Jingle bells, plastic smells, alternatives all the way

It's that time of year again when the present buying anxiety starts to set in.

What am I going buy?

Who am I buying for?

If I buy for that person does that mean I have to buy for those people?

Are they even going to like it?

Maybe I'll just buy them a pint...

The internal questioning can go on and on, but with people often buying for the sake of buying and with presents often finding themselves lost at the back of a cupboard or (dare I say it) straight in the bin, there is a huge amount of unnecessary waste at this time of year.

Last year there was enough plastic Christmas card wrapping to cover the Big Ben 260,000 times and enough wrapping paper used to circle the equator 9 times over. We can't let our attempts at helping the planet fall by the wayside at this festive time of the year.

This post will give you some environmentally friendly gift ideas this Christmas and, with any luck, will encourage eco-friendly habits in those lucky enough to receive these super cool presents!

Here are 9 cheap ideas that will make your festive season that little bit more environmentally conscious:

1) Head to your local charity shop to give an old item a new lease of life

2) A metal water bottle or a KeepCup if they're more of a tea/coffee drinker

3) Membership to one the several ocean conservation charities, such as:
Marine Conservation Charity
Plastic Oceans UK
Surfers Against Sewage
Just One Ocean
5 Gyres Institute

4) Reusable sandwich bags which are both waterproof and can be thrown in the washing machine

5) Some nice wall art to match a plastic free household

6) Reusable lunch bag which has thermal lining to keep your food warm and a magnetic seal

7) A lunch box to go with the bag. These Bento Boxes are leak-proof and have a separate compartment for cutlery. They can be microwaved and are BPA free! (What's BPA? Check my blog post 'Humans and plastic. Relationship status: its complicated')

8) A bracelet with beads made from recycled glass and each purchase going towards removing 1 pound of plastic from the ocean.

9) Or ocean inspired jewelry where a portion of the money you pay goes towards conservation of marine life.

Don't forget that when you're wrapping these gifts, to reuse any old wrapping paper from previous years or use newspaper and string or even cloth (see below for some cool ways of wrapping presents in cloth).

Hopefully you can have a plastic and waste free Christmas and get the New Year off to a good start.

(Source: The Art of Simple)