🌲 CHRISTMAS TREE

• The eco pecking order:

  • Artificial tree (ONLY if you already have one!) - use it for the rest of your days or if you’re starting from scratch buy a real one, preferably in this order…

  • Real tree in a pot you keep at home - find some here and use this guide to learn how to look after it

  • Real tree rented (see below)

  • Real tree that’s cut which is FSC certified and sourced as locally as possible and disposed of properly!

• Rented trees - use Google (or Ecosia!) to find your local suppliers but here’s some examples:

  • Cotswold Fir – Gloucestershire

  • Love A Christmas Tree – Kirkby Mallory, Leicestershire

  • London Christmas Tree rental – London

• “Non-tree” tree ideas!

#onemorepersontolove - plant a tree through the Woodland Trust or Make It Wild to give to future generations.

🎀 DECORATIONS

• if you need some new ones, making them, especially with young kids, is super fun and you can keep them year after year - there's tons of ideas like these online.

• When you do buy, look for things that will last for generations - made from wood, ceramic, metal or glass vs plastic.

• Avoid glitter and tinsel as they’re just fancy plastic that won't breakdown.

• So let the twinkly fairy lights do all the sparkling we need! String fairy lights over existing greenery in your house or outside, or around your pictures and mirrors

• For candles, buy natural ones from soya, beeswax etc. like these

🎁 GIFT WRAP

• Furoshiki fabric wrap - how do it here

• Newspaper gift wrapping ideas - here

• Eco art materials - here - or use old wall paint!

• Ditch the Sellotape and choose paper tape, washi tape or twine

• Skip the glitter as it’s typically just microplastics.

And here’s a Spotify playlist of tunes to get you in the mood whilst you wrap!

💌 CARDS

• Ideas for homemade fingerprint cards - here

• Make festive postcards - using the front page of cards from last year, turn them into a postcard and add your own little recycled logo so recipients understand what you’re doing and might get inspired!

• Plantable seed cards - here

• Buy from independent sellers on Etsy or Not On the High Street, or from the likes of the Woodland Trust - look for FSC certified cards.

• e-Cards from Paperless Post

• Or send this via text message!

#onemorepersontolove - who’s one person you could send a card to who might feel a bit lonely this festive season?

🎉 CRACKERS

• DIY kit to make your own - here’s a how to guide and you can find kits here

• Christmas Cracker jokes - here

• Plastic free crackers can be found in most supermarkets now or you can buy from a charity that you support like the RSPCA or Cancer Research UK

Prepare a feast that’s delicious, nutritious and kind:

🌱 PLANT BASED - our top pick Christmas dinner is a Mushroom Wellington from the Bosh Boys and they’ve got a whole Christmas dinner video cook along. For Hanukkah, check out this vegan brisket! For an easy, yummy, plant-based day here’s Abel and Cole’s Vegan Christmas Recipe Box, all ready to go. And of course all the supermarkets have heaps of oven-ready options now too. Check them out (and the mince pies!) next time you’re there.

🥩 MEAT - choose organic where you can in the supermarket or buy from the farmers doing it right through: Riverford, Abel & Cole, and The Ethical Butcher.

🐟 FISH - it’s all about choosing mature fish, which have plentiful stocks, caught with minimal bycatch and no damage to the sea bed: Abel & Cole,The Pesky Fish, Sole of Discretionare all good choices.

🧀 CHEESE - The Ethical Dairy is doing dairy farming right - keeping calves with their mothers. It’s the kindest cheese you can buy. If buying from the supermarket, choose organic where you can.

🍫 CHOCOLATES - Chocolate is right up there in terms of planetary impact higher even than pork and chicken! It’s because it’s so entwined with deforestation, palm oil and its use of milk and more…

So go for the brands doing it beautifully like Mon Choco, Cocoa Loco, Ombar - all available online. Or Booja Booja and Divine easily available in good supermarkets.

As a minimum, look for Fairtrade chocolate like these chocolate coins that can be used for Hanukkah gelt.

🗑️ EAT IT ALL! - we waste tonnes of food at Christmas which is a tragedy for the animals, the land and our pockets! Don’t let that be you:

• check out the brilliant Kate Hall for all her Christmas food freezer tips, including how to prep a lot in advance!

• use the meal food portion calculator to try to get the catering spot on!

• advertise your leftover produce on Olio or check there before you nip out for more!

