101 ethical and ecological ideas for Xmas/Winter decs

[red]

are cranberries an ethical choice? thought they were imported..

[mrsflibble]

rosehips then. and once dried they can go in rosehip jelly.

[gigglybug]

Are we on 19?

19. You could paint penne pasta all different colours, thread onto string and hang up around the room.

Great for getting little ones involved. But not if you have a beige carpet!!!

[mrsflibble]

wow i love that one, you can get asda smartprice ones for 19p per 500g.

[ina]

To be honest - I can't think using (abusing) food in this way should be called ethical... Or am I too PC here, and a terrible spoilsport?

[mrsflibble]

what about if she painted it with Langdale's food colourings? then it could still be eaten.


and Langdale's are both cheap and natural.

[ina]

Why not make paper chains?

[Annpan]

20. on an ethical and edible thread.... ginger biscuits (iced or un-iced) cut out in christmassy theme cookie cutters, with ribbon through them to hang on the tree.

[red]

21 bay leaves can be sewn with ribbon to make lovely chains. helps if you have your own bay tree....

[JasonP71]

What about the old humble pine cone... they're really decorative and just lying around on the floor?

We always make something for each other to celebrate Yule, and my son made a lovely reindeer tree hanger from a pinecone (body), acorn (head), twigs (antlers), old string (legs) and acorn 'hats' for the hooves.

Also, what about buying a growing christmas tree and keeping it all year round? We also saw a website last week where you could hire a growing tree for christmas...

We bought solar glowing lights last year from Maplins and hung them in the apple tree.

Jason.

[ina]

Crack walnuts very carefully, so you have two entire halves. Poke out nuts (and eat!), glue halves together again with coloured ribbon/wool or whatever in between to hang them from. You could paint the nuts first, too.

We used to make stars from straw when I was little. You could buy special straw for that - bits like drinking straws, short and straight. They had to be split and ironed for certain star forms, and then they were cut to size and bound together with thread.

[ocailleagh]

24. As I mentioned in a post elsewhere, braid long strands of ivy together to make garlands, wrap with strings of cranberries and popcorn and suspend cinnamon sticks and dried studded oranges or orange slices from them. Its true there are ethical concerns with cranberries, but you could always use home-grown, or as someone suggested, rose-hips. I've never found the cranberries to go mouldy either, they just dry out (even in my cold, damp little flat). The popcorn can be strung outside after the festive season for the birds to munch, though they don't seem too interested in the cranberries. And using food as decoration at Yule is traditional, as well as symbolising the impending return of the sun (in the case of red or orange fruit), it can symbolise the fruit laden branches of the previous harvest (and also the following harvest as a bit of sympathetic magick) and is also part of the idea of having plenty during the darkest and coldest point of the year. If people from a time before supermarkets and the like could manage to use foodstuffs in such a way, I see no reason why we today shouldn't.

[hedgewitch]

25. Collect little twigs and glue gun them together to make stars.

[Amaranth]

30 (I think) ) Bowls of red and green apples.

31) Nontoxic wreaths with bunches of round red radishes tied or wired on. Mist them with drinkable water to keep them plump and then you can eat them when you take the radishes off.

[cinders]

not sure this has been said.

Tie plastic bag strips to an opened out hanger to make a wreath