New Delhi: “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh, hey!” With winter at its peak and Christmas just a few days away, it is time to prep for cakes, carols, and all things related to Christmas. But while making a wish list for Santa Claus this season, add a little note for self – make this Christmas safe for the planet. Wondering how? Think of all the things you are planning to do on Christmas and see if it is adding to the waste burden of our planet. Instead of opting for plastic and non-biodegradable products for Christmas decoration, opt for biodegradable alternatives and make 3Rs – reduce, reuse, recycle, your thumb rule of celebrating Christmas this season.
Also Read: Here’s Your Guide To Host An Eco-friendly Christmas Bash
Here are 5 DIY (Do it yourself) ideas to celebrate a zero-waste Christmas:
1. Start With The Christmas Tree
Give those old ribbons a new life in form of a Christmas tree
Questions that need to be asked – Is the Christmas tree being purchased made of PVC plastic? What about the decorative items used to adorn the Christmas tree, what are those made up of? This year, make your own Christmas tree using old ribbons and become the talk of the town.
How To Make A Christmas Tree
All you need to do is get some old ribbons of preferably green colour or in the shades of green and a twig. Tie the ribbon scraps around the twig, in a straight line. To give it the look and feel of a Christmas tree, trim the edges of the ribbon. Lastly, tie a twine on the top of the tree. Usually, Christmas tree is kept on a floor, but this tree can be hanged anywhere.
Note: If you wish to keep this tree in your room, plant it in a pot and keep it inside your house.
Also Read: This Christmas Go Green, 5 Eco-Friendly X-Mas Tree Alternatives To Make Your Holiday Shine
2. Embellishments To Pep Up Christmas Tree
Christmas tree is incomplete without decoration and what’s better than repurposing waste?
What is Christmas without dummy gifts, baubles, candy canes, and other accessories? Avoid item made of plastic for the decorations, get creative and repurpose discarded waste products.
While empty matchboxes covered with scrap gift paper, magazines or newspapers can make up for dummy gifts, discarded home foil can make up for balls. You can also make stars from used CDs. How? Simply cut out a star from a piece of cardboard and pieces of CDs on it.
Also Read: From Old To Gold: Tap Your Creative Side To Upcycle Your Used CDs
3. Upcycled Wreath
Grab all the eye balls with an upcycled wreath
A guest comes to your place and presses the doorbell. Ting Tong! By the time you unlock the door, the visitor looks here and there and at the front door. But is your front door beautiful enough? During Christmas, a wreath adorns the front door and it is vital your wreath jazz up the entrance during Christmas. So take out all the calendars, comics, greeting cards you have and don that creative hat.
How To Do
Cut out a circular ring of any size from a cardboard and holly leaves from calendars and comics. Now simply place the ring on a flat surface and start pasting leaves in a clockwise direction. You can paste one leaf over another to make layers and give it a 3D effect.
Also Read: Secret Santa Time! Five Great Christmas Gift Ideas That Are Eco-Friendly Too
4. Antique Candle Holders
This Christmas, bring back antique candle holders using waste glass bottles, jars and containers
Candles, being one of the Christmas essentials, are something everyone is bound to purchase. While some people prefer to keep candles simply on floor or table top, others especially shop for candle holders. But this year, you can make your own candle holders, and amp up the decoration. Here is an easy guide to making your own candle holders.
All you need is old glass cups, mugs, containers and some twigs which you can easily fetch from a nearby park. Simply stick the twigs around the glass cup and tie a ribbon around it. That’s it! Your antique candle holder is ready.
5. Hang The Stockings In Style
Impress Santa Claus with your DIY stocking and grab amazing gifts
With Christmas comes the tradition of hanging stockings on Christmas Eve so that Santa Claus can fill it with small toys, candy, fruit, coins or other gifts when he arrives. This year, get over buying regular red colour stockings; instead make one on your own. Take out all the tattered blankets and scarves you have and give them new lives by transforming them into stockings.
DIY Stockings For Christmas
Fold the blanket or scarf into half and keep it on a flat surface. Remember to fold the material inside out. Next, draw a sock on it and cut it out. Lastly, stitch the sock and reverse the fabric. Voila, your DIY stocking is ready.
Also Read: This Christmas Move Over Plastic, Here Is How You Can Wrap Up Gifts Without Generating Waste
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
