5 Eco-Friendly Christmas Gift Ideas – for the Wannabe Eco-warrior

Happy December everyone! I hope it’s a good one. I absolutely love December, it’s my favourite month of the year. It’s officially my birthday month and Christmas month, what’s not to love about it? December also means that I’ll be starting my Christmas shopping very very soon. I already have the odd present, but the bulk of it remains to be bought! And I know that I’ll definitely be buying family and friends some eco-friendly and sustainable gifts!

So today, I’m bringing you 5 eco-friendly Christmas gift ideas for you to have a look at and help your loved ones begin their sustainable journey!

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Reusable cotton rounds – 5 for £6.95

Let’s start with the basics: reusable cotton rounds. It was my first sustainable swap when I first started thinking about attempting some zero waste swaps. I was really annoyed to see the amounts of cotton rounds I was binning every day. So I made the change and I’ve never looked back! I think this is a great gift for somebody who has an established make up/skincare routine and is looking to be more sustainable with said routine. They’re so easy to just throw in the wash once you’re done with them, and they dry really quickly too!

I have a few cotton rounds from different sellers from Etsy and other small businesses, but so far my favourites have been these ones which are made of fleece, they’re so soft and they’ve hold up so well! And there are definitely cheaper options on Etsy if you don’t want to spend a whole lot of money on a small set of rounds.

Reusable dish covers – 3 for £12

I love cooking and trying out new recipes, which means I often have tons of leftover food that needs storing in the fridge for a few days until it gets gobbled up! I’d been used to getting cling film like everyone else I’m sure, until I realised the amount I was using and decided that something needed to change. I switched to glass containers easily, but with bigger dishes it was getting difficult to store until I came across reusable dish covers, and it’s been a game changer for me! I think this would be such a good gift for someone you know who enjoys cooking and uses a ton of cling film to store their food, as it’s less plastic thrown at the environment and overall better for the food. It makes the perfect addition to your kitchen equipment!

I’ve owned these for over a year now and they are holding up really well, and they have the cutest bee pattern! Most of them will come as a rounded cover, but you can also find rectangular one to cover larger dishes such as a cake tin.

Reusable sandwich bag – between £5 and £7 a bag

Raise your hand if you’ve every used a freezer bag/tin foil as your favourite way of wrapping sandwiches to bring to work with you… I know I’m guilty of this! The amount of freezer bags and tin foil I’ve thrown in the bin over the last few years is crazy. So I’ve invested in a bag to keep my sandwich in until lunchtime and it was such a good idea! I think this is a great idea for someone who is either looking to cut back on their use of cling film/freezer bag/tin foil to keep their sandwich in, or even cut back on buying their sandwich at lunchtime! Once they’ve got the bag, no excuse to keep buying sandwiches from the supermarket and throwing away the plastic packaging! I even dare say that someone working from home might enjoy preparing their sandwich in the morning and store them in the bag until lunchtime, as it gives you a sense of routine and it’s nice to have that prepped and ready even when you’re working from home.

I got mine from this Etsy shop – I have a theme going on with the bees here!

Bamboo toothbrush – £4.49

Do you know how many toothbrushes end up in landfill a year? Potentially 264 million toothbrushes are being thrown away a year in the UK, and they take about 400 years to degrade. These are appalling numbers and, as a collective, we have the power to change that. I switched to a bamboo toothbrush years ago and I’ve not looked back since. Plus, I actually found that they work a lot better for me because you have a choice of hard or soft bristles, and I always go for the soft bristles are my gums are really sensitive. Why not give your family and friends a bamboo toothbrush for Christmas? Bamboo toothbrushes are great because they are biodegradable, and the bristles recyclable, so they’re a better option all around than using a normal toothbrush. Not the most glamorous of gifts, but buying it as a set with some natural toothpaste might just work!

I use this one from WooBamboo, a soft bristles one!

Second hand books

Last but not least, we have perhaps my favourite gift of all: second hand books! Books are not talked about enough when it comes to being eco-friendly. It’s estimated that 320 million books end up in landfill annually despite paper being recyclable, because the glue that is used to buy them cannot be processed by the machines recycling the paper. So buying second hand books is not only the cheaper option, but also way more sustainable as you’re reducing your carbon footprint and saving books from hitting the bin! You can buy them from anywhere: charity shops, used bookshop websites, and there is even book subscription boxes that will send you discarded book to save them from landfill. And obviously, as a Christmas gift option, it’s an amazing one to give the book worm in your life!

I hope you enjoy this list of eco-friendly Christmas gift ideas! This close to Christmas, it’s so important to start thinking about our choices and it affects us.

Speaking of second hand books, I have a giveaway up on my instagram and you could win a second hand book to read this Christmas, and a couple of other goodies! Details are over at @earthlyemblog if you’re interested in entering!

Em ♥