7 Eco-Friendly Christmas Decoration Ideas For You

There is nothing better to get you into the mood for Christmas than putting up decorations, right? But most of those decorations are made of plastic.

And we all know that plastic is an unsustainable material. Over 90% of plastic is made from fossil fuels. Producing plastic contributes heavily to greenhouse gas emissions, which are estimated to account for 26% to 31% of the global carbon budget by 2050. (Karali et al., 2024)

Most of these plastic decorations, such as artificial Christmas trees, are also not recyclable, which means they will ultimately end up in landfill.

Because plastic isn’t readily biodegradable (Cai et al., 2023), it takes a long time to break down. Depending on the type of plastic it can take hundreds or even thousands of years to degrade. (Chamas et al., 2020)

And as it does so, it releases toxic chemicals and microplastics, (Wojnowska-Baryla et al., 2022) as well as greenhouse gases (Royer et al., 2018), contributing to global warming and climate change.

So what’s the solution? Switching to sustainable decorations. And here we bring you 7 eco-friendly Christmas decoration ideas for a greener Xmas.

1. Let’s Start With The Tree

Our living Christmas tree lives outside and only comes into the house for 2 weeks over the festive period — Our living Christmas tree is outside most of the year, but is brought into the house for 2 weeks over the festive period.

What would Christmas be without a beautifully decorated tree? For many of us, it’s the centre piece of the festive season. It’s where the family gathers on Christmas morning to open presents, after all.

Nowadays, so many of us have an artificial tree. Sure, it’s very convenient. You can store it in a cupboard or the loft for most of the year, it always looks a lush green, and it doesn’t drop its needles.

But it’s also made of plastic, and you won’t have this gorgeous smell of pine which for me is the smell of Christmas since my childhood. Nothing beats a real Christmas tree.

And while you could get a cut tree from a sustainably run farm, which means they plant a new tree for each they cut down, there are better options.

After all, killing a tree just so that we have a nice decoration for a few weeks of the year doesn’t seem right. Even if it can be turned into wood chips and used as mulch afterwards.

There are other options:

Get a tree in a pot
Rent a tree

You can get a sustainable Christmas tree in a pot in most garden centres or order them online on sites like YouGarden. What’s so great is that the tree stays alive.

You keep it in your garden for most of the year and bring it in over the Christmas period. Just make sure you keep it watered and not too close to heat sources such as radiators.

They won’t drop their needles because they are alive and you have the joy of a real and living tree in your home.

Like any other potted plant, it’ll be necessary to repot the tree. This means that eventually, it will become too big or heavy to bring into the house. Once this point is reached, you can plant it in your garden, if you have space.

If not, maybe a friend, family member or neighbour is happy to plant it in theirs. Otherwise, you could opt for the second option, rent a tree.

There are many places now in the UK where you can rent a tree over the Christmas period. Then they go back and get taken care of or planted. With some of those places you can get the same tree every year until it gets too big.

Ideally you want one of these companies close to where you live, to reduce transport emissions. A quick internet search will soon bring one up near you, but here are some examples:

Eco Christmas Trees – Lake District
Green Elf Trees – London
Lanjeth Nursery and Water Gardens – Plymouth
Lotmead Farm – Cotswold
Rudies Roots Nurseries – Lincoln
Aberdeenshire Christmas Tree Adoption – Aberdeenshire

We have bought a potted Christmas tree a few years ago from our local garden centre. And it has brought us so much joy over the years. But it gets to the point where it’s heavy and big, so we will have to plant it in our garden soon.

We are planning to decorated it with bird food in winter, so that the birds have something to fall back on when food gets scarce.

When we reach this point, we are considering to rent a tree, as we don’t have space in the garden for more trees. One thing’s for sure though, we won’t get an artificial one.

If, for whatever reason, you aren’t keen on a real tree, you don’t have to stick with a plastic one. How about a wooden Christmas tree?

They might look more modern and abstract but can still bring a warm, festive glow to your home without any plastic. These artificial wooden trees can be decorated like real ones too.

So there is not need to get a plastic tree, choose a sustainable alternative this Christmas.

2. Tree Decorations

Whether it’s baubles, tinsel, or other tree decorations, most of them are made of plastic. Tinsel is especially bad, because strands can easily come off, littering your home with plastic bits that small children and pets could ingest.

Bits might also get stuck on your tree, which, when you put it out to be recycled, can get into our environment, where it can cause harm to wildlife.

So what are the alternatives? Natural materials that can be recycled or composted:

Sustainably sourced wood
Paper made from recycled paper or cardboard
Sheep’s wool or organic cotton yarn
Metal
Plant material, such as pine cones

While glass is also often seen as a sustainable material because it can be recycled indefinitely, this only applies to things like jars and bottles. Glass baubles can’t be recycled at home and aren’t accepted at recycling centres, like some other glass pieces.

And because glass can take around a million years to break down, it’s only sustainable if it’s recycled.

Another material that is more eco-friendly is terracotta. It’s 100% natural and can be recycled. However, it can’t be recycled at home, only at some UK recycling centres.

