lite and throwing it over a gift! Pick a page from a newspaper or magazine with a really amazing image. A dress by their favourite designer, an advert from their favourite shop, even a funny article you read which made you think of them. Draw or write on top of the image, drawing attention to why you chose it, for an extra personal touch.

Similarly make the decorations a part of the gift. Badges, hair ties, simple jewellery (if you can afford it) even sweets and chocolate add an extra special present and could cost less than the yards of ribbon that gets torn off and immediately thrown away.

2. Photos make great gift tags. What do you do with gift tags? Read them and throw them away! Without sounding like a crazed eco warrior, can you imagine how many trees would be wasted if every single gift tag written was thrown away? And who remembers a "beautiful gift tag" anyway? Why not put a photo of the person you are giving the present to on top of the gift. Or better still, a photo of the two of you together. It does the same as a gift tag (says who the gift is to and from) but leaves you with something you can keep afterwards. And (to risk sounding like a hallmark card) a great memory of someone you know cared enough to make the effort.

What would you rather receive?

This:

Or this:Exactly!

You can have the Christmas you dreamed of, full of nice personal touches, without having to spend any money on the wrappings and without doing any excess harm to that lovely green stuff we all enjoy so much!

PS - Whether you buy it from the shop or make it yourself from old newspapers and magazines, please please make sure you recycle all your wrapping paper. Giving your friends and family an amzing Christmas shouldn't cost the environment anything! Ahem. Ok i'm done. I'll climb off my soap box now.

Thanks,

Tor x