Pre-Christmas Preparations

Oxfam offer a range of gifts available to the third world which you can purchase in lieu of a material gift for a loved one. You can buy anything from 8 School Books for £8 to a goat for £25 or even their best seller: a toilet for £50!

Visit www.oxfam.org.uk/shop for more information.

Other similar gifts can be found at: Practical action- visit www.practicalpresents.org  or Christian Aid- www.presentaid.org/page/home

Visit the World wide fund for nature at www.wwf.org.uk/index.cfm and adopt an animal such as a panda, tiger or polar bear.

Redwings Horse Sanctuary - Adopt a horse from one of their sites from as little as £12.50.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society- Adopt a Whale or Dolphin for as little as £4 a month and help the WDCS to protect and monitor the marine life in the Moray Firth, Scotland.

Try the Carbon Neutral Shop at www.carbonneutral.com. You can choose to offset your monthly or yearly carbon footprint by purchasing one of these gifts.

A Greener Christmas box which offsets your carbon footprint for the big day costs £5.

At www.treetwist.co.uk  you have the chance to purchase a Tree Twist and have a tree planted to the value of your twist. The Tree Twists cost between £20- £30

Twycross Zoo- Home to hundreds of animals including a vast array of Monkeys. Sponsor an animal and enjoy free admission to the zoo for one year.

English Heritage- Become a member and enjoy free entry to over 400 sites countrywide.

Tate membership- Free entry to a world-class exhibition programme at all four Tate Galleries.

National trust membership- Free entry and parking at over 300 historic houses and gardens and free parking at our countryside and coastline locations

For the fitness conscious, why not try a years’ membership to a gym!

Theatre/ Concert tickets

Tickets for sporting events or season tickets

Cinema tickets

Photography/ beauty experience

Try visiting Virgin Experiences at www.virginexperiencedays.co.uk/ or Red Letter Days at www.redletterdays.co.uk/Home

Shopping

Beauty Treatments

Book Tokens

Magazine Subscription

Recycled or ethical gifts

www.planettrash.co.uk This website has a wide range of gifts from glasses made from wine and beer bottles to a beer can lantern.

www.ethicalsuperstore.com  For items such as stationery made from discarded maps try this website.

www.thegreenstoreonline.co.uk – this online store has a huge range of green Christmas gifts for all the family from clocks made from recycled beer bottles to necklaces made from aluminium cans.

www.nigelsecostore.com – this site has recycled Christmas tree decorations. Why not treat yourself to a star made from an old CD or a tree made out of recycled circuit boards. You can also buy eco Christmas trees and solar powered fairy lights.

www.ecotopia.co.uk – this website is particularly good for environmentally friendly stocking fillers. Great for children- with a recycled Santa torch and for adults, drinks coasters made from old vinyl LP’s!

www.foe.co.uk – for handy hints on how to have a greener Christmas or for more eco gift ideas, why not visit the Friends of the Earth website.

www.fairtrade.org.uk – for fair-trade gifts such as coffee, chocolate and cotton goods which have been ethically produced and the farmers/workers in have been paid fairly.

Wrapping presents is part of the festive ritual and it certainly wouldn't be as much fun if you could see what you'd got as soon as you looked under the tree. However, one of the biggest sources of waste each Christmas is wrapping paper, with more than 8,000 tonnes being used each year - the equivalent of approximately 50,000 trees. So instead of picking up a jumbo roll of paper on the high street, consider some greener ways to conceal your gifts.

Wrap presents in reusable items such as gift bags and boxes and re-use those which you have received over previous years. Not only will this cut down on waste but it will save time and money too.

But you don’t have to confine yourself to traditional wrappings there are dozens of ways to wrap things up without disposable giftwrap.

Fabric: off cuts from old curtains to t-shirts can be used as attractive, different wrappings which can be used over and over.

Paper: wrap gifts in paper found around your house, like old maps (for the traveler), comics (for the humorist), or children’s artwork (for parents), wrap clothes in catalogue pages or cooking utensils in recipes from the newspaper. Fancy making your own wrapping paper this Christmas?

DIY gift boxes: For the more creative, fashion your own gift boxes from items that would otherwise be thrown away such as cereal or shoe boxes  or search car boot sales for interesting, old boxes that can be also used as decorative packaging. Hobbycraft have some excellent ideas on how to create your own Christmas packaging.  

Give two useful presents instead of one: wrap a gift within a gift such as a pretty scarf, or bright hat. Cooking utensils could be wrapped in an apron or colourful kitchen towel or jewellry in a jewellry box.

Finally, avoid wrapping altogether, hide the presents around the house and have a Christmas Present Hunt instead.

Make your own from old Christmas cards, materials, pictures, old wrapping or paper. You can also make gift tags from your old Christmas cards. If you are technically minded you could even send an e-card to your friends.

www.nigelsecostore.com this site has recycled Christmas tree decorations. Hang a star made from an old CD or a bell made from recycled circuit boards. You can also buy eco Christmas trees and solar powered fairy lights.

Try making decorations from old light bulbs by painting them. Visit www.allfreecrafts.com for this and many more inspirational ideas.

Hobbycraft also have ideas on how to make recycled paper lanterns for your tree. Go to www.hobbycraft.co.uk

For some waste saving ideas for the big day

To make some New Years resolutions