While a white Christmas would be the ultimate green decoration, we aren’t always so lucky. So I am going to give you a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing and inspire you to include some green in your holiday decorating. There are many simple eco friendly ways to decorate the home without spending a lot of money or time. The following ideas are great family activities and a way to get back to the basics.
Remember reuse or repurpose as many items as possible this year. You may not think you are doing something green but you very well may be….Just look at our very own Jen P. She may be a green diva in the making and doesn’t even know it. She has been making beautiful light displays with empty wines bottles. This is a fabulous way to repurpose a great bottle. They make great gifts and are perfect to have at home. I will try to explain the process but Jen may have to correct me if I am off track:) I plan to try and make these this year but we are short on empty wine bottles since I am cut off until my March due date. I don’t think it would be wise to be seen rooting through my neighbor’s trash in search of empty bottles, might make for a bad story with the police.
Start off by soaking the empty bottle or bottles in hot water overnight to remove the label. Then you take lights, a small stand of 40 that you can find at Michael’s, place inside the bottle and then attach a beautiful holiday themed bow on the outside. Voila!
Here are some more suggestions for making your holiday decorating a gift to Mother Earth.
-String popcorn
-Reuse everything – For instance, make one of a kind home made cards with recycled paper.
-Wrap with the comics or recycled paper or use reusable bags. You can always let the kids color the Sunday paper with markers or paint and you have one of a kind wrapping paper. The amount of gift wrap and packaging that ends up in the trash is just not acceptable. You will save some money this way as well. Who doesn’t want to save money in this economy? If you just have to have new paper then use recycled gift wrap such as Fish Lips. I LOVE this site for cool designs and paper is 100% recycled.
– Use soy or beeswax candles
– Use LED lights
– Paint pinecones or dip in soy wax and glitter
– Use fabric scraps to make linens or tree skirts
– West Elm features David Stark’s holiday décor, many which are made from 100% natural or recycled materials, such as cardboard and West Elm catalogs.
– Make felted wool garland. You can visit the Purl Bee’s website for how to instructions
– Buy organic candy canes from the Natural Candy Store
– Recycled glass snowflake ornament
– Recycled sweater stockings- use old sweaters to make one of a kind stockings.
– Solar powered Wreath 
If you are in the market for new ornaments then you must check out the beautiful work done by Delores Holbrook Dixon. These are lovely! I am ordering these for myself and as gifts. They are one of a kind and are even more fabulous in person. Delores is a local artist in Charlotte and really does amazing work. The ornaments are hand painted and like I said, one of a kind. You can order these by contacting Delores at:
D. Holbrook Dixon Fine Arts & Design
Delores Holbrook Dixon
Charlotte , N. C.
704 542 0897
Pixelhues@aol.com
Stay tuned for information on how to recycle cards to a charity and how to recycle your Christmas tree. Please let us know if you have any green decorating tips to share with other Smarties!
3 comments
Smarties, do not be afraid to raid your neighbor's recycling bins. I do it every year for my wine/light bottle treat! This is not a new concept by any stretch, but I am of the mindset that you can't have enough of these! We have them in every bathroom, two in our kitchen and two in our dining room. They are so festive and fun to decorate. Plus, you won't feel so guilty draining some last minute wine bottles in preparation!
Recycled sweater stockings – I never thought of that! Using old sweaters (or any old article of clothing, really) sounds like a great idea. Buying brand new stockings would be more expensive & less interesting, and create more clutter.
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