How to Create Earth-Friendly Christmas Decorations

Christmas is a beautiful time of year with all its colorful decorations and presents under the Christmas tree. Unfortunately Christmas and its various different traditions leave behind large piles of refuse in our landfills. This problem has raised awareness for many people who are now trying to lessen their impact upon our environment. Christmas is a good time of year to think of ways to be more Earth-Friendly especially in regards to your Christmas decoration choices. I have put together a list of ten ideas for Earth-Friendly Christmas decorations that will still express the spirit of Christmas without leaving a negative impact on the environment.

Earth-Friendly Christmas Decorations, Idea #1: Re-Use Old Decorations

The idea of re-using your old Christmas decorations from year to year isn't a new one but it needs to be mentioned again. When you carefully wrap and preserve your old Christmas decorations each year after Christmas is over, then you will not only be saving them from ending up in the landfill, you are creating your own Christmas traditions. I know that as I got older and we decorated our Christmas tree with the same silver ornaments and little elf figures that it felt good to see the same decorations and to hear the stories of where each ornament came from. It helped give me a sense of family even with family members who lived before I was ever born. My grandmother decided to get rid of her old Christmas decorations when she moved and I asked for them. I admit that being Earth-Friendly wasn't my first thought instead the sense of family was and I'm glad that I preserved those old decorations for my family.

Earth-Friendly Christmas Decorations, Idea #2: Buy Old Decorations and Recycle Them

You can find old Christmas decorations at thrift stores, yard and garage sales, your local freecycle.com or craigslist.com, or if someone is moving. By choosing these previously used Christmas decorations, you are making an Earth-Friendly choice by keeping them out of the landfills. Thrift stores are an especially great place to find Christmas decorations for decorating your yard. That's how I found most of my outdoor Christmas decorations for very little money and if they get stolen, I am not as upset as if I had purchased them new. Plus I am keeping them out of the landfill which makes me feel that I am doing my part to live a more Earth-Friendly lifestyle. Thrift stores often save Christmas decorations during the year and then put them all out starting in October so now is the time to start hanging out at your local thrift stores.

Earth-Friendly Christmas Decorations, Idea #3: Use Unconventional Items that You Already Own to Create Christmas Decorations

Look around your house, your yard and your garage and re-think what everything is being used for. What do you already own that you can turn into a Christmas decoration for either the inside of your house or outside? By choosing items that you already own, you are making Earth-Friendly choices to decorate with especially if you keep the item and re-use it every year or if it is an item that can go back to being used for its intended original purpose after Christmas.

Stuffed animals make precious Christmas decorations with the addition of a little red or green fabric as a scarf or holiday accent. Most of us have several stuffed animals laying around that we can use for decorating. One Christmas display that I visited with my daughter every year when she was growing up used both lights and multiple stuffed animals in different Christmas scenes in their yard. It was cute and fun to look at each year and none of the stuffed animals were ever the traditional Christmas types but just your common every day stuffed animal decorated for Christmas.

Tools such as wrenches, small hammers, screw drivers etc. can be masculine and attractive Christmas decorations with the addition of a red or green ribbon and jingle bell. These are just a couple of items that can be re-purposed and turned into a more Earth-Friendly Christmas decoration but you can look around your home and see more things to use for decorating if you just open your mind to the possibilities.

If you have uncut pumpkins leftover from your Halloween decorations and don't know what to do with them, dress them up for Christmas! A row of pumpkins decorated in Christmas outfits and hats make an adorable and unique Christmas decoration that happens to be Earth-Friendly too.

Earth-Friendly Christmas Decorations, Idea #4: Use Items from Nature to Decorate With

This idea takes you back into your yard to look for gifts from nature to use for decorations. You can use tree branches, leaves, pine needles, pine cones, rocks, holly, mistletoe and different nuts to create Christmas decorations or accents with. Group pine branches together across your mantle and place traditional ornaments among them along with fabric or ribbon. You can create your own Christmas wreaths from pine branches to hang on your front door, back door, windows, front of your house or anywhere else you want. The branches can be tied together with twine that can be part of the decorative look of the wreath.

If you don't have a yard or your yard has no interesting trees, visit local parks and look for pine cones or mistletoe in the trees. My family and I went for walks by our local river and found acorns, pine cones and mistletoe hanging from trees that we could gather and use for Christmas decorations. One thing to check first though is if your local park rangers allow you to gather what you find on the ground and if you can pull some pine cones from the trees. Check before you gather items so you don't end up in trouble.

Pine cones make good ornaments to hang on your indoor tree but they are also good for hanging on trees in your own front yard for decoration. You can add a small blob of white paint to the pine cone tips to mimic snow. Or for your neighborhood bird friends, you can smear pine cones with peanut butter, dip and roll it in bird seed and then hang from trees in your yard both for decoration and purpose (feeding the bird population).

Earth-Friendly Christmas Decorations, Idea #5: Make Your Own Christmas Decorations

To create one-of-a-kind Earth-Friendly Christmas decorations, make your own ornaments. There are different recipes for dough that you can use to make decorations with. One dough recipe (as well as other ornament craft ideas) using baking soda, cornstarch and water is available here.

