Hey Earth, Merry Christmas!

This post is contributed by Trina Tan.

Christmas sure gets insane with all the gift shopping and parties to plan and attend. As Christmas is one of the most celebrated holiday in Singapore, it inevitably is also most “consuming”. Parties leave behind excess food, which goes to the trash. Thousands of Christmas cards get sent out and massive amount of wrapping paper gets ripped and thrown away.

I don’t want to sound like Scrooge here so I would still say, go out and have fun! Christmas only comes once a year and it could be the very holiday that you spend the most time showing affection to your family and friends.

To help you make this holiday go on in a very sustainable and green way, here are 7 simple tips that you could follow to plan and celebrate your very own eco-friendly Christmas:

Tip 1: Christmas cards

Sending Christmas cards used to be more popular till the uprising of the internet and cell phone short messaging services (SMS) or multimedia services (MMS). Instead of sending out Christmas cards, you could send out a shout out on Twitter, Facebook, emails, e-cards, SMS or MMS to friends and families that you know are tech savvy enough to receive it and understand your sincerity still.

For the older relatives or people you are trying to make an impression with, you could still send out Christmas cards that use recycled materials. Or buy Christmas cards that have been made by charitable organizations so that you know your cash will be used for a good cause. It is also possible to send a few cards together in the same envelope if you are mailing to the same address. Better still, if you could just use one organic card for a whole family to share, you could do your part in saving the environment. It would mean less postage, less fuel and less trees being used in the process.

Another way of saying season’s greetings is by a phone call! This way it is more personal and it is very effective in bridging the relationship. Definitely a pleasant surprise for the receiver on the other end and puts both you and the person in a cheerful mood!

Tip 2: Invitations to a party

Imagine sending out invitation cards on top of Christmas cards, there is so much paper being used and postage costs. Invite friends and relatives using electronic means like Facebook event invites, emails, SMS or phone calls. Electronic means like Facebook can even collate names of those attending and help out a lot.

Tip 3: Christmas gifts

How many times do you recall receiving gifts that you don’t even like or maybe can’t fit? When buying gifts for someone, if in doubt, go for food items or simply give cash or vouchers. Try not to buy fashion items like shoes, hats, dresses and jeans because these are items that are highly subjective and difficult to assess fitting.

A great tip that I have for party hosts is that you could clearly state that everyone should bring a gift worth about $15 and have it wrapped in recycled material. During the party, each gift will be labeled with a number. Now get the guests to each draw a number and collect their present that has a number matching theirs.

There are many ways to do this, it could be picking out someone’s name prior to the party and buying a gift for that one person which you exchange during the party or simply getting the guest to each take one present from the present pile as they leave the party too. The idea is such that each gift would most likely be an item not gender specific or age specific and each guest would leave with something that could most certainly use. More importantly, buying one present is more environmentally friendly.

Tip 4: Gift wrapping

What would be greater still is if you, as a receiver of your gifts, could let others be aware that you do not need to have your gift all wrapped up. If you are the host of the party, insist that everyone brings a gift unwrapped. Tonnes of wrapping paper goes to waste after Boxing Day. To those who actually rip your wrapper off nicely for reuse, good for you! Many others would not go through that trouble and children who certainly are the main receiver of gifts, most certainly would not know how to do that.

If the gifts have to be wrapped, I would say use recycled wrapping paper, or you could get creative by using old school text book, comics, newspapers, music sheets and magazines to wrap. Brown recycled paper is fantastic if you would like to personalize your gift-wrap. Apart from wrapping paper, another good way to present a gift is in a box. Gift boxes are my favorite, because then I can re-use the gift box for another gift in the future or use it as a pretty storage box.

Tip 5: Party food

This tip is definitely about the topic that Singaporeans love. Food Food Food. This is the festive besides Chinese New Year that we will most certainly pig out. Despite how much we pig out, there will always be leftovers behind.

Instead of wasting it, what my mother always does is to use recycled plastic containers (those that you get when you buy takeaway porridge or tau huay) and get the guests to take their favourite food home. When provided with these plastic containers, they would be delighted to take home some food. After all, these plastic containers can be washed and reused again.

Another trick is to reduce the amount of disposables in a party. For small parties, it is always possible to get the plates washed and reused. Depending on the menu, plates may not even be necessary. Finger food, sandwiches, and pizza can be supported on a napkin. However if there are curry and gravy sauce on the menu, then plastic and not paper plates would have to be used.

If you are the host, you have the power to plan a menu that is eco friendly. As a guest, use the same plate and cup throughout if you can.

Tip 6: Christmas decorations

In the old days, fancy plastic and synthetic Christmas tree decorations did not exist, people then used cookies, gingerbread man and other biodegradable items to hang on their Christmas tree. In Singapore, the humid and warm weather would definitely cause food items in our tree to rot. However, we can still decorate our tree using recycled art and craft materials like old Christmas cards, corks from wine bottles, ribbons from left over gift-wrappings, dried nuts or fruits.

Let your imagination go wild, you would most certainly have the most unique tree and gives you a good conversation topic whenever people see it. Remember to also use LED lights instead of the normal ones to cut down on energy consumption.

Tip 7: Spread the word

This is Christmas so be very giving and generous, go forth and spread the word on celebrating Christmas the green way.

With these 7 tips being said, here’s me wishing to all you readers a very healthy, green and happy Christmas!

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