#onemorepersontolove - there’s now more food banks in the UK than McDonalds, so if you can make a donation to the supermarket food collection, put in something special along with the staples, like the finest mince pies or loveliest biscuits! Or even better donate to Fareshare UK (£10 + gift aid = 100 meals) or cook a meal for someone via the wonderful Free My Meal

EXPERIENCES

• Traitors experience

• Harry Potter Studios tour

• Escape Rooms - search for your local one online, they’re all over the country now

• Ten pin bowling - search for your local bowling alley online

• Class Bento - for all sorts of in person and online classes to learn everything from making dim sum to jewellery

• For the sporty types, maybe a ticket to their local football team or check out the 2026 sports events happening in the UK, like: The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham or the Women’s cricket World Cup T20 around the UK

• For the adventurers, look up local indoor climbing walls, paddle boarding and kayaking

• Search for survival skills experience, like the Family Mini Survival Adventure in Kent

• For foodies, look up local foraging and outdoor cooking classes, like these from the Salt Box and Nomadic. Or find a local Green Michelin Star restaurant

• Check out the safari’s and camping offered by Knepp, the amazing rewilding project in Sussex

• Look for vineyard and distillery tours like these at Silent Pool Gin Distillery, Albury Vineyard or Gusbourne

• Book a night or weekend under the sky with Canopy and Stars

• For film buffs, a cinema voucher is always welcome or treat them to a trip where cinema began in the UK - Regent Street cinema

• For more ideas and inspiration have a look at Red Letter Days and Virgin Experience Days

NEW TO THEM

Buy pre-loved for something that costs less and lessens the load on the planet. Here’s some ideas:

• Gift a vintage Vinyl you own or skip off down to a local record store. There’s plenty online too.

• Or a cherished book - you can also get these for a snip from World Of Books or your local charity shop - often in mint condition too.

• Refurbished gadgets, like phones, laptops, games consoles and more, from Reboxed or Back Market

• Check out eBay Refurbished for items certified by the manufacturers, a 1 year warranty and free delivery and returns.

• eBay Charity Shops - often saving their best items for their eBay stores - find your charity store here.

• Luxury secondhand fashion and accessories from Vestiaire Collective.

• For the kids… Loved Before has adorable adopted soft toys. Wunderduds and Little Loop do clothing too.

• For your pets, check out the Vinted Pet Section. Charity shops are great for kids soft toys, balls etc that pets love.

TOP TIP: to shift the awkwardness we can sometimes feel buying secondhand or asking for ‘no stuff’, turn it into a group challenge - for your colleagues, for your family, for your friends. Game on!

GET PERSONAL

Give something made by you…

• A personalised digital playlist - great for friends and family overseas and last minute gifts. Or maybe a custom song from Songfinch!

• A hand drawn sketch, pottery or other handmade creation

• Home-made jams, oils, pickles always go down a treat. As do cookies and biscuits!

• A potted plant that you’ve grown yourself. Facebook Marketplace is great for cheap secondhand pots.

• Framed memorabilia (e.g. concert tickets) - get your frame from a charity shop for a snip!

• A voucher for your time - to babysit one weekend for a friend, make breakfast in bed for your partner, and more!

• Or head to a local craft market to get something unique and support a maker near you, or head to Etsy online.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

• To try to minimise the ‘toys mountain’, ask friends and family to contribute to a Junior ISA, savings account or Premium Bonds.

• For parents over-run with toys, a toy rental subscription like this from Whirli is a life, planet and clutter saver

• Look up your local animal sanctuary and see if they offer an annual pass - a great gift for a young family who could do with some free days out in the year!

• Family memberships to our national treasures: National Trust; RSPB; RHS; English Heritage; National Art Pass

• Magazine subscriptions for specialist areas of interest, such as these

• Discover the family history with an Ancestry subscription.

• For the curious and the life long learners check out Masterclass, BBC Maestro and the How to Academy

• For someone needing more peace, a subscription to the meditation platforms Headspace or Calm might be just the ticket

• For pure indulgence, a vegan brownie subscription from Cake or Death. Ooh!

• For coffee lovers, check out the ultimate planet-friendly coffee subscription from Bird and Wildor Grind for their compostable pods.

• For drinks lovers, maybe a Beer52 subscription or, for tee-totallers, there’s JOMO Club (the Joy Of Missing Out!).

#onemorepersontolove Who’s one more person, beyond your family and friends, who’d really appreciate a gift this year - maybe your local hospital, homeless shelter or a lonely neighbour? Let’s spread Big Love this year.

🔄 RENT YOUR OUTFIT

Find show stoppers at: By Rotation, Hurr Collective, My Wardrobe HQ and Hire Street.

🏷️ BUY PRELOVED

Buy a showstopper outfit (some still new with tags!) on platforms like Vinted, Vestiaire Collective, Depop and Thrift+.

• Remove any plastic tape from your gifts and put it in your general waste bin

• Then do this test to check if you can recycle the wrapping paper. Scrunch the wrapping paper into a ball, if it stays scrunched you’re good to recycle it. If it bounces back open you can’t.

• Take any defunct fairy lights to your nearest recycling point here - do NOT put in your general waste bin.

• For any foil (sweet wrappers, etc), remember to scrunch them into a ball the size of a tennis ball before you put it in the recycling.

• For anything you’re not sure about head to Recycle Now