Fall 2010 issue — The holiday season is a special time. People look forward to gathering with friends and family, and celebrating with meals and gifts as they create happy memories. All that celebration can lead to a lot of waste; with gift wrapping, frequent shopping trips and decking the halls, but it doesn’t have to lead to so much waste. There are several ways that you can “green” your holiday season.
Eating green
You don’t have to give up meat to go green at the dinner at the holiday table. In fact, organic foods are more accessible than they have been in years, and this includes the local level. With so many choices in organic products, you can feel good splurging on a healthy holiday meal at your local health food shop.
Buying a turkey or other meats from a local butcher or health food store is healthier, and sends a message about the sorts of products that you want to see circulating through your grocery shelves. Cut-out the chemicals from the meat you eat, and you may even recognize some health benefits, too!
Places such as Good Earth Market in Ocean View, Del., offer pre-ordering for your organic turkey, and that benefits smaller farmers, as well as supporting a step in a greener direction. Other local retailers, such as Johnson’s Country Market in Roxana, Del., carry all-natural birds from just to the north, at Wyoming, Del.’s T.A. Farms. So, this holiday season, impress your friends and family with an organic, feel-good meal.
Forgo the gift wrap
This small change can make a big impact, on both your wallet and your environment. By wrapping gifts in recycled gift wrap and bags (you can save them throughout the year), you can save a ton on those expensive in-season wrapping papers. Don’t have any leftover gift bags? Not to worry. Recycle your newspapers and wrap gifts in those, and add a nice holiday touch by adding red and green ribbons. It still says “holiday” but without the enormous waste of fabricated papers.
Another great way to still wrap your gifts but give it a renewable twist is to use fabric rather than paper wrapping. ACTS in Clarksville, Del., and good-old Goodwill and other thrift shops, sell fabric for bargain prices. Fabric tied around a gift is beautiful, and surely has more uses beyond the holiday.
Recycle your decorations
Many people like to mix it up from year to year and buy new decorations. This year, you could reuse your decorations from last year, or go to your local thrift store and stock up there. Thrift stores are chock full of great finds and, by recycling decorations, you are certainly doing your environmental part to cut out unnecessary waste. You can also donate your old decorations, so that someone else can use them.
Alternatively, make a fun family project of decorating and making homemade decorations. From origami ornaments to handmade center pieces for the table, the possibilities are endless when you do-it-yourself.
Eco-friendly paper is available for craft-making, and there are likely lots of items laying about the house that can be used for crafting, such as cotton balls (for Santa’s beard, of course). Also, whenever working on craft projects, save your scraps of paper for later projects — you’ll be surprised how handy they can be.
Buy a plantable tree
Nothing says “Christmas” like a Christmas tree, and some people just love to have the fresh smell of pine in their home during the winter. So often, though, those trees are chopped down, decorated and then quickly discarded, without a thought to mulching or using again in some regard. Instead, buy a living tree from a local nursery, and then plant it outside your home following the holiday. Your Christmas tree can become a part of your landscape and help the environment in one fell swoop.
This is also a fun family activity following the holiday, and one that teaches responsibility to children. Don’t have a property that would accommodate such a tree? That’s OK, too, but in that case, you may want to go with an artificial tree that can last for years to come to minimize your impact on the environment.
Shop locally
Shopping locally keeps money local — a very green concept when you think about the larger picture. Buying from online companies can take much-needed money out of the local economy. By shopping at local stores, you can keep those businesses ticking all year long — something important in this often-seasonal economy.
Shopping online also comes with “strings attached,” because the gas and oil burned up in shipping only adds to the nation’s ever-growing energy difficulties.
Buying green gifts
Innovation meets nostalgia with the green toy industry. Fostering both fun and environmental responsibility is a two-fold gift. Green toys are widely available on the national market, and in our own back yard. Some of these local stores cater exclusively to children, but some also offer gifts for children of all ages.
Here are a few of the retailers in our area that sell toys that are environmentally responsible and safer for children to play with because of their “green” make-up:
• Tree House – Rehoboth Beach, Del.: Located right on the avenue in Rehoboth, this store is trendy and green. It has toys for children, and other goodies for adults.
• EcoChic – Milford, Del.: 2010 Best of Delaware “Greenest Store DownState” award-winner, and located in the historic Downtown area of Milford, this eco friendly yet oh-so-chic store offers a smaller selection of green children’s toys, but their top sellers are organic skincare lines, candles, jewelry and Jane Ireldale makeup.
• Think Fast Toys – Selbyville, Del.: Call ahead to shop their warehouse in Selbyville, where you can find all sorts of green goodies for that special child in your life. From recycled plastic dump trucks to biodegradable balloons and everything in between.
• Made By Hand – South Bethany, Del.: They offer fair-trade toys that are made from natural materials, as well as recycled products. They have very interesting and inspiring gifts from all over the world.
However you celebrate this holiday season, there are several small ways you can green your holiday routine. By making small changes, we do help affect the bigger picture, which is something that can make the holiday season feel even more warm and fuzzy.