As such, it’s a sustainable material, but if you haven’t got access to such a facility, you have to throw any terracotta items in your general waste bin, which isn’t ideal. Even though, terracotta won’t leak any harmful or toxic substances as does plastic.

So terracotta Christmas tree decorations can be an eco-friendly alternative to plastic decorations.

Many of the sustainable materials, such as paper, wool, or wood, also lend themselves well to make your own decorations. This is an ideal pre-Christmas activity to do with kids on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Your children will enjoy the making of the decorations and will feel proud when they see them on the tree. And homemade decorations will have a meaning, unlike bought ones.

Every year as you decorate the tree, you’ll remember when you made them, which will become more precious every year as your kids grow older.

But if that isn’t your thing, you can buy them from sustainable shops, like &keep, one of my favourite eco-friendly online shops.

3. Wreaths

sustainable Christmas wreath made from natural materials

For many of us, a wreath is synonymous with Christmas. When I was little, my mum, my sister, and I would make our own Christmas wreaths every year. We would go for a walk in a nearby woodland and pick branches from pine trees, pine cones, holly and other Christmas foliage.

My mum also bought dried orange slices, which we also added to our handmade decorations. The wreath base was made of hazel branches that were tied together to form a circle with sisal string or metal wire, which can be reused.

It was a lot of fun to pick and than use the natural materials to create our own Christmas wreaths. My mum’s would be put up on the front door and my sister’s and mine were used to decorate the inside of our home.

But today, most people have artificial wreaths that are made of plastic. While they are less work and can be used year after year, they also look the same every year.

And when it comes to disposing it, it ends up in landfill, where it will take years to break down and leaks microplastics and toxic chemicals.

So here is what you need to make your own Christmas wreath this year:

Christmas foliage, such as spruce, conifer, pine, holly, etc. – you can forage it or buy it from a florist or garden centre
Flowers and other decorative elements, such as berries, pine cones, dried fruits, etc. – some you can forage or buy everything at a florist or garden centre
A wreath base made from natural materials – you can make your own using hazel or willow branches and some wire or buy one at a florist or garden centre or online
Twine, wire or string to make a hoop to hang it up – this can be bought in many places

Make yourself some tea or mulled wine, and hot chocolate for the kids, bring out some biscuits, put some Christmas music on and get crafting. I promise you’ll have a great time.

If making your own wreath isn’t your thing, you can buy them from florists, Christmas tree farms and many places online. While they might be more expensive than plastic ones, they are natural, sustainable and bring a piece of nature into your home during the festive season.

4. Other Christmas Decorations

sustainable Christmas decorations made from natural materials

Now that we have sorted the Christmas tree and our front door, let’s look at other decorations in the rest of our home. Bunting, garlands, stockings, mistletoe, hanging and standing ornaments will all bring the Christmas cheer to your home.

But yet again, most of them will be made of plastic. They don’t have to be though, here too our eco-friendly Christmas decoration ideas can help you to have a greener Xmas.

Like with tree decorations, look for sustainable materials:

Wood that has been sustainably sourced
Metal, ideally from recycled material but in any case that can be recycled again
Paper from sustainable sources
Sheep’s wool or organic cotton yarn
Plant material

For example, why hang up an artificial mistletoe branch when you can get a real one? Pine cones can be collected for free and make ideal decorations for the festive season.

Add a few conifer or pine branches, or other suitable evergreen Christmas foliage, and a few slices of dried orange slices into a nice bowl and you have a sustainable, plastic-free, and zero-waste decoration you can put on a side board or the coffee table, or the centre piece for the dinner table.

Christmas stockings don’t have to be made from plastic. Why not knit one yourself with real sheep’s wool? I love buying from Great British Yarn, as they only stock real wool and no acrylic or polyester yarn.

If you’re gifted with needles, you can make all sorts of lovely decorations using plastic-free yarn. Felting is another easy craft you can use to create your own eco-friendly Christmas decorations.

If you prefer working with wood or metal, there are equally gorgeous ways to make something to bring the festive season to your home.

Or, if you aren’t the crafty type, you can buy sustainable Christmas decorations. Just make sure they are made of the above mentioned eco-friendly materials.

5. Christmas Crackers

According to the V&A, Christmas crackers were invented over 150 years ago in London. Today, they are staple at every Christmas dinner at home, or at other seasonal celebrations such as office Christmas parties.

The variations range from cheap and cheerful to expensive and luxurious. But one thing they have all in common: they produce a huge amount of waste.

Data by Business Waste suggests that 99% of Christmas cracker gifts are thrown away, which equates to 40 million crackers binned on Christmas Day alone.

And it’s not really surprising, is it? Who needs a tiny set of playing cards, or a keyring? The worst about it all is that most of the things are made of plastic, which ends up in landfill where it causes harm.

Christmas crackers are basically a single-use item, and as such they create a huge amount of waste. The most sustainable option therefore is not to buy any. But I get it, they are part of the festive spirit. So what’s the solution?

