4 Ways to Make Your Holidays More Sustainable

With the holiday season upon us it’s easy to get overwhelmed with shopping for the perfect gift, organizing all the meals, decorating the house and so many more things. And while we all need a little festive cheer this year, the holidays can also be an extremely unsustainable period of over-consumerism, waste and unsustainability.

Being more sustainable this shopping season doesn’t mean you have to take all the fun out of the holidays, but if this year has taught us anything it’s that mother nature needs a little break. Being more sustainable means that we’re all working together to protect the future of our world, for many more generations of your family to enjoy holidays to come.

Here are our four best tips for making your holidays more sustainable this year:

Shop Sustainable

One of the best ways that you can make sure your holiday purchases are sustainable is to shop from sustainable brands. Research companies that provide sustainable equivalents of the usual big name, mass produced companies. By shopping sustainably you’re using your dollar to support companies that value ethical manufacturing standards, eco-friendly practices and fair labor.

Not only does this encourage companies doing good to continue doing good, but it sends a message to other companies that sustainability is important to consumers. The more people that shop sustainably, the more other companies will be encouraged to adopt sustainable practices if they want to stay relevant.

If you’re looking for sustainable gifts this season, you’ve come to the right place. At Delilah Home we don’t just talk about sustainability, we live it! We offer 100% organic cotton and hemp bed sheets that are soft on your body and the environment. We only use ethically sourced and manufactured materials to make the most durable organic sheets and towels. They’re fair trade, chemical and toxin free, and a perfect gift for someone looking to slip into some new sheets or towels in 2021.

Reuse Decorations

With the bleak year that most of us have had it’s easy to get carried away with adding some more color to the holiday season. But before you rush out to buy the latest light up, inflatable Santa that sings your favorite Taylor Swift songs, think about how you can reuse and repurpose some of the decorations you already have.

Making holiday decorations is a great way to tap into your creative side and it also makes for a fun activity for all involved. If you’ve got a young family, pop on Frozen or some other Christmas movie for the 117th time and sit the kids down to make their favorite holiday decoration from pieces laying around the house.

More of an adult crowd? Crack a bottle of wine or two and turn it into a bit more of a fun holiday activity on a Saturday night in front of the fire.

Rethink Wrapping Paper

Everyone knows that feeling of pure joy of ripping open a present, so the last thing we’re going to say is ditch the wrapping paper. But let’s be honest, do you really need a small forest worth of that brand new, fancy glitter paper? While it may look flashy, everyone knows they only care about what’s inside the paper.

Earth911 estimates that the US alone uses up to 4.6 million pounds of wrapping paper a year, with half of that ending in landfill. And despite thinking that all wrapping paper can be recycled, quite a lot of it can’t be. If it's glitter, anything metallic or textured, then it ends up in landfill.

This holiday season get creative with wrapping paper and try to reuse and decorate as many of the paper bags, tote bags and boxes that you already have. You can even use fabric and ribbons to wrap things. Invest in some festive fabric and ribbons and after all the presents have been opened, pack it away in a box until next year. You’ll be not only saving money in the future, but you’ll also be saving the future of this planet. Not a bad gift for mother nature this year hey?!

Don’t Over Purchase Food

One of the best parts of the holiday season is the delicious snacks and big feasts we indulge in. It’s easy to get over excited and purchase too much food during the holidays, but did you know that between Thanksgiving and Christmas the US wastes 25% more food than other times of the year?! We all love the big meals and stuffing our faces with that extra scoop of mashed potatoes, but really try to calculate how much food you're going to need this year. If your holiday gatherings are going to be smaller this year it’s extra important to really plan out your shopping list. Don’t shop and cook for your usual dozen people if you’re only preparing food for an intimate group this year.

Another great tip is to invest in some good food storage containers to make sure you can properly store those leftovers to enjoy in the days that follow. If you’re sick of eating bowls full of mashed potato then research new recipes for leftovers. This year we took the leftover mash and used the turkey oil to deep fry mashed potatoes with cheese in the middle. Yum!

There are really a variety of ways to be more eco-friendly this holiday season. From shopping sustainably to thinking ethically about gift wrap and decorations, we can all do our part to make sure the holidays are sustainable!