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This year, there?s no need to let Christmas get you stressed and
leave you skint. The green Xmas fairy is on hand
with some ideas that will help you to put the love back into Christmas
and go easy on the planet ? as well as your purse strings. Here are
some of her ideas for presents, parties and decorations that won?t cost
the earth. Love vouchers and olive oil ? make it with love -
Make some personalised favour vouchers to give to
your loved ones. These could promise breakfast in bed, help in the
garden, or even to do the washing for a week. Or if it?s someone
particularly close you may want to make your love tokens a little more
racy. ;)
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If you're talented in the
kitchen, you could make chutneys, cakes, or chocolate truffles as
presents. Or make your own flavoured organic olive oil, adding dried
chillies, garlic or herbs to a pretty bottle and filling it up with
oil.
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Make someone feel special by making them a personalised recycled paper photo album of all your treasured snaps.
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Encourage wildlife and practice your DIY skills by making a bird box for a friend or relative.
Going retro and standby busting ? buying without bling -
Instead of buying products, treat your friends and
family a special experience such as a cookery course, annual
membership to a gallery or a weekend at a spa. If you don?t get to
spend much time together you could buy your friend an experience that
you can enjoy together ? like gig tickets, theatre tokens, or tickets
for a trip to the continent on Eurostar.
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For a group activity, how about a trip to an organic farm followed by a meal made from their produce.
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If
you've got a big group of people to buy for, cut down on the stress of
choosing presents by organising a `Secret Santa' - agree a gift budget
which everyone must to stick to, pick one name each out of a hat, then
everyone only has to buy one present.
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For
budding eco-enthusiasts, `Save Cash and Save the Planet ', published by
Friends of the Earth is packed with ideas on how you can save money and
help the planet.
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Go
retro - try flea markets, antique jewellery and vintage clothing shops
for second hand gifts. You'll be giving a unique present, as well as
recycling.
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Encourage composting by
buying your green fingered friends a wormery . It?s a great way of
turning food scraps into good quality compost and saving on the amount
of waste that goes to landfill.
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Buy
a Standby Buster for the gadget addict in your life. The Standby Buster
is a remote controlled electrical socket that lets you switch
appliances off completely so that they use no electricity. Leaving them
on standby unnecessarily uses electricity costing you money and
contributing to Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions.
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Buy your friends download vouchers instead of CDs.
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Instead
of buying DVD?s give your pals a subscription to a DVD rental service
such as Lovefilm so that they can enjoy having the new releases to
their door all year round.
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Help to protect Britain?s remaining woodlands by dedicating a tree to someone with the Woodland Trust .
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Think
about quality when you're buying your Christmas gifts: don't fall into
the trap of buying something cheap and cheerful that will need
replacing in a few months.
Eat, drink and be merry ? keep it local, compost your sprouts and use your leftovers -
Opt for seasonal local food and drink. A
traditional Christmas dinner is made up of seasonal British produce:
buying your food from a local market or grocer helps the local economy
and cuts down on food miles, which contribute to climate change.
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If
you're having a party, avoid serving food and drink on disposable
plates and cups - they will just add to our growing mountain of waste.
Invite your neighbours and ask if you can borrow some extra crockery
from them. Many wine shops lend boxes of wine glasses, if you're buying
your drinks from them.
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Instead of
throwing away all those sprout peelings, why not put your vegetable
leftovers in a compost bin? Around 4,000 million sprouts are bought in
the week before Christmas, so there's a lot of composting just waiting
to happen.
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It's tempting to over-buy
food at Christmas, but save yourself some cash by trying to plan menus
for the holiday season. With a bit of thought you can use most of your
leftovers, potatoes and vegetables can be made into bubble and squeak;
turkey or meat could be added to a curry; and you could try making
stock from the carcass.
Green fairies ? decorating the house and wrapping your presents -
Use Friends of the Earth?s Christmas card re-use labels .
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Don?t
waste your money on wrapping paper. Flick through some old magazines to
find funny or meaningful pictures to use instead. Then personalise your
presents by picking pictures that will make your friends and family
laugh.
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Alternatively, wrap presents in
cloth bags instead of wrapping paper. Friends of the Earth?s cloth
bags are made in Southern Indian from hand-woven organic cotton, and
certified by the Fairtrade Foundation.
Or you could even dust of your sewing machine and make your own bags from any spare material you've got lying around.
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Get
creative with the Christmas decorations ? if you?ve got kids why not
have a session making Christmas decorations out of recycled materials,
pine cones and recycled card.
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Oh and don?t forget to recycle all your old jokes.
And have a green new year?
Tags: xmas gifts make diy
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