There’s still time for a cheap and easy eco Christmas

I just want to be absolutely sure...” says the slightly anxious voice on the other end of the phone. I know how this is going to go. It’s my third call like this in the last 10 days. I made one myself last week.

“We’re definitely not doing gifts, right?” I asked my mum for what must have been the fourth time. “None at all. Not ‘no big presents but stocking fillers are still a go’, or any variation on a theme that could leave me red-faced and Scrooge-like with my empty arms. Right?”

It turns out stocking fillers are still on despite the universal request to call time on all Christmas presents for the adults in our extended family, with all but a few trinkets for the seven under-sevens we have spawned between us.

We’re not the only ones to put the brakes on. That anxious mum – and it’s still the mums – I’m listening to now is championing a secret Santa style gift arrangement for the small army of kids in her clan in a bid to avoid the avalanche of gifts that either spark complacency or a sense of being overwhelmed – by a fair few adults as well as the children.

Elsewhere, this will be the fourth year friends of ours have agreed to a big summer picnic instead of exchanging items because we once got into the habit long ago and are now fighting our way out.

This year though, there is a wider chat going on. Renting – the tree, party outfits, table settings, even kids toys – is gaining traction up and down the country, while earnest discussions about not bothering with pricey crackers because the plastic tat inside them end up in the bin within 24 hours.

Cutting back and cutting down – whether for environmental, financial or frankly, mental wellbeing reasons, seems to be the order of the day.

No, not cutting down the tree – if you’re buying, get one grown in the tub with the root ball intact. We’re dragging ours from the back garden tomorrow night. It’ll be its fourth Christmas, though I’ll hold my hands up to the weird Narnia vibes in July setting my teeth on edge a bit.

Do I need to suggest collecting actual real-life holly and ivy rather than paying for and then having to store a plastic imitation? No, thought not.

Meanwhile, ever since lockdown one, Christmas crafting has wrenched its reputation from the passive-aggressive claws of the ‘soccer moms’ to provide an actual, potentially free, solution for the rest of us.

Did you get a homemade jar of jam for the first time last year? I did. It was good too. I’m hoping for a repeat. Not least because it saved me £2.80 in the New Year – just when every penny matters.

To be clear, what we’ve just done there is confirm that a greener Christmas is a cheaper Christmas if you do it right. In other words by doing less, you’ll be pulling fewer items across the globe by way of a rickety and painfully expensive global supply chain.

And forget the wrapping paper with all that glittery plastic coating that makes it impossible to recycle. If you are buying, experiences are a universal winner, including those you can provide yourself for nothing. And if you do need to wrap, consider reusable material wrapping that forms part of the gift.

When we got our son’s new (to us) bike – that his uncles, aunts, and grandparents all put in for instead of buying him lots of random stuff he didn’t need or want – we threw a sheet over it and wrapped it up with a piece of ribbon from the previous year.

All this can be a time saver too. Sure, if you’re going down the jam route (I’m going out in a blaze of glory, or perhaps just charred dough, with my first ever attempt at making a panettone myself. Wish me luck...) there is a time investment. But how long are you going to otherwise spend queuing for the multi-storey on a wet and blowy late night Thursday between now and the 25th? What’s the duration of an online shopping rabbit hole? Bloody hours.

Batch cook, bake, create and the time will fly by. What am I saying – get the kids to do it and you don’t even need to worry about the outcome being any good. No kids? Offer to babysit as a Christmas gift for your frazzled sibling and get a bit of pint-sized labour for your troubles. You’ll be killing two birds with one stone.

Speaking of Christmas birds, there are also rumblings about food in all this too.

Switching from veggie to attempt at a fully plant-based spread for the entire crew one year knocked two-thirds off our Christmas food bill. Or it would have if we didn’t up the booze take in response.

Fewer January credit card bills, less random stuff to find a home for, a bit more time on the stuff that matters (no, not peace on earth, chocolate for breakfast) AND greener festivities?

It’s a Christmas miracle.