The Woodland Trust’s guide to an eco-friendly Christmas!

Are you dreaming of a green Christmas? With the devastating impact of climate change all around us and the nature crisis making headlines on a daily basis, many of us are thinking of ways we can make a difference for this year’s festivities. To help, the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity the Woodland Trust, has compiled a guide to simple ways we can all fight for nature and climate and reduce our impact on the environment while we shop.

Christmas is traditionally a time for excess but your celebrations needn’t cost the earth! Every single purchase from the Woodland Trust shop including Christmas cards and gift wrap makes a contribution to the Trust’s work with woods and trees, meaning you can fight climate change and help create havens for wildlife, while also ticking off items from your Christmas to do list. And this year every product in the Trust’s Christmas range is eco-friendly, whether it’s FSC-certified wooden garden tools or bird feeders made from recycled plastic. And if you’d rather move away from giving traditional gifts completely, the Woodland Trust can still help with a selection of green ‘virtual’ gifts and unique tree and woodland dedications in woods across the UK.

Here are a few great ideas on how to go green this Christmas:

Ditch the glitz.

Buy eco-friendly cards and gift wrap. The Woodland Trust’s range of Christmas cards and wrapping paper is FSC-certified and guaranteed to be plastic and glitter-free. New for this year is fabric gift wrap, in a delightful winter bouquet design, made to be re-used year after year. You won’t even need sticky tape!

Give a tree a home.

Trees are for life, not just for Christmas, so what better way to join the fight against climate change and give a gift to nature than by planting your own tree at home. Go for a holly or yew sapling for a colourful Christmas vibe or choose a fruit or nut tree to give wildlife a tasty treat.

Or dedicate one!

If space is an issue, or you need a gift in a hurry, why not dedicate trees to friends and family this year? Choose from a single tree in a wood of your choice, or areas of woodland from a quarter of an acre or more. Each dedication is unique and surprisingly affordable and comes with its own certificate, map and wood information.

Buy greener gifts.

We’re all looking for simple ways to reduce, reuse and recycle and the Woodland Trust shop makes it easy. The strong and stylish reusable jute and juco shopping bags literally help save trees.

Go plastic free and save trees.

Support woods and trees with every sip with a reusable insulated drink cup made from recycled plastic coffee cups. Proceeds from the sale of every Now Cup go to the Woodland Trust.

Give nature a gift too.

Don’t forget wildlife this winter. The Woodland Trust’s range of outdoor products is the perfect gift for nature with bird feeders, baths and nesters and bee skeps all designed to bring some life to your outside space.

Choose a ‘virtual’ gift.

Virtual gifts are the ultimate environmentally friendly present for anyone who really wants to go green. Your donation to the Woodland Trust will directly help trees, woods and wildlife and could be used to plant trees, create a hedgerow or keep bluebells blooming.

What are you doing to go green in the run up to Christmas?