Christmas is a great time of year. With 20 + entertainment ideas and green gifts for Mom, you can make it an eco Christmas and green holiday season.
Eat, drink, and be merry is a common practice during the holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the other winter holidays are a fabulous time of year to spend time with family and friends. It is great time to decrease waste, stress and spending, but we usually are focused on the logistics of celebrating and entertaining rather than having an eco Christmas.
Eco Christmas Entertainment Ideas
As much as we enjoy the holiday festivities, we may not be practicing green living as much as our heart wants to do. Here are twenty ideas to think about and implement. Despite what Kermit the Frog says, It IS easy to be green.
- Clean green. Before and after guests, cleaning is inevitable. There are many ways that ensures a healthy environment for instance using the super concentrated cleaners that have been certified as green by a third party available from Green Cleaning Products LLC or with the Fluffy Microfiber Duster by Cleans Green™ at BestDuster.com.
- Plan food shopping with a mindset of cutting down on the waste we generate. For example, we discard seven percent of the milk that we buy. Instead of buying two pints today, buy one now and one later.
- Eat local, shop local and organic.
- Use seasonal fruits, vegetables, fish. That is why cranberries are so popular this time of year.
- Grow your dinner, but remember to plan ahead as most winter vegetables need to be planted in June and July. September and October is time to take advantage of the berry glut.
- Put the lid on the spuds and sprouts. Covering pans during cooking cuts the carbon footprint.
- Reduce food waste by eating up leftovers.
- Before fruit goes bad, put it in an ice-cube tray with water or juice, then freeze and use later.
- Make soup with the vegetables that are beginning to wilt rather than discarding them.
- Use ingredients that are already in either the fridge or cupboards.
- Buy in bulk, instead of purchasing cans of soda and small bags of chips.
- Cook once, eat thrice. Cook large batches of food that can be used in a number of items throughout the week.
- Make a healthy dish rather than using pre-packaged sides and snacks that are full of preservatives.
- Serve less meat. Chicken, pork, and, especially, beef, take a heavier toll on the environment than do veggies.
- Make smarter drinking choices with organic juices, liquor, wines and beers. (Drink responsibly.)
- Keep drinking water in the refrigerator. A running faucet uses 3-5 gallons a minute.
- Simmer cloves and ginger instead of burning candles.
- Break the habit of disposable dishes for big crowds at dinner. Use cloth napkins.
- If disposable dishes and utensils must be used, buy them made from recycled or compostable material. Place easily identifiable recycling and compost containers so your guests can help.
- Adopt a new Christmas tradition. Create your own or borrow a greener tradition from elsewhere. Germany has an entertaining hunt where you find the pickle on the Christmas tree game, while Denmark has the beautiful St. Lucy festival mid-December that involves eating lots of homemade cinnamon buns with your family. In Mexico, Christmas coincides with El Festival de los Rabanos (Festival of the Radishes) where a whole day dedicated to the humble radish that includes carving them into pretty decorations. British “wassail” is based on the Saxon wæs hæil toast to good health. (Wassailing was intended to ensure a good cider apple crop in the following year but in practice usually means imbibing lots of cider or real ale punch with friends and family.)
To further advance your eco Christmas, check out the green gift ideas, presented by Green Cleaning Products LLC at Green Christmas Gifts for Mom and Grandma (http://greencleaningproductsllc.com/green-christmas-gifts-mom-grandma-cleans-green-shares/ ).
Looking for more great ideas to ensure your Christmas holidays are as green as they can be? Green Cleaning Products LLC, owner of the Cleans Green™ brand, published the ‘Tis the Season to Green Your Christmas: Why (and How) to Have a Joyous Eco Holiday Season eBook. This is where you will find more than 80 ideas to celebrate while you are saving the planet.
‘Tis the Season to Green Your Christmas
Click Here to Get Your Own Copy
Love these tips that combine what’s practical with what’s healthy and green!