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5 Tips for a More Eco-Friendly Christmas
The summer Christmas! Backyard cricket, BBQs, excited children and the seemingly never-ending school holidays. A great time of year no doubt, but also a time of high stress, high spending and buying a lot of stuff you might not need.
I’m not going to advocate a completely zero-waste Christmas – even I would find that tough. It is, however, a good time to re-think your planning and see where you might swap out a less sustainable option or change your behaviour in small but meaningful ways. Progress not perfection, I say!
So without further preamble, here are my five ideas for a sustainable Christmas in 2025
#1 Setting Expectations for Gifts
The best way to live sustainably is to buy less. In our whanau, the kids get gifts, the adults don’t. Some years this changes – I got my folks a good quality IronClad knife last year – but we always have the convo, so that we don’t get a load of stuff we don’t need. Or, I might ask for socks (yes you heard me, I’m happy to get socks for Christmas) because I need them one year, but maybe a couple of t-shirts the next year. We have asked for less plasticky toys for the kids of course, but you do need to pick your battles!
#2 Gift Wrapping
Using single use fancy paper that often can’t be recycled is a bit pointless. Yes it looks nice under the tree, but it never lasts long. We use newspaper, pillowcases or even that massive stack of artwork from school that you’re never allowed to throw out… Get creative!
#3 Build a Wooden Tree
This one is a bit more work, but is a fun family project if you’re up for it! We are lucky enough to live next to Titahi Bay beach, so we collected a bunch of driftwood and drilled some holes in the middle. After that Laura went to her favourite place (Bunnings/Mitre 10) for a long metal pole that was drilled into a log and done! Not quite easy-peasy, but not super hard either. That was three years ago and the wood tree gets brought out, brushed down and used each year. Perfect! To be fair, if you have a plastic tree that you’ve had for years, keep using it – reusing existing items is always a good option.
#4 Wooden Advent Calendar
Every year my Mum buys my kids advent calendars from the supermarket. These are getting better, but they are often plastic on plastic and just in general come with lots of packaging. Luckily, one year a Solid supplier gifted us a wooden advent calendar with cute little drawers for where you can put lollies or chocolates in. Now all I have to do is remember to fill them up the night before and happy kiddies!
#5 Stay Local
This one might be easy because many of us do this already. Australia is a lovely country and a great place to spend time on the beach, out on the bike, going on a hike etc. In my opinion, Christmas is not a time for fancy overseas holidays, but for reconnecting with friends and family. Keep it simple. See the family, book a holiday house with friends and keep it local.
All of these ideas are easy ways to have a more sustainable Christmas. As you might note, they are also good ways to save money at a time where the budget can be a little stretched. This is not a coincidence – we pay ourselves at Solid now but it wasn’t always the case. However, I never look back on those financially stretched years with regret. The simple life works for me and gives me more time for what matters over the holidays, which is spending time with the kids and enjoying the time with my family.
So friends, find out what works for you and be proud of every little change you make.
-Adam