Easy Homemade Christmas Presents for a Greener Yuletide
Homemade Christmas presents are green Christmas presents!
Homemade Christmas presents are a delight to receive - so much more personal than some bought item that caught your eye amongst the Christmas glitter in the shops. And the good news is, of course, Christmas presents made at home are generally a whole lot greener than commercial ones!
Why? Unless you are firing up a factory-like outfit to make your Christmas present, the "embodied energy" is likely to be far lower. Embodied energy simply means all the different energy which has gone into making the product - from the raw materials from which it is made, to the factory where it was put together and the transportation which brought it to the shop - and then to your door.
Of course, homemade Christmas presents have some embodied energy cost, too. If you make cushion covers, the material used will likely have been made in a factory miles away. If you bake biscuits or make sweets, some of the ingredients are likely to be imported or have been grown using fossil fuels. A carbon-free Christmas is far from easy to achieve!
Nevertheless, there are many simple gifts which can be made at home which are likely to have a far lower carbon footprint than most bought goods. And if you use some recycled materials - you get a few extra brownie points for lowering your carbon footprint even further!
Making homemade Christmas presents is also potentially cost-saving - and of course, it's fun!
The ethics of modern shopping
A consumer trend has taken over our lives: it is seen as cool and sophisticated to buy expensive stuff. Conversely, some people see homemade articles as somehow less good and glamorous than shop-bought items. It's hard, particularly with older children and young adults to fight against this trend - and I don't for a moment think that the child wanting the latest computer game or this season's must have techno-toy is going to be the least bit impressed by a hand-knitted cardigan instead!
Nevertheless, there are plenty of people who will value well-made homemade produce and will value it especially for the personal touch that it gives. Who remembers where that pulp fiction best-seller came from? Or the department store hat and gloves set? But we all remember who gave us the handmade photo-album or the handmade chocolates!
Here are a few ideas for beautiful homemade Christmas presents which can be customised to suit your family and friends.
Easy homemade Christmas presents:
Rumtopf
This is one which needs to be made well in advance. Rumtopf is a very acceptable Christmas present for almost any adult who is not tee-total! Rumtopf is made from summer fruits, preserved in generous amounts of dark rum.
Present it in an interesting jar - preferably made from re-cycled glass - and you have an easy homemade Christmas present to take to winter house parties or to friends and relations.
Full instruction...
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