Celebrate a Merry Green Christmas

November is not too early to start planning your green Christmas. With early planning you can better research your choices and make smart green decisions regarding your celebration. It’s also not too hard to have a green Christmas. It’s just Christmas with a little twisting and adjusting – but still fun and meaningful. Following are five green tips for a super green Christmas.

Forget the greetings: Greeting cards are highly overrated in my opinion. Yes, some are special, but they tend to end up in drawers, and take up way more time and money than they’re worth. Nowadays you can send a green e-card for any occasion and in many cases send them for FREE! It’s a time and money saver. If you must have paper greetings, go with recycled paper cards, plantable paper, or some cute sustainable birch cards that won’t sit in a drawer like the nesting bird card from Night Owl Paper Goods (shown above).

Plan for greener wrap: You can use recycled content wrap, wrap you saved from last year, or even aim for wrap that is not just wrap, but a gift too like a reusable bag, basket, or a clever hide box.

Choose the greenest Christmas tree you’re comfortable with: Not all families want to shun the tree just to stay green, and that’s totally fine. There are greener Christmas tree choices available for green families and individuals.

Use LED Christmas lights: LED holiday lights save lots more energy than traditional Christmas lights, and look clearer and brighter in my opinion as well. In fact, right now Home Depot is offering a trade-in program for old Christmas lights that give you a discount on new LED lights, but hurry the offer ends on November 15th.

Avoid one gift material: If all you do is avoid Christmas gifts made of virgin plastic this holiday season, well, that’s a big perk to your eco-footprint. Plastic is one of the big baddies when it comes to materials that goods are made with. It’s made with non-renewable resources (unless you buy recycled plastic goods), has a polluting manufacturing process, and is often full of toxic chemicals you don’t need. See how creative you can get this year and make it a virgin plastic-free holiday season.

If you need more tips for a fabulous green Christmas, take a look at the new book, I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas – this book offers excellent tips and advice about keeping it green this season.

Coming up soon one HUGE way to keep your Christmas eco-friendly this year.