Have a happy conscientious Christmas

The holidays are an excuse to turn a blind eye to waste and expense. But Kya deLongchamps says frugality can be fun.

IT’S wonderful to see the high streets bristling with Christmas promise already this weekend, but I will admit to being rather tired of all the inevitable (and expensive) commercialisation. Rather than surrendering to this “add water and stir” sort of celebration, this year try including a more personal, considered and inexpensive eco-friendly approach to the festivities, something to save you money, relieve the collective environmental hangover and draw the family into the preparations.

DECORATIVE CHARM

Frugality is the new black and in domestic fashion. To save energy and for optimum safety, don’t run any decorative mains fed lighting when you are out of the house. Did you know you’re already using 5 hours more lighting as it is in winter? Timers can kick the festivities on after dusk, clocking back off when you go to bed.

LEDs are 90% more energy efficient than standard Christmas lighting and last longer than an incandescent bulb. Woodie’s DIY offer 180 LEDs suitable for inside or out for just €35. Why not go solar outdoors? Simply wrap strings or nets of fairy lights around your favourite trees close to the house, and wait for dusk to fall. Good for about 20 hours of magical glow from €34. See www.iwantoneofthose.com.

Creating homemade decorations for Christmas is a lost art little seen outside of a Kindergarten class. Sit down with your children and rediscover the lost art of paper chains, orange pomanders (a super gift too), popcorn garlands and paper stars. Online sites are stuffed full of inexpensive inspiration and I have to say the American crafters beat them all for variety. Try www.familyfun.go.com for votives, mangers and gorgeous garlands, and www.allfreecrafts.com suitable for clever needleworkers and kids alike.

TREE TALK

An artificial tree is made from petro-chemical ingredients, but if you already have one, it makes sense to make good use of it. Cut trees create CO2 while growing and if properly sourced and disposed of have a light, sustainable skip on the planet’s surface during their lifetime.

Many suppliers will collect as well as deliver your tree right to your door, including www.christmastree.ie. (open from December 4 in Cork)

If you are lucky enough to have a living tree, 12 days is enough full time hospitality, so time its full entry carefully. Don’t orphan it directly outdoors after Christmas, but acclimatise if over a period of a couple of weeks moving it to colder areas gradually. A living Christmas tree that’s likely to reach 20M at mature height will prove a thug if planted out in a sliver of lawn. The smallest growing Christmas trees are Fraser firs, which reach about 7m after twenty years. Why not decorate a potted fir in traditional style, and gift it for outdoors this Christmas and indoors next?

If you don’t want a tree at all, re-invent a large, dry bare branch or length of driftwood with an undulating, twisted profile (to make it sit up nicely) and surviving branches to suit your space. Prop it up in a corner, or lay it over a generous sideboard or table as a sculptural decoration. A light sand followed by a wash of white emulsion (ensure the timber is dry), add a few decorations in a two colour scheme suspended over your piece — just stunning.

When buying wreaths, avoid holly with berries unless the retailer can explain their source. Holly (Ilex Aquifolium) is an endangered species in Ireland and wild trees are vandalised each year for the trade in street corner decorations. Evergreen cuttings from the garden, can serve just as well.

IT’S A WRAP

Before you pick up that generic wrapping paper that we all know will be shredded and chucked over a greedy shoulder, create something your recipient is compelled to tenderly pluck apart and treasure together with the gift it shrouds.

Honest and attractive, a roll of inexpensive brown parcel paper perfectly cut and folded can be transformed with some old style dressings. Use scalloped edged scissors to gentrify the edges and string or wide silk ribbon to tie.

A natural garland of dried flowers, berries or bows really completes a nostalgic show or Christmas decorations such as sparkling sprays, tiny chinking bells, and character ornaments that can be tucked under your ties.

Print out images for decoupage and tags from family photographs in your digital albums or from the millions of free Christmas motifs and fonts online including www.christmas-projects.com.

A gel pen in silver or gold is useful for prettifying messages. Recycle samples and scraps in small remnants of fabric. Printed paper goods such as maps make charming wrapping. Conceal a larger kitchen gift in a fresh apron secured with its own ties.

Gift packaging waste is phenomenal at Christmastime, some 47kg per household (www.repak.ie), and re-purposing is just one way to cut down on the seasonal carnage. Recycle all those attractive blingy bags presented by retailers with every diminutive object. Hammock the gift in tissue paper, poke it down into the bag and surround if with some softly scrunched tissue paper to allow the recipient a satisfying dig. Bags can be kept and used again, and little girls love them for imaginative play and storage.

GIFTS THAT KEEP GIVING

Many of us will be cutting the gift list down to a more manageable size this year, and there are only a few people in your life who will be really offended at not being included. We all groan loudly about the death of neighbourliness. ?

An IOU to paint a room in an older relatives house, a token for a weekend or night course or a detailed, handwritten letter in a crafted card (not a typed generic missal, everyone secretly hates these PC family bulletins).

From a sunflower crop for a family in Zimbabwe (Oxfam) to fruit trees that will pay for education in Guatemala (Trocaire), Irish based charities are desperate for help this year.

These acts cost more time, effort and even a little personal daring, but isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

How to make personalised printed wrapping paper

A trip to your local photocopier (or a stolen moment in the office) and you can make your own vintage style personalised paper scattered with images of your family’s year.

WHAT YOU NEED:

- Photographs, postcards, children’s artwork (handprints are ideal). You can photocopy or print these out from a PC, resize and recopy if you want to cut them up or crimp the edges of the images for effect

- A roll of brown wrapping paper to copy out A3 sheets of your personalised wrap

- Sharp scissors

- Ruler

- Pencil

- An iron

1 Cut the brown paper into A3 sized sheets. This is the largest size most commercial photocopiers can handle

2 Iron the paper as flat as possible with a low setting to prevent scorching

3 Arrange your photographs and other imagery on a photocopier face down. Try overlapping them or setting apart as the brown paper will give an interesting, textured background.

4 Test the image on cheaper white A3 (you can keep these testers for emergency wrap!)

5 When you’re satisfied feed your well flattened brown paper A3 into the copier. Repeat.

6 Try tying up your vintage look wrap with string for a final flourish.

Q&A

Q. My Christmas tree always seems to be half dead by Christmas, even if I risk a last minute scramble. What can I do to keep it fresh?

A. The tree has about 15 days of reasonable ‘life’. Bring it home at the last possible moment, storing it outside. Put it in water-filled sand or wedged into position with stones or newspaper away from direct heat. Give a living tree at least 1.5 litres of water a day.

Q. How can I prevent needle shed?

A. Check the freshness, grasp a small bundle of needles on the outside and give them a sharp tug. There should be only a few needles in your hand.

Q. What is the best species of tree for Christmas?

A. The Norway Spruce (Picea abies) is attractive and inexpensive, but is top of the league in terms of needle shed. The Nordman Fir (A nordmanniana) with it’s thick flat needles and silvery underside together with the Noble Fir (Abies procera) have the reputation of holding onto their greenery and deliver a wonderful smell.

Q. Should I cut my tree from the top or bottom if it’s too tall for the room?

A. Always from the base. Cutting the leader branch at the top will leave you with a tree without its natural symmetry. Measure the tree and add about 50cm for a rough total height.