Everyone knows that Christmas is a very commercially busy time of year. Shops online and offline are bustling with people trying to buy gifts for their loved ones. This year is a lot stranger than most due to Corona virus and a lot of businesses in various parts of the world have lost a lot of business due to the fact they may have had to close due to lockdowns. A lot of small and independent companies will be looking at this busy period to help keep their business growing so it's up to everyone as a consumer to help support local and small businesses for Christmas. A lot of people may not know how to support local as we often shop in big conglomerate companies as they are very easily accessible. I'd like to share my top tips for having a more sustainable Christmas for the economy and for the environment.
- Shop Locally: This seems pretty simple, but I think when it comes to Christmas people tend to veer towards bigger shops and buy more extravagant things. The truth is that smaller shops sell just as good stock as the big companies that we all know and love. I'm sure everyone has a local area full of some independent shops that probably sell some of the stuff that you would otherwise buy online, yet buying the products local helps boost your own local economy and the people that you surround yourself with. Plus you never know what gems you'll find!
- Shop on more independent online businesses - As well as shopping locally, you could shop independently - shopping from some smaller businesses, ones who create their own items. There are some great online shops that help smaller creators, and allow an easy platform to search for products you may like. Ones I use frequently are Etsy, and Redbubble. These sites allow creators to sell their creations online and there are some wonderful products. Obviously this is not the only way to find smaller businesses as many have their own sites but I think it's an easy way to find something you're specifically looking for and compare items in one place.
- Support a creator you like - If you really like watching a certain streamer, or youtuber, or even an artists work, it's a great idea to buy some merch from the creator that you enjoy. This would help support the creator that you like and help fund more content from them so it's a win win.
- Shop vintage - There's a lot of really cute shops that sell a lot of vintage items. I've tried to only buy vintage and second hand recently in terms of clothing in particular so that I can cut down on my consumption and save some items from landfill. I'm planning on buying some vintage pieces for my friends as I think you can find some really unique pieces that I think are individual and really show you put a lot of thought into what you gift someone.
- Look for sustainable products - By this I mean products that come in recyclable packaging, more natural products, and items that will get a lot of usage. Rather than gifts that are made cheaply and will be easily disposed of. Think of gifts that you know the person will use like perfume, or makeup or books, rather than something that is cheap and cheerful.
- Look for sustainable packaging - I mentioned this in the last point but wrapping paper sales are crazy at this time of year, I don't know many people that don't wrap their gifts. An alternative to wasting all this paper is to but recyclable wrapping paper as not all are - a lot a coated in was or other substances that can't be recycled! Another alternative would be to not wrap the gifts but put them in a reusable gift bag instead that won't go to waste! Or you could reuse newspapers or magazines you've had during the year! It looks pretty cool too!
I'm considering making a gift guide to help small businesses so let me know if that's something you'd be interested in. Let me know if you have any tips for reducing our consumption and being more sustainable this Christmas period!
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