You could make a reusable version that is plastic-free and reduces waste. We have started to do that a few years ago. It’s quite simple and can even save you money. Here is what we did:

Get some small Christmassy bags made of a natural material such as hessian, organic cotton, hemp, jute, etc. – They need to be big enough to hold a piece of paper, a small gift and folded hat
On pieces of recyclable paper write down a joke and a Christmas fact (or whatever you like). You can make them up yourself or do some research online.
Make reusable Christmas hats, for example by knitting or crocheting them using real wool, or you can make them easily with recyclable paper if you aren’t handy with needles – Just keep in mind that that the paper ones are unlikely to be reused very often
Choose small sustainable gifts for your homemade Christmas crackers – This could be sweets, or things like wildflower seed balls, wooden Christmas tree decorations, etc. In short, anything that is useful and won’t end up in the bin

And there you go, you have made your own eco-friendly Christmas crackers. But what about the snap, I hear you ask. Well, that’s a compromise to make.

Personally, I don’t mind not having the snap of a cracker. But if you can’t live without it, you can opt to buy eco-friendly, plastic-free Christmas crackers instead.

The RSPB offers some really nice ones on their website. They are all plastic-free, fully recyclable and the gifts are useful and sustainable.

So if making your own isn’t for you, you can buy sustainable alternatives that won’t contribute to our waste problem.

6. Advent Calendars

sustainable, reusable advent calendar made of wood

Although advent calendars aren’t technically a Christmas decoration, it’s something that belongs to this festive season for many people.

Originally it was invented in the 19th century as a way for children to count down to Christmas Day. Today, many companies sell ones for adults too, and it has become an extension of the Christmas festivities.

The problem, of course, is that they produce a lot of waste. While the cardboard can be recycled, most also contain plastic trays and silver foil, which can’t and ends up in landfill.

So instead of buying a disposable this year, invest in a refillable that you can use year after year. There are many different types out there, but my personal favourite are small bags with a number on that are hung up on a string.

I used to have one of those as a child and my mum filled it with different things, such as walnuts, satsumas, and sweets. You can buy them online, even on Amazon.

And there are so many different types. Ones with fabric bags that can be refilled, or wooden ones in all shapes and sizes. We have wooden advent calendars in the shape of reindeers with small numbered drawers and our names on.

We sometimes put sweets in, but we also like to come up with little riddles or puzzles for each other. It’s healthier than eating sweats every day for 24 days.

Apart from reducing waste, having a reusable advent calendar also saves money. Especially, if you opt for none sweets option, like we do.

7. Christmas Jumpers

Another tradition that isn’t really a decoration as such. But they have become a firm tradition here in the UK, where we even have a Christmas Jumper Day, on which everyone is supposed to wear such a festive garment.

Supposedly originated in Scandinavia, a knitted jumper became popular to wear during the festive season in the 1980s and 90s, according to a Cambridge News article.

Although back then they looked more like the their Scandinavian forebears, with patterns rather than Christmas themed designs we have today. Those started to appear and become popular in the early 2000s.

But what’s the problem? There are two main issues:

The need for a new one every year – our consumerist society encourages us to buy a new Christmas Jumper every year, even if we already have 5 at home which we have only worn 2 or 3 times last year. As you can imagine, such overconsumption can create a lot of waste
Most are made of plastic – Unlike their Scandinavian ancestors, today’s Christmas Jumpers are made of acrylic and polyester, i.e plastic. They shed microfibres when worn and washed, which cause the same harms as microplastics. And when they end up in landfill, they cause the same issues as other plastic items.

I have witnessed people’s need to have a new Christmas Jumper every year when I was working in an office. While I was wearing the same one, others would proudly show off their newest one.

And it was noticed that I only had one, as I got comments every year about wearing the same one. But I don’t want to get a new one every year. It’s not sustainable and it’s a waste of money.

Besides, the way it’s possible for people to buy one or more new Xmas garments every year is by making them cheap to buy. But with a reduction in price also comes a reduction in quality.

This means, like other fast fashion items, festive jumpers often aren’t suitable to be sold second-hand. Because they are made from artificial materials, they also can’t be recycled.

As a result, most end up in landfill, where they leach microfibres and toxic chemicals in the many years it takes for them to break down.

So what’s the solution? Well, first of all, we need to break the cycle and stop buying new Christmas Jumpers every year. There is no shame in wearing the same one every year.

And rather than buying a cheap plastic one, invest some money and get one made from natural fibres that is of good quality that will last you for years to come. Sustainable alternatives are available.

If you’re handy with needles, why not make one yourself? They also make a gorgeous gift for friends and family. I buy all my wool at Great British Yarns, as they are a small UK business and they only sell real wool, no artificial fibres.

Only Fools Rush In…

… but becoming more sustainable is a marathon not a sprint. So before you get all excited and replace all your festive decorations with our eco-friendly Christmas decoration ideas, think.

Throwing away perfectly good decorations isn’t sustainable. If you can sell or give them away so they can bring joy to other people, great. Otherwise, play the long game. When you feel the need for a new decoration or one has reached the end of its life, replace it with a sustainable alternative.

Besides, buying a whole new set of decorations in one go can be expensive too, so take it step by step.

If you want to do more to have a greener Christmas, here are other guides you might be interested in: