4 Easy Gifts to Make for the Holidays

Homemade gifts have a lot of advantages. They’re affordable and meaningful. They’re fun. Done right, they aren’t as wasteful as other gifts. They’re a great excuse to avoid the mall crowds. Some are easy enough to do at nearly the last minute.

Here are some ideas to help you get started with homemade gifts.

Homemade Bath Salts

1 cup Epsom salts or sea salts
1 tsp glycerin
a few drops essential oil, such as lavender
few drops food coloring – optional but pretty

Mix ingredients together in a glass bowl. Store in a jar with a tight lid. Decorate jar with a ribbon around it.

You can include baking soda in the recipe as well, about the same amount or less as the other salts. Other liquid at room temperature oils can be used in place of the glycerin, just make sure they’re good for the skin.

Homemade Vanilla Extract

6 vanilla beans
2 cups vodka
Quart Mason jar and lid

Cut the beans in half lengthwise and add to the jar. Pour vodka over the beans. Store in a cool dark place for at least a month, shaking the jar every few days.

This one is great for the chef in the family. Make a label for the jar if the vanilla extract won’t be ready for use by the time you give it. The vanilla beans can stay in for longer than a month, and will continue to improve the flavor of the extract.

Chocolate Covered Pomegranate Seeds

Pomegranate seeds
Dark chocolate chips

Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave until smooth. If using a microwave, take the chocolate out every 15-30 seconds to stir once it starts to melt so you don’t burn it.

Stir pomegranate seeds into melted chocolate, covering completely with the chocolate.

Spoon onto wax paper in small quantities, maybe 3-6 seeds per scoop. Cool in the refrigerator.

This treat should be made not too long before it will be eaten. The pomegranate seeds won’t stay good too long. Each treat should be small so that it fits easily in the mouth. Those seeds will squirt when you bite into them, but the combination with the dark chocolate is amazing. This is a particular favorite of mine because my mother has a pomegranate tree.

Draft Snake

Two pieces tightly woven fabric 8 inches by 41 inches or longer if for a larger door
Thread
Sewing skills
Sand, rice or dried beans for filling

Sew the fabric together to form a 41 inch long tube, leaving one of the small ends open. Turn right side out and fill, leaving room to sew the open end shut. Turn in the raw edges and sew the opening shut.

You can add a tongue, eyes and other features as you like. This gift is great if you know someone living in a drafty house.

If you’re into crafts, you can think of many more homemade gifts to make. Why not share your creativity with the ones you love this year?

How Do You Limit Your Environmental Impact at Christmas?

If there’s one problem with Christmastime, it’s the consumer feeding frenzy that happens every year. So much waste, and it’s hard to not get into it at least a little bit. Most families have a lot of Christmas traditions that are difficult to change and too much fun to easily opt out of.

How can you adapt your habits at Christmastime to limit the impact you put on the environment?

1. Talk it over with family.

Have a discussion with your family about changes you’d like to make and why. Try to make handmade, reused and Fair Trade gifts more acceptable.

My kids are getting a stack of books from our local $1 bookstore this year. They’re all used books, but in good condition. For about the price of one or two new books for each, they’re getting a bunch of books. I call that a good deal.

Trees and seeds are good gifts for those who enjoy gardening. Find out what they’d like to grow and which varieties grow well in their area. A good fruit tree is a gift that will keep on giving for years.

2. Limit spending on gifts.

There are a few ways to go about this. You can set a price limit and still all shop for the same people, or you can draw names and pool the total value given in gifts per person.

Between my sisters and I, we have an agreement on how much each of us contributes toward gifts. It’s approximate, as no money actually changes hands. Instead, names are drawn and gift values assigned to each name. Each person shops for the people they drew.

This cuts down a lot on shopping time and on the buying of obnoxious knickknacks. You can find out what the person actually wants, and it might be in the budget.

3. Reuse gift bags.

This one drives some people nuts, but it’s why I don’t like to use wrapping paper. Gift bags are very reusable if you treat them well. I keep quite a stash of them for whenever I need to give a gift.

Alternatively, use a reusable shopping bag as a gift bag. Make it a part of the gift.

4. Go easy on the lights.

Holiday light displays are beautiful, there’s no doubt about it. We’re planning a walk around our neighborhood soon to see all the holiday lights on display – my youngest just about plasters herself to the windows at night when she notices all the pretty lights outside right now.

The only problem with holiday light displays is how much energy they use. It adds a lot to your power bill, and most power generation isn’t exactly clean. Then light strands break down over time and have to be replaced. That part isn’t so pretty.

If you’re going to have holiday lights, go for LED whenever you can. They use less power, and they’ve been improving over the past few years. You should also put your lights on a time, both outside and on your Christmas tree inside, so that they don’t stay on all night long. They don’t really need to look so pretty when no one is going to see them, right?

5. Think your travel through.

The holiday season is a time to visit and enjoy being with family. If you live away from your extended family, it’s common to take a trip and go visit.

Kind of a pity about the pollution created.

Choosing the most effective and environmentally friendly form of transportation is a balancing act. A big part is how far you have to go. If you’re only a couple hours away, a car may be your one option. If you’re cross country, you may not be able to afford the time a car or train takes to cover that distance.

There are options to traveling. You can talk on the phone, of course. If both sides have a webcam, you can talk that way. Not as much fun as being together in person, but it’s kinder to the environment and the budget.

6. Think about the food.

Holiday food, oh, the holiday food! It’s no wonder many people gain weight over the holidays. There’s too much good food available this time of year at the various parties and other events you may attend.

For your own health, overeating is a bad idea, although the occasional indulgence isn’t that terrible for your health at all.

When you’re preparing food, think about where it comes from. You may not be able to get much fresh, local produce this time of year, depending on where you live, unless it was grown in a greenhouse. You can try to get organic produce. You can get free range turkey or other meats that have been treated better than the usual factory farmed stuff.

Sweet treats are the big challenge. Look for bakeries that use healthier ingredients and avoid HFCS you can buy Fair Trade candies, or you can make desserts and other treats yourself. Balancing deliciously decadent with environmentally sensitive takes some extra work, but it’s not a bad challenge if you’re up for it.

7. Think about your tree.

We have an artificial tree. Not as pretty as a real tree, but we’ve had it for a number of years now and intend to keep on using it for many more. My mother has had the same artificial tree as far back as I can remember, and it’s still going strong.

If you go artificial, that’s the thing to remember, to commit to keeping it a long time. Don’t just throw it out because you want a real tree from then on. Find someone who does want it if you’re done with it.

If you go for a real tree, make sure it was sustainably farmed. A good tree farm replants every year. Don’t flock your real tree, as that makes it unrecycleable.  Do make sure that your real tree gets recycled in whatever way is available in your local area. Many communities have places where you can drop off your real trees at the end of the season.

8. Remember your reason for the season.

Whatever holiday you’re celebrating, whatever the reason, keep it in mind as you prepare for it. There’s no religion anywhere that demands the consumer frenzy that has become so common at this time of year.

Do you have any special ways you limit your family’s impact at this time of year?

You Know You’re a Green Stay at Home Mom When

Life as an eco friendly mom takes some extra effort. Doing so as a stay at home mom has some advantages, but that still doesn’t make it all that easy.

You know you’re a green stay at home mom when…

You can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t use cloth diapers on a baby. With the right ones, it’s really not that different from disposable diapers, and much less waste. Then there’s the chance you can potty train your child younger than average… freedom!

You enjoy making baby food for your little one.

Your children help you in your organic garden. Most likely you’d love to have more room for it.

If there’s any way to have free range chickens in your backyard, you’ve got them.

Making homemade bread is one of your pleasures. The time spent is well worth the effort both for the taste and the savings.

You can think of plenty of uses for empty jars.

You know how much money you’re saving by choosing eco friendly options and how much waste you’re preventing.

You walk to run errands or take the kids to school whenever possible. Possible includes wet and cold weather, so long as it’s safe to walk where you’re going. Other parents may comment on your fortitude or insanity.

You wonder if your family really needs two cars. You may have even gotten rid of the second car because you know you can live without it. There’s public transportation for those times you need to get somewhere you can’t walk to and your husband needs the one car.

You breastfeed your toddler as long as you both enjoy it.

You don’t let caring for your children keep you from caring for the world around you. You do your best to teach your kids why they should care about the environment too.

The clerks know you at the local thrift store, and you know how to find the best clothes for your kids and yourself there. Who needs new?

Most times you take your kids with you to the farmer’s market, so that they can learn about food. But it’s a nice break sometimes to go on your own for a little peace and quiet. Hopefully you won’t start looking frantically for the “missing” child you left home with daddy.

You know what the best eco friendly toys are, and your kids love them. Most of their non eco friendly toys are handed down or were bought used.

Your children know little to nothing about fast food restaurants, and especially little about toys that come with meals.

You make many of your own cleaning supplies, and check the ingredients of any you buy. Everything you clean with is so safe you can let your kids use it.

What to do About All the Non Eco Friendly Gifts Your Kids Want

Most children have very long wish lists for Christmas. There are so many ads on television, so many toys discussed with friends, and they want most of them.

Unfortunately, very few toys are made in anything remotely resembling an environmentally friendly manner. How do you deal with the requests for toys that are not eco friendly when you’re trying to raise a green family?

Buy Used

Some classics I find hard to resist, as do many other parents. The good part about some classics is that they’re pretty easy to buy used rather than new.

Legos are a good example. Many of us had them growing up. We may even have some stuffed away in a closet or at a parent’s house.

I love Legos. They encourage creativity, especially the plain block sets. But eco friendly they are not. Too much plastic.

On the plus side, they’re durable. I’d expect a set to be handed down many times. That helps a lot on the environmental side of things.

Any toy that has been out for a few months you have the chance to buy used. No guarantees, of course, and you have to look at how much they’ve been damaged by previous owners. But in terms of finding popular toys in an eco friendly manner, that’s as close as you’re going to get.

Trade Around

This method takes a lot of trust. You can trade with family and friends who also have kids for the toys your kids want. You may even be able to arrange a toy rotation for those toys that they want returned. Agree that a toy will spend a month, a week, whatever length of time at each house.

If this works, it also teaches sharing. It’s harder to do with really possessive kids. Children who accept the trades can enjoy the wider selection of toys they can play with without costing you a lot of money.

Have a plan for when toys break. Will they be replaced? What if one child is more careful and the other damages a lot of toys? You do not want to ruin a friendship over a few toys.

Encourage Handmedowns

Anyone you know with kids older than yours you can encourage to give your children handmedown toys. Discuss the ones your kids want and see if they’re available. This makes gift giving within the family much cheaper if all the cousins are within a good age range.

Discover Eco Friendly Alternatives

This is hard to do, as many toys really do not have an eco friendly alternative, or at least not one most children will accept. Very few toys, relatively speaking, are made from plastic. There are more limits to what you can build with most wooden toys… just try to match something like K’Nex with a wooden or eco friendly equivalent!

When it’s possible, go for it.

Get the Toy Requested

We’re human, we parents. Sometimes just because it will delight our children, most of us will choose the toy requested, regardless of environmental considerations.

It’s best if you avoid this until you’ve gone through the other options. But when your child really wants a particular item, and you’ve been eco friendly in every way you can manage, it may not be completely unreasonable to give in. Just consider what you’ll do with the toys when they break or aren’t played with anymore. Hopefully you’ll be able to find them a good home to be played with again.

A Green Christmas Can be a Budget Friendly Christmas

There are many wonderful things about Christmas, but there are also many stressful things about it. Many people complain about the expense of buying so many gifts for family and friends. It adds up fast, not to mention how bad the whole mess can be for the environment. Isn’t there a better way?

There can be. You’ll have to change how you think of Christmas presents and be ready for people to be surprised at the kinds of gifts you give.

Give Time

For the people in your life who need just a little more company or someone to talk to, make their gift be your time. Promise to be there for them. Promise more visits where you’ll just sit and talk. Promise help running errands. Find things they need your help with, and offer your time.

This is great for grandparents and others who don’t need so many things in their homes, but often would like more company or help. It helps to create wonderful memories for all concerned and is a great example for the children in the family.

It’s also a good choice for your spouse. Give certificates promising a massage, a night out and so on.

Give Experiences

The gift of experiences is great for kids. Give fewer things for presents and give more promises of things done together. The kids may be skeptical at first, but if you choose right, they’ll enjoy the experiences tremendously.

Hiking is a good choice for those who like to do things outdoors. You may have to drive to a good place for hiking, but you can have a lot of fun together on the hike.

Taking kids to free activities is another good choice. Stores such as Home Depot and Lowe’s often have free crafts for kids on Saturdays. Check the websites of your local stores and see what’s available.

Go to the Library

If your child loves books, more trips to the library is a great choice that won’t cost you anything. It’s great fun exploring all the library has to offer.

Many libraries have special activities you can attend. There may be story hour for preschoolers, for example. My local library also has a Toddler Boot Camp, which is a mom and toddler exercise time. Check your library’s website to discover the activities available to you.

The main thing to remember is that you can give more than just things for the holidays. Your time is far more valuable to those you care about than the things you can give them. They may not realize it right away, but most truly enjoy it when you give more of your time and focus less on things.