Let’s face it-Christmas is a time of excess. We eat too much, we spend too much and, unfortunately, we use too many trees in order to send out Christmas cards. Yet the latter doesn’t have to be a constant if you implement the use of eco-friendly alternatives to the standard wasteful variety.

Christmas Cards That Grow On You

According to Wikipedia.org some 1.9 billion Christmas cards were mailed out in 2005. That’s a lot of dead trees and waste for a one-time-use greeting. When sending out your Christmas cards this year take a minute to evaluate those on your card list. Not everyone necessarily needs a physical card to know you’re thinking of them during Christmas. Personalized e-cards work great for co-workers and waste no paper whatsoever.

For those instances where an e-card just won’t cut it, such as with family or close friends, try sending a Christmas card that will warm their hearts and beautify their flower beds come summer. Seed paper cards are greeting cards created from 100% recycled paper which are imbedded with perennial flower seeds. The recipient can save the card and come spring simply plant the biodegradable card in ground. The seeds will germinate and grow lovely flowers for years to come. You’ll be happy knowing you reused paper that was recycled and your Christmas card recipient will have reduced the number of cards in landfills by planting their Christmas greeting. That’s the three “R’s” covered with one simple card!

Be Caring and Crafty with Homemade Christmas Cards

A huge trend in Christmas cards of late is the personalized touch of creating your own greeting cards. While the supplies to make your own holiday cards are abundant at any craft store the items offered don’t necessarily have the environment in mind. If crafting your own Christmas cards is a hobby you enjoy relax in knowing that you don’t have to give up this holiday pleasure-you just need to find eco-friendly materials to use.

Purchase blank cards and card stock made from recycled paper. Accessorize your cards with natural embellishments such as rustic strings, and dried flowers or fruits. Cut out holiday designs from decorative recycled paper and use these as decals on your handmade Christmas greetings.

Spread the Word

Taking care of the environment is everyone’s responsibility. Unfortunately with today’s hectic lifestyles being green often takes a backseat to our daily routine. When sending out your eco-friendly Christmas cards you can remind friends and family to put the Earth first by designing your own U.S. postage stamp with a pro-environmental message. Many online companies offer this service and designing your own stamp is easier than you might think.

This Christmas why not take the time to see how you can reduce the impact the festive season has on our planet? While being eco-friendly during the holidays does take some planning the rewards benefit us all. By using recyclable and reusable papers for your Christmas cards you send a message of holiday cheer and environmental responsibility at the same time.

Decorating Christmas trees with cookies and candy is a great way to give your tree that personal touch. It is creative and the results can be astounding in terms of their creative impact.

Decorating an artificial tree with baked goods is one way to make it look more homey and real. A slim Christmas tree really looks great with decorations made out of slim wrapped candies. The snowy color of shortbread confections also plays off nicely against any color of tree including the artificial white Christmas tree.

Decorating Christmas trees with food goes back to the times before Christ was born. Offerings of food were often placed along sills and windows to feed the good spirits and protect from the evil ones. The first Christmas trees were in fact imitations of the pyramid shape of real conifers.

The custom of placing pickles and other foods on the steps of cedar pyramids of wood that were hand constructed was very common in Germany before the 16th century. It wasn’t until Martin Luther came along and presented the upright tree that was brought indoors and lit with candles that we became familiar with the Christmas tree that we know today.

Using food as adornments on evergreen boughs is a time-honored tradition. Perhaps the strangest one is the German custom of hanging pickles on the tree. Today you can buy German ornaments made of glass that feature pickle cartoon characters wearing tiny Santa hats. Decorating Christmas trees with shortbread and ginger bread men is also a tradition that came out of Germanic and Slavic cultures. Of course today you can buy all kinds of different cookie cutters that certainly pique one’s creativity when it comes to making edible Christmas decorations. Popular cookie cutter shapes are Christmas stockings, Santa, reindeer, presents and stars. However you could also decorate your tree with shortbread or gingerbread cut into any shape you like.

There are some really interesting novelty cookie cutters on the market including ones shaped like nativity scenes. One nice idea might be to decorate your tree with heart shaped cookies. You could also make one very large angel, decorate it with edible gold and glitter and use it as a tree topper.

Decorating Christmas trees with candies can be even more fun. You can hang single candies from a tree - such as lollipops and foil wrapped chocolates. Toffees wrapped in foil look especially nice on a tall slim christmas tree. Candies can also be glued together in sunburst shapes to make interesting decorations or even strung together to make a long, shiny and delicious garland.

It is also very easy to make Christmas tree decorations using pins and Styrofoam balls or backing. Simply spray the Styrofoam balls with green gold or silver and pin the candies so that they cover the surface of the ball. A similar idea comes from Martha Stewart who does the same with gumdrops and miniature marshmallows. You could also use candied fruit. In fact one age old Christmas decoration is the oranges that is stuck with cloves and hung from the tree. In theory you could also use oranges as the base for any type of home made candy ornament.

One idea is to create a tree topper for your Christmas tree using peppermint candy canes. This involves gluing them onto a round Styrofoam ball so that they radiate from the center in the circle. The same thing can be done with gumdrops on toothpicks and lollipops.

By the way, the candy cane is one of the most potent of Christmas symbols and it is actually a symbol of Jesus. A candy maker invented them in Indiana in the late 1800’s. He came up with the idea of bending a plain white peppermint stick. The color white symbolizes the purity and sinless nature of Jesus. The three small stripes to symbolize the pain Christ on the cross. The reason there are three is because they represent the Holy Trinity. The one bold stripe represents the blood of Jesus. Right side up it looks like a shepherd’s staff because Jesus is the shepherd of man. Upside down, it becomes the letter J symbolizing the first letter in Jesus’ name.

