Christmas
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Idea 45 – Can I avoid black Friday offers?
This time last year I posted lots of ideas to help reduce waste at Christmas. Scary facts about the number of presents which are still in use 6 months after Christmas day. Yep it is under 10% of gifts are still being used 6 months later. Sadly, most gifts do not keep on giving. Last year’s ideas have all been beautifully organised by our Chairperson on the group’s website here Christmas – Bradley Stoke Zero Carbon Community (bszerocarbon.co.uk). This year my mum is also becoming au-fait with second hand buying and is doing a grand job of sourcing a wooden dolls house, train track and toy kitchen as gifts without…
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Idea 21 – Swop shops
So how many things did you received for Christmas in 2018 which are still languishing unused somewhere in your house? What about this year? Is it time for those items to leave your house and be loved and used by someone else. 🎁🏘💚 This week I know of three events aiming to reduce waste and make the most out of the items you do have.Firstly, TODAY at Little Stoke Community Cafe there is a present swap event. Did you get two of the same gift or did you receive a gift which wasn’t quite right and you know you won’t use. Instead of letting it sit in a cupboard for…
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Idea 20 – One promise to yourself and the planet. 😀🌍💚
A new decade is about to begin. At the start of the last decade I started a new job and moved to Bradley Stoke. At the start of the decade before that I waited on tables and then stayed up dancing to welcome in a new century. What were you doing a decade or two ago? Climate change wasn’t something I thought much about beyond our Year 9 Geography project on the Amazon. How things have changed in 20 years? But is change fast enough. The climate change is certainly moving fast. Unfortunately Australia is feeling the heat for sure. Hopefully world leaders will listen to the scientists, growing public…
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Idea 19 – Wishing Everyone A Cracking Christmas
You guessed it. I’m talking crackers. Personally, I love a cracker with a set of counters and 🎲. This is one thing my house never has enough of. However most of the things that spring from crackers have a useful lifetime of minutes and will often wind up at the bottom of a drawer or toy box and then the bin. So can we improve on our crackers this year. If time is short, head to the shops as retailers start to catch on and listen to public opinion turning against a throw away culture. Dunelm sold out of their plastic free crackers very quickly so you may have to…
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Idea 18 – Lighting the way
I have just had a reread of our Eco-Christmas leaflet to see how I was doing.Here is my tick list🎁 Buy less ✔️🎁 Buy second hand ✔️🎁 Buy local ✔️🎁 Attending local school/craft fairs✔️🎁 Donating items to charities (baby bank)✔️🎁 Be mindful of waste ✔️ More on purchasing reusable wrapping later 🎄💡 But one thing I haven’t done is put my Christmas lights on a timer. 💡🎄I bought a plug timer last Christmas but haven’t used it. My mission for today is to attach the timer to the Christmas lights. This is a 10 second job (once I find the timer which will most probably take an hour) that will save a couple of hours of wasted electricity each day. On Thursday I…
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Idea 17 – It’s a wrap! Election and wrapping paper
Five days until elections.I’m starting this week with an interview between John Snow and Sir David Attenborough. It has made me reflect on how my thinking about this general election is different to previous ones because of climate change. I am also wondering how government will be forced to change to work harder on the climate agenda to slow climate change. Lots of links today but hopefully it will help in decision making for next Thursday. Have a look at this climate action toolkits as it explains what can be done in the lead up to the election. It even come up with our little group for this area. Some…
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Idea 16 – Christmas Card Alternative
Scarily 1 billion Christmas Cards end up in the bin each year. This is despite the fact that most can be recycled. That is a lot of trees being cut down for approximately 30 days worth of use as a card. The number of Christmas cards I send goes down every year. I don’t buy cards with glitter as I know they can’t be recycled. I also use last years cards as gift cards on presents. But when it comes to sending cards every year I repeat the same pattern. This pattern involves meaning to buy and write cards in November and send in early December. And every year I…
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Idea 15 – Does it have to be brand new?
🌲🎁🎁🎁🎁🌲 This week I am starting to think of the 4 gift rule when getting presents for my children. The 4 gift rule involved getting something they want, need, wear and read. Now when they ‘want’ 5 out of 7 things that have been advertised during the break of Fireman Sam 🚒 pinning down what they actually ‘want’ can take a little bit of time. Especially as I know most of those things will lose their interest after 10 minutes of play. I find it much more useful to see what they like playing with when we visit other people’s houses. Based on our two most recent trip to a friend’s house…
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Idea 14 – Buy or make a little more local this Christmas
We have so much going on in the local area in the lead up to Christmas. How about supporting local schools, charities and small business this Christmas? By buying local, hopefully we are reducing the amount we buy, making presents more unique and the distance that we and our presents have had to travel. Here is a list of things going on. Please add if you find I have missed anything. Christmas Fairs and Events Saturday 23rd November Bowsland Green Christmas Fair 11am – 2pm Little Stoke Community Café Christmas Market 10am – 3pm Winterbourne Academy Christmas Market Wednesday 27th November Needle Felting workshop, Almondsbury Creative 7:15pm Friday 29th November…
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Idea 13 – A reverse advent calendar
A short post this week as I have included a link with more info. How about collecting for the North Bristol Food bank this week?