Paid collaboration with Climate Action Wales

We love Christmas. But we’re also conscious that there are small changes we can make as a family during the festive season to help create a cleaner, greener Wales.

No one can do everything when it comes to climate change – but everyone can do something and together small changes like these add up.

We’re working with Climate Action Wales to share the six small steps we’re taking to make a difference and give the planet a gift this festive season too.

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1. Wooden advent calendars

My children have re-used the same beautiful wooden advent calendars every single year since they were babies. I love how beautiful they look when they come out each year. They have one each and still get chocolate treats and Lego or jigsaw pieces over advent, but without any of the plastic waste usually associated with advent calendars.

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2. Re-wearing last year’s Christmas pyjamas and jumpers

You don’t need matching pyjamas to have a good Christmas. But if you do want to, then there are ways to make it more eco-friendly. We buy unisex, size up so they last for two or three years and pass garments down through my children as they outgrow them. This means our festive-gear lasts several years – and we also wear them for the whole of December and most of January too. The jumper in this photo is around four years old and I have a similar one in black which came from a charity shop and still had the tag on!

We sell or donate ones we’ve grown out of, meaning they get a new lease of life with other families. We’ve also bought some brilliant-quality pre-loved Christmas jumpers in our local charity shops too.

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3. Selling or donating pre-loved toys and books

I took part in a second-hand sale at my children’s school recently, meaning other children will get to enjoy toys and books my three have grown out of. Anything we didn’t sell went straight to the charity shop, giving people the opportunity to buy good quality toys at an affordable price in the run up to Christmas. In previous years, we’ve also bought second-hand toys from online selling sites and have been able to give new life to used but great condition toys.

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4. Gifting experiences

We love giving and receiving experiences. We’ll be buying restaurant vouchers, memberships for local attractions, theatre tickets and cinema vouchers for loved ones this year. Helping to create happy memories with an experience is a festive win for us.

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5. Shopping locally

We love supporting Christmas markets, independent shops, and small online businesses where we can, knowing our food and gift purchases contribute to the sustainability of our local community as well as helping to reduce carbon emissions and air pollution caused by transporting items.

6. Eco gift wrapping options

I have a box full of gift bags and boxes, festive material and ribbon from previous years which I’ll be reusing this Christmas. We also love brown paper, which is the easiest-to-recycle option, tied with festive string, which can be re-used.

I’d love to hear your top tips for a sustainable Christmas. What would you add to this list?

Let me know in the comments and see the Climate Action Wales website for more ideas on small changes that make a big difference.