Author: Akira Ourique Dec, 3, 2025

Winter is a festive time of year for families and friends to gather together for food, gifts, and good times together. From Christmas to Kwanzaa, Omisoka to Hanukkah, there is much to celebrate and be grateful for in this special month. What better way to celebrate our world and traditions than by making our celebrations sustainable? 

Read on for tips to make your next gathering as eco-friendly as it is festive.

Getting Your Space Ready 

In this section, we’re talking about prepping the gathering space for guests and festivities. That’s everything from cleaning to decorating. Take a peek at our top tips for getting into holiday gear. 

1. Plan a tablewares potluck 

Skip the landfill-bound disposable plastic utensils, cups, and plates. If you don’t have enough of your own tablewares, arrange with your guests to have people bring in items. An uncle to bring cutlery, a sister-in-law to bring cups, your third cousin twice removed for plates, and you’re all set. You can host a potluck for anything, not just food! 

Bonus tip: Absolutely in a pinch and can’t crowdsource tablewares? Swap the plastic for bamboo and paper options. It is biodegradable and much safer for the environment, typically with little or no difference in cost from big box retailers. 

2. Get thrifty

Tablecloths, home decor, cloth napkins, and even silverware is in abundance at your local thrift stores. These items are cheaper than big box stores. If you like to decorate with faux foliage, for example, you will almost certainly find some at a Value Village for a fraction of the price of something new from Michaels or Winners. Secondhand items are sometimes made from higher-quality materials if they were produced before the global shift toward cheaper manufacturing. 

Bonus tip: Hamilton’s Value Villages are facing a well-known price inflation problem. Opt to try someplace smaller, such as re-Source, Mission Thrift Store, or Goodwill to find lower prices and less shopping competition. 

3. Bring nature and creativity together

The most unique and thoughtful decor is the kind you make yourself. Whether you make something with your friends, cousins, kids, or grandparents, homemade decor-making can easily go from a fun and frugal project to a cherished family tradition. 

Fresh evergreen foliage wreaths, saved citrus peel mushroom caps, upcycled paper stars and snowflakes, classic Victorian popcorn garlands, and bright and cheerful dried orange suncatchers are just SOME of the countless DIY holiday decor you can make from natural or upcycled materials. These items can be safely stored for future use, or composted– keeping tonnes of plastic waste out of landfills each year if we all tried it. Look in your garden or local park for natural inspiration, and get crafting! There are countless blogs, Pinterest tags, and Facebook accounts dedicated to DIY holiday decor, providing you with even more options. 

Bonus tip: If you like decorating with a tree, opt for a real one. Check out our full tree buying guide here. 

4. Clean Greener

Getting your space tidy before guests come is essential for most gatherings. When choosing products to clean your home, opt for ones that have biodegradable chemicals, or make your own from simple ingredients like cleaning vinegar, pine, oranges, essential oils, and more. You can learn all about how to make your own eco-friendly cleaning products here. 

Bonus tip: making your own cleaning products is often cheaper, too!

Buying and Wrapping your Gifts  

December is one of the busiest months of the year for retailers, as Canadians shop for gifts and stocking stuffers. There are environmental and financial traps everywhere, from cheaply-produced and overpriced fast fashion items to expensive plastic toys designed to break in a few years’ time. Shop smarter, wrap cleaner, and gift more thoughtfully with these tips. 

1. Buy them something that will last, or something consumable they will actually use 

There is always pressure to adhere to social norms for gift-giving. Often, we can feel the pressure to buy the newest model of toy, the latest fashion-trending item, the coolest but not super necessary tech gadget, or simply something expensive to show we care. While it can have good intentions, this type of consumerism isn’t sustainable for our wallets or for our planet. Especially not when you also consider the amount of plastic and paper Christmas-crackers and other stocking stuffers we purchase every year. How can we get out of this box (no pun intended)? 

Here are a few types of gifts to know, and some places to shop local in Hamilton: 

Consumables: lower-cost, ephemerally enjoyed, and easy to acquire. 

Locally crafted artisanal incense, soy or beeswax candles, wild jams, loose leaf teas, smoked salts, and more can be found at Hamilton shop Pretty Grit. Tinctures and balms, flower seeds, detoxifying bath salts, spicy pickles, and honeys can be found at The Pale Blue Dot.  

Consumable goods should be bought with the giftee's specific tastes in mind, but if you don’t know, ask your storekeeper about their bestsellers! 

Utilitarian: thoughtful, practical, and lasting. 

People love gifts they will actually use! Utilitarian gifts are a way to show you listen, and a wonderful gift to those who have hobbies or a craft they enjoy. Shop for woodworkers, gardeners, cooks, and birders at Lee Valley Tools. For writers, artists, bookworms, and those in love with print, look to Mixed Media, King W. Books, and Take Note Boutique. 

Don’t forget that concert tickets, craft classes, swim passes, and more all make excellent gifts! 

Wardrobe staples: timeless pieces that stay in style 

Shopping for sustainable fashion has never been easier in Hamilton. For those shopping for people that love vintage, boutique thrift and upcycling shops, including Out of the Past, GOAT Vintage, and Girl on the Wing are Hamilton cult favourites. For those looking for new items, both Charles & Hunt and Lee & Me carry eco-friendly options and are local. 

Kid-focused: entertainment and holistic fun for little ones 

Finding gifts for babies and little ones is easy in Hamilton, with a wide array of eco-friendly and charming stores to choose from. For newborns and babies, Piper’s Closet sells cotton bibs, wool caps, and natural rubber pacifiers. For toddlers and up, you can find toys designed to last at Citizen Kid Toys, including wooden tea sets and animal figurines, brightly coloured cars and trucks, silk fairy wings, mini golf sets, and more. And for young children, everything from musical toys to puzzles, and paperback books to stylish vests, can be found at charming Parkette. 

Humanitarian: gifts that give in more ways than one 

For someone who truly has it all, donate in their honour to a cause they are passionate about! Canada Helps is a trusted hub for connecting donors to local charities of all kinds, including animal welfare, health-focused, Indigenous-led environmental work, and more. If you like what we do, consider donating on someone’s behalf to Green Venture. 

2. Wrap your gifts sustainably

Making simple swaps from non-recyclable gift-wrapping paper to cloth, parchment, silk, or even upcycled boxes are an excellent way to cut down on holiday waste. There are a few styles you can do this in, or you can create your own! 

Reuse boxes, bags, and paper! Save and store boxes and bags from holidays prior and use them to give your gifts. This practice is environmentally friendly, frugal, and entertaining. It is a fun way to cherish and remember the holidays past each time a new one comes around, as gifting vessels are traded around again and again in friend and family circles. 

Try furoshiki. Furoshiki is a stylish Japanese method of wrapping gifts with cloth or fabric. These wrapping materials are meant to be reused, and are traditionally silk or cotton printed with intricate and colourful patterns. While you can buy fresh fabric at a local textile store, you can also use any size-appropriate fabric you have at home, or a scarf you plan on gifting! 

Elevate with greenery. Trade the plastic bows and ribbons for fresh-cut cedar or juniper sprigs for a biodegradable and highly stylish look. 

You've Got This! 

Including sustainable practices in your holiday season is a positive and small thing you can do to reduce your climate footprint, support local businesses, and show those around you that you care. While not all of these options are accessible to everyone, we hope that everyone can find at least one option that they can adopt into their lifestyles. 

Happy Holidays, and thank you for reading!