Hello! Honestly I haven't been feeling very festive this year and I'm not sure
why. So this year I'm trying to have a minimal waste eco-friendly holiday
season, and this has sparked some amount of inspiration for me. It's helped me
feel a bit more festive and I have some ideas for you guys on how you can enjoy
your own eco-friendly Christmas. I'm not even bringing up the Christmas
tree this year just one box of decor, and then that's it. So the very first thing
that you want to do when you want to dedicate yourself to a minimal waste
holiday is to tell everybody that you know. Tell your friends, tell your family.
You never know you might inspire somebody to do the same thing and maybe
even giving ideas from this video to let them know what kind of ideas could
create a smaller footprint for the holidays. So in terms of gift-giving, it
is not part of my love language. I'm not great at it and I'm not great at
receiving it, but what I do love is to exchange experiences. Do winter
activities going to the Christmas market going skiing and snowboarding and
already that's the least controversial way that you can have a waste-free
holiday. If you must gift, maybe think about regifting.
If you create like a theme around it. Some people might be iffy about thrifting
and buying secondhand pieces. I myself would really appreciate it because it
means that you took the time to look for something and like find a one-of-a-kind
piece that you couldn't have found anywhere else. And if you tell your
friends and family to create a wish list, then it makes it all that much easier to
find something that is possibly secondhand. If they're okay with it. I
know not everybody is okay with it. Wrapping paper is super not friendly so
anything with glitter and plastic coating on your paper renders it non
recyclable. Every single person, the amount of garbage that think they create
per present that all goes to the landfill.
That sucks. You can thrift a scarf, you can thrift old fabric you can use craft
paper, newspaper, or a reusable tote. First of all it saves you money, you don't need
to be buying glitter or wrapping paper anymore. And then the person receiving
your gift gets two presents because they have a new pillowcase, or a new scarf or
a new tote bag, whatever. Another embellished glittery paper holiday
tradition that is terrible, Christmas cards. I think I'm the worst because I
throw away my Christmas cards every year. I don't like to keep them for sentimental
reasons and even though people write lovely letters, I just can't bring myself
to hold an archive of physical cards every year. And these days it's like
there are so many card options available and yes of course it's a nice note. Maybe
because I'm feeling Grinchy this year. Express your love verbally or digitally,
but try to avoid cards. So for decor if you know me, every year I go crazy. I love
decor. You can easily find eco-friendly decor. You could go outside pick up a
pinecone for all I care. I have some natural things that I found in the past.
This beautiful bag of pinecones $2.99 at Talize. The thrift store is a treasure
trove of decor items. A fun place to check out is the infant section because
you can find the cutest little thing that can double as Christmas ornaments.
The parents place is where you can get other secondhand items for free! And I
prefer items that have sentimental value and these two these were my sister and
my Christmas ornaments. These will go up every year and now it looks like now it
looks like Stefan and me. We're at the midpoint of the video let's emphasize
that we're just trying to be as eco-friendly as possible I'm not saying
that we have to be zero waste but if you do buy new, try thinking about things
that you're gonna have to throw away. After the first time for example tinsel,
plastic garland's and wreaths, those are things that you want to stay away
from. Try to buy dried items or even find different DIY ways to decor. Growing up
my dad used to take us to Ikea and we would buy a new real Christmas tree
every year. He wanted us to have like a real Canadian Christmas and he refused
to buy a fake tree. The smell was the best but I can live without it. I'm fine
not having a Christmas tree. But I actually thrifted my reusable Christmas
tree. There are a ton of Christmas trees to choose from and this one has lights
in it mine doesn't have lights built in. And if you missed that tree, light up
that pine scented candle and you'll be all good. Opalma is gonna be our honorary
Christmas tree this year. I don't know how we're gonna attach different things
but... You can DIY your decor but you can also DIY your presents, or buy from local
vendors who are creating reusable items for you to use at home. If you need any
DIY present ideas you can check out my holiday playlist. Every year I think I do
DIY holiday presents. And then your holiday parties. Parties can be so hectic
when you're going from one place to the next or if you're hosting. If it's just
the two of us and we're hosting we don't have enough plates for everybody so
don't be ashamed, just ask your friends to bring their own plates, or even ask
them to bring their own Tupperware. That way they eat and can take food home. Now
I know that certain people could be offended by this but when it comes to
our family nobody really cares, so this holiday season I'm going to be bringing
my own holiday go bag and that includes cutlery, and plates, and Tupperware
because I would love to take some food home, and reasonable cups and straws. Even
though nobody else in the party is participating and they're gonna be using
paper plates, you're just one less person that will be doing that. So as always I
want to emphasize that we could aim for zero waste that's obviously
ideal, but of course sometimes it's not realistic and you don't want to upset
people in the holidays. Holiday season can be crazy. Just some creative ways
that I found to work around that. Let me know in the comments how you plan on
minimizing waste for the holidays and you can find me on instagram @letitiakiu
Happy Holidays! Bye