A Guide to an Ethical Christmas

Our lovely discount partners Lil (Lower Impact Living) shared some really fab information on our Facebook group recently which we thought we would repost here. Many thanks to Sarah and Louise for doing that....

It may only be October but many of us have actually (go on, admit it!) started thinking about Christmas and about how we can make our gifting, eating, drinking and wrapping more ethically conscious and sustainable. There are loads of great options out there in terms of local gifts (you only have to go to one of the amazing Christmas Fayre's around the county to see that) so buying locally made food, drink and gifts is easier than you might think. Buying something made with love by a member of our own community using local ingredients is surely better than anything that has been shipped here from overseas?! You only have to look at the Christmas Gift Guide (keep an eye on the Facebook group as we'll post this again soon) that East Lothian Ladies produced last year so see the superb array of local gift ideas. We love them all!

Lil also suggest doing a Secret Santa where you buy just one singular gift for the person you are allocated, saving on waste and wrapping and, hopefully, giving them something they truly want.

The image we've shared here, called The Ethical Hierarchy of Gift Purchasing is so simple and yet so sensible and really makes you think about what you buy. Thought is better than bought - somebody will appreciate something you have put a lot of time into rather than something you bought in a panic on Christmas Eve.

Of course, whatever we do buy, of course we want it to look pretty. Traditional 'brown' paper now comes in a variety of colours and because it's paper and uncoated, it can be recycled. So too can paper ribbon (raffia) and paper tape is also available, meaning that you'll no longer need a black sack in the corner of the room for rubbish - just your recycling bin.

Please do get in touch if you have any great sustainable or ethical Christmas ideas you think our members would love to hear about.

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