Low waste Gift ideas this Christmas

The Christmas tree in our living room could barely contain the gifts under it for several years in our home.

Partly, this was because we used to do big family Christmases. My sister has three children a similar age to mine (now living in Canada) once or twice my other sister was here from South Africa with her family, my parents would stay for a few days, my Mother and Sister-in-law might pop over on Christmas day, and on Christmas Eve we have a tradition of sharing gifts with our closest friends, that combined with my sons birthday being in December...

All this to say that our tree was exploding with gifts waiting to be given.

As much as I loved all the people, I always had a little shame when I looked at it.

Over the years we did things like change our wrapping paper to brown paper, or recycled paper, we deliberately asked relatives to send money so the child could pick out one valuable item, rather than receive several smaller gifts, we requested that grandparents buy the children ONE gift only (not 30!)

It took time, and we're by no means perfect, but we're getting better - obviously it's easier the older the children tweens seem to need less 'stuff' then toddlers.

If you're looking for way to show people you love them, with less 'stuff' being consumed, here's my best advice.

Home made personal products

Grab some jars and bottles out of your glass recycling bin, soak in warm soapy water to remove the labels, use a little lemon or grapefruit essential oil to remove any stubborn sticky residue, and get your craft on!

This is a fab way to get your kids involved in an activity during lockdown. You can talk about the people you're going to send them too and how much you love them, especially important when you're not going to be able to see them over the holidays.

The doTERRA blog has HUNDREDs of DIY recipes for you to choose from face masks and lip balms to razor relief serum and Cologne recipes.

Yes, you may need to purchase a few ingredients, but bulk buying a large amount of something allows you to make multiple gifts with less waste, and you can often pick up the ingredients at your local zero waste store.

Sew Something

My daughter has got super into making her own toys this year and she LOVES sewing home made gifts for friends.

We take clothes that are too worn to be passed on and cute them up for fabric. This is something I've done for years, when a child's special blanket dies, I sew them a toy from it so that they can still snuggle with it.

Use what you have and see if you can repurpose it, or if you must buy fabric, see if your local charity shop has anything that could be used. We've frequently bought old bed linen which is so worn I can't imagine anyone else buying it, but perfect to cut up for our purposes.

One of my favorite things to make for a Christmas gift is aromatic hand warmers. They take such little fabric, and a felted sweater than you washed on too high a heat works perfectly!

Items Needed
Fabric
Thread
Flax seed
Essential oil of choice

Instructions

Cut out two 4 inch x 4 inch squares for every hand warmer desired.
Sew right sides of fabric together, leaving a few inches open on one side.
Turn fabric right side out.
In a medium bowl mix flax seed with essential oil. Use three to five drops of oil for every cup of grain (this results in a pretty strongly scented hand warmer.) Mix and allow to sit for 5–10 minutes.
Use the grain to fill the hand warmers about ¾ full and then stitch closed.
Heat hand warmers 25–30 seconds in the microwave, allow to sit for about 30 seconds and then place in pockets to warm your hands.

Tips: To fill the hand warmers you can use wheat, rice, flax seed, or even cherry pits. For this DIY we used flax seed which seems to hold heat well and has a less distinguishable smell than other grains.

Consumable gifts

Bake something, or make up a gift that they can make like hot chocolate kits.
You can send these in recycled jars too, make some cute labels, and tie a pretty ribbon on it and you've got a beautiful home made gift.

Homemade chocolates, Black bean fudge, Gingerbread cookies, Granola bars, Wild orange bites,

Salt dough ornaments

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup salt

1 ½ cups warm water

Favorite doTERRA essential oils

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Pour flour, salt, and warm water into large bowl.
Using your hands, knead until all ingredients are well-incorporated and dough is smooth.
If mixture is too dry, add one tablespoon of water at a time until dough comes together.
Roll out dough on floured surface until ¼ inch thick.
Using cookie cutters, cut out desired shapes and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Using a drinking straw or toothpick, make a hole in top of ornament for threading string.
Place in oven until hard, approximately one hour.
Once hard, remove from oven and cool.
Decorate with paint, string, or glitter. Add essential oils by placing one drop on each ornament and allow it to soak in.

Tip: Add some decoration to your ornaments by stamping them. Just place stamp on ink and carefully place on ornament to transfer design before they dry.

Note: Baking the ornament will turn the dough slightly brown and may "puff" up some of the ornaments. If you prefer, you can also air dry the ornaments for two to three days to help the ornaments remain white and flat.

Digital Products

Buy someone one of our digital courses!

Of course, you could buy them a digital course from anywhere, digital products are a great way of reducing waste, but I happen to think ours are particularly fab.

When you purchase, you'll need to download a PDF within 48 hours, which you can email to someone to redeem their course, or print and put it in a card for them to receive on Christmas day and redeem at their leisure.

Courses currently include:
- The ultimate diffuser for 2019 (with education and seasonal suggestions throughout the year)

- Restoration Home (calm the chaos and the clutter, routines and schedules for people who need them along with eco friendly cleaning solutions)

- Make Over Your Kitchen (a deep overhaul of your entire kitchen to help you and your family get on top of creating healthy meal times with less stress)

- Eat Keto With Me (a brand new course for those who are new to trying out the keto diet.

- Mindful Meditation (one week guide to meditation for beginners)

Keep an eye on the digital courses section of the shop, as we'll be adding more and more content!

Do you have any other low waste ideas for Christmas presents?
I'd love to hear them!