So candy canes are more than just pretty confections. They have quite a serious meaning. When it comes to decorating Christmas trees, one cannot say enough about popcorn. Popcorn is one of the most versatile of Christmas tree decorations. Most traditional is the Christmas tree garland that is strung with the popped kernels. Popcorn balls that are dyed with food coloring also make very attractive Christmas tree decorations. Left white, however, these popcorn balls look like snowballs hanging on your tree.

Christmas tree garlands can also be made out of any kind of berries. Cranberries and holly berries (not edible!) make especially nice garlands because of their festive red color.

Some years, cereal companies also put out cereal in Christmas colors such as red and green. These types of cereals can also be made into shapes using a Rice Krispy Square recipe and hung by a thread.

Another unique idea is to decorate your Christmas tree with homemade candy apples. These bright glossy red treats look absolutely fantastic, especially on a white or green tree. A nice compliment to the color of the candy apples would be gold chocolate coins or foil covered chocolates in the shape of Santa also strung on the tree. A starburst of candy apples would make a stunning tree topper for a slim Christmas tree.

When decorating Christmas trees with candy and baked goods remember that our success is only as limited as your imagination. If you are stuck for ideas, Martha Stewart’s cookbooks are an excellent source of inspiration. You can also get great ideas on the Internet and by searching traditional Christmas tree sites to get ideas about how these decorations are supposed to look.

Christmas belongs to everyone especially the children. Most of the memories that we treasure for a lifetime are created during childhood. Help your kids to make memorable moments with edible ornaments.

Edible ornaments are fun to make and even better to eat. One advantage of these ornaments is that there is less to pack away in containers once the holidays are over. These ornaments are biodegradable if the kids don’t get to them.

Start with the garland. Usually we string tinsel and other items that can be harmful to pets and children if they are eaten. In the early days of Christmas among the settlers, foods like popcorn and nuts were used for garland. Little treats could be placed on the tree that the kids could eat later.

Go back to the old ways and have the kids string a few strands of popcorn garland. Use their favorite popcorn flavors. You run the risk of more popcorn being eaten than strung but it is a chance you will have to take. Actually, stale popcorn is easier to string than freshly popped. Leave a bag or two of microwave popcorn sitting for a day or two and then begin decorating.

Pretzels can be strung as well. You won’t need a needle for this stringing procedure. Pretzels can be placed at intervals between the pieces of popcorn.

A popular tree ornament is candy canes. The red and white striped treats are a staple of Christmas. Now, they come in a variety of colors and flavors besides peppermint. Choose colors that complement your décor and color scheme for the Christmas tree.

They come individually wrapped so the candy can be shared with everyone after Christmas is over. In fact, if you have a Christmas party, let each child take a souvenir from your tree home to their tree.

Nuts can be glued together in the shape of a ball and hung like a Christmas bulb. Leave enough space to slip a piece of string or ribbon through the top and tie it to the tree branch. Since the shell is discarded anyway, a dab of Elmer’s glue won’t prevent eating them later.

Carefully choose which decorative edibles the kids can eat from the Christmas tree. For a fake tree, the branches are made of plastic and each ornament is safe for eating. With live trees, determine if the tree has been sprayed with anything to prevent bug infestation. Any small bugs or remnants of sprays can render the food inedible after coming in contact with it. In that case, use some sort of ornament hanger to keep the edible ornaments away from the tree branches and needles.

Edible ornaments are fun to make. Shellac the ones the kids want to keep so they are preserved for more Christmas memories.

We all like to decorate for Christmas. It puts the entire family in the festive mood of the season. Each year, many families purchase new decorations to change the look of our Christmas tree. This year, why not choose to use some natural decorations for your home?

Natural doesn’t mean decorations that look like nuts and berries. It refers to using actual nuts and berries as decorations. Using nature to spruce up the place is safe for the environment. After the holiday is over, it is easy to dispose of these decorations. There is no need to pack up anything except for the tree, if it is artificial.

Start with the garland. We like to decorate banisters, mantles, and archways. Nurseries have natural garlands for sale and so do farmer’s markets. Do you have holly bushes or evergreen bushes in the yard? Use the remnants to create strings of garland to lay about the house. The little pieces can decorate candle displays and be used to create wreaths.

Berries from the yard add color to the Christmas tree. Using a needle and thread, string a few berries intermittently with some popcorn kernels. The kids can help you do this. To make the decorations last longer and keep the bugs away, add a little shellac to the string with a small brush to seal in the smells.

In art class years ago, they taught kids to make ornaments using dough and salt. This was the one time salt was preferred over sugar in a recipe. Regular cookie cutters made various Christmas shapes in the dough before they were baked. The ornaments would get rock hard and then they could be decorated with non-toxic paint. A hole was punched in the cookie ornament dough before baking so a ribbon could be passed through later.

Pine cones are another decorating favorite. A dollop of glue applied to the bottom of the pinecone made a place for the string to be attached for tree hanging. For eco friendly decorating, use strips of organic cotton fabric in holiday colors to hang the ornaments on the Christmas tree.

Decorating is not limited to the Christmas tree and the banisters. Many people keep their Christmas cards from years past and hang them on the walls. This is a great way to recycle old Christmas cards.

Those same cards can be used to make placemats for the holiday table. Affix the colored covers of the cards to a piece of cardboard and laminate the entire thing. Old paper towel rolls can be turned into napkin rings for the table.

What are some of your ideas for the holidays? Wherever possible, substitute manufactured decorating materials with natural decorations. You will save money and the environment.