Or you can make salt dough using the recipe at the website listed in resources at the end of this article. Both dough recipes require you to roll out your dough and cut out the shapes you want using cookie cutters. It's easy to do and a great family craft that the kids would thoroughly enjoy.

Citrus fruits i.e. lemons, oranges and limes can be sliced thin and put on a cookie sheet in a low heat oven for several hours to create Earth-Friendly Christmas decorations as well. They can be hung on trees outdoors or inside on the Christmas tree. You can also put the slices in a clear glass jar along with some fabric remnants for a pretty Earth-Friendly Christmas decoration.

For decorating your yard with Earth-Friendly Christmas decorations, you can gather together scrap wood and create Christmas cut-outs. All you need to do is cut your wood in Christmas themed shapes such as a bell, stocking, mitten, reindeer, or gift and then paint them in cheerful Christmas colors with leftover paint. If you are feeling ambitious, you can even create an entire outdoor Nativity scene. For instructions on how to make an outdoor Nativity scene you can read this article.

Earth-Friendly Christmas Decorations, Idea #6: Use Fabric and Old Clothing in New Ways

Items such as mittens, stockings and scarves that are made with a knit fabric make wonderful Christmas decorations both indoors and outdoors. You can hang them all over, from tree branches, along windows or hang them from twine or cord as if they are on a clothes line along with pine branches, some of your homemade decorations and fabric remnants to make bows. Hang them from your homemade wreaths.

You can take fabric remnants or old clothing that is not able to be recycled and cut it in strips and use the strips to tie bows all over your trees (both inside and outside) and around your house. The more ragged the edges are, the better since it lends a country touch to your Christmas decorations.

Earth-Friendly Christmas Decorations, Idea #7: Use Food Items in New Ways

Foods such as red and green apples make beautiful and very Earth-Friendly Christmas decorations. You can place the apples together (red, green and yellow) in glass bowls or large glass jars and tie a fabric ribbon around the top and you have an instant Earth-Friendly and edible Christmas decoration. Add some pine tree branches around the bowl along with a couple of large pillar candles and you'll have a centerpiece that will have your guests asking how you came up with such a beautiful idea.

Other foods can be used for decoration as well. If you were going to go with a Southwestern Christmas theme, you could use dried corn to hang on your tree or to place along with your pine branches and fabric remnant ribbons for a nice accent.

Popcorn and cranberries are the two food items that are frequently strung together to create garlands. You can also use dried pasta and paint the pieces with food coloring to add between popcorn pieces. Egg shells can be carefully emptied out and painted for delicate Earth-Friendly Christmas decorations.

Earth-Friendly Christmas Decorations, Idea #8: Re-cycle and Re-Purpose Old CD's

Old CDs, DVDs, and video games that are too scratched up to work any longer can be re-cycled and re-purposed and turned into charming Earth-Friendly Christmas decorations. By using them for decorations, you keep them out of the landfills and get to enjoy them once again, but in a very different way! There are a couple of websites listed in resources at the end of this article to get you started on creating Christmas ornaments from your old CD's.

Earth-Friendly Christmas Decorations, Idea #9: Use Old Christmas Cards to Create Decorations

Old Christmas cards can be turned into charming decorations by cutting out the pictures and hanging them on the tree with fabric remnants or ribbon. You can also cut pictures out of old magazines and clue them to old cardboard or to pieces of cereal boxes and turn those into Christmas decorations as well. If you cut a large wreath shape out of a large piece of scrap cardboard, you can glue pictures from magazines and old Christmas cards in a collage-type manner around the wreath shape, add some old buttons from some of your fabric clothing remnants, tie a bow around the top with your fabric remnants and you will have a lovely Christmas decoration for either indoors or out. Plus it is a great craft project to work on with the kids to promote family togetherness at Christmastime.

Earth-Friendly Christmas Decorations, Idea #10: Use LED lights

Candles are not safe to have hanging on a Christmas tree so we use Christmas lights to light up our trees and houses and yards. Unfortunately traditional Christmas lights really drain a lot of energy and take a bite out of the Earth's resources. But you can still have Christmas lights that are more Earth-Friendly by buying the new LED, light emitting diode, lights. They come in the traditional Christmas colors or even clear but they use up to 90% less energy with just as much sparkle as the old Christmas lights. You can find LED lights at most stores or online at different websites such as HolidayLEDS.com.

Christmas can be just as much fun, and maybe even more fun, when you use Earth-Friendly Christmas decorations. I think the most fun is in realizing how much you can do to lessen your impact on the environment and still enjoy your life to the fullest! Happy Holidays to you.

Resources:
AllFreeCrafts.com. Salt Dough Ornaments to Microwave for Christmas by Teri Hanson.
eHow.com. How to Make a Christmas Star Ornament From an Old CD by Laurie Darroch-Meekis.
HubPages.com. How to Decorate for Christmas on a Budget by Marye Audet.
MakeStuff.com. Easy to Make CD Wreath.
PageWise Inc.(essortment). Do It Yourself: Five Types of Christmas Ornaments.
Suite101.com. Cheap Christmas Ornaments by Judith Zwolak.