It’s the most wonderful time of the year – Christmas! There’s nothing lovelier than decorating the tree, stringing lights up and adorning every room of the home with tinsel, baubles, and wreaths.

However, it’s more important than ever to be sustainable, especially in the festive season. Did you know that 30% more rubbish is produced and discarded in December than through the rest of the year?

With this in mind, we’ve put together 11 fantastic environmentally-friendly Christmas home decor ideas to transform your home into a sustainable winter wonderland! 

1. Shiny toilet roll Christmas snowflakes

Used toilet and kitchen rolls are great for arts and crafts projects. This nifty tutorial takes the humble toilet roll to the next level, turning it into a beautiful snowflake to adorn your Christmas tree.

All you need is a few toilet rolls and a bit of leftover paint. Who would have thought old toilet rolls could look so glamorous?

Top crafty tip: Add some beads and buttons to your Christmas snowflakes to make them even more sparkly and festive!

2. Fragrant rosemary wreaths

Rosemary is a hardy winter herb – grab a few sprigs from your garden to make gorgeous roast potatoes, delicious bread, and to add flavour to meats like lamb and chicken!

However, did you know you can use this fragrant herb as part of your eco-friendly Christmas decor ideas too? Take a wreath base and a few cuttings of rosemary to create a gorgeous wreath that will fill your home with the smell of Christmas!

Top crafty tip: Why not make some smaller rosemary wreaths? These make great placeholders for the Christmas dinner table!

3. Bright and funky Pom pom garlands

If you knit or crochet, you might have leftover pieces of wool lying around. Rather than throw them away, why not create a colourful and quirky pom pom garland?

Pom poms are easy to make and are a great rainy day activity for children. If you don’t have a pom pom maker, you can create one from an old cardboard box. Wind the wool around the pom pom maker, snip away, and you’re ready to go!

Just make your pom poms (you’ll need quite a few of them) and string them together to make your garland. There are some gorgeous garland ideas out there – we love the Brussels sprout garland with the googly eyes and festive hats! 

Top crafty tip: Don’t worry if you have lots of differently-coloured small pieces of wool. These make for fantastic colourful pom poms!

4. Festive and eco-friendly paper chains

A paper chain is a fantastic way to use leftover wrapping paper and paper scraps, and it’s so simple that even your little ones can give it a go. As far as eco-friendly Christmas decor products go, leftover paper is a great one to use!

Just cut your paper into narrow strips and glue it into loops to create a chain. You can then hang your cool new eco-friendly Christmas decorations from the ceilings and walls!

Top crafty tip: If you don’t want to use glue in your paper chain, sticky tape or staples work well too.

5. Shiny metal ornaments from tomato puree tubes

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If you’re looking for super-crafty, eco-friendly Christmas decor ideas, this is one of the cleverest ones around!

When you’ve finished a tube of tomato puree, don’t throw the tube away. Carefully cut it open to make a foil rectangle and wash out any tomato paste. You’ll then be left with a stunning gold metal material you can use to craft cool Christmas decorations.

And the best thing of all… nobody will know what you used to make them!

Top crafty tip: Don’t like the non-gold side on the back of your tomato puree tube decoration? Cut out two shapes that are the same and use a glue gun to stick them back-to-back.

6. Christmassy pinecone decorations and wreaths

Pinecones are all around at Christmas time – just take a walk in your local park or forest! They make absolutely stunning festive decorations.

You can add them to your trees and festive wreaths, use them as place settings around the Christmas table, or even just put them in a glass or ceramic bowl or vase to create a lovely centrepiece.

Top crafty tip: Bake your pinecones on a low oven setting before you use them in your Christmassy DIYs – this gets rid of any insects and mould inside!

7. Cute orange peel ornaments (and cool slices!)

Christmas is a time for zesty citrus fruits like oranges, tangerines, and clementines. Rather than throw the peel away, why not use it to create simple ornaments? 

All you need is an orange peel, a pin, and a cookie cutter. Alternatively, you can carve shapes freehand if you’re confident in your skills!

As well as looking good, these ornaments smell amazing! We recommend adding them to a festive wreath for a bright pop of colour.

Top crafty tip: If you have leftover citrus fruits, why not slice them up and dry them out? They make stunning ornaments, garlands, and Christmas present decorations!

8. Nostalgic salt dough decorations

Did you ever make salt dough when you were small? This simple recipe will take you back to your childhood!

All you need are ingredients that will already be in your store cupboard – flour, table salt, and water. Just mix them together, form into shapes, and bake in the oven. Then, it’s just a case of decorating and putting on the tree!

Top crafty tip: Don’t forget to make a hole in your salt dough decorations before you bake them so you can thread a string through them!

9. Sparkly snow globes

Got some old jam jars or glass jars with lids? You can repurpose them into really easy DIY snow globes!

This simple tutorial will show you how to do it. These snow globes are a fantastic way of transforming old toys or Christmas decorations into something completely new. 

Top crafty tip: If you don’t have glycerine at home, a few drops of PVA glue works well too.

10. Cosy stockings from old sweaters

Everyone loves a cosy Christmas jumper. However, if yours is looking a little worse for wear, why not transform it into a stunning stocking to hang above your (bioethanol) fireplace?

Top crafty tip: If you make the stockings smaller, they make for adorable Christmas tree decorations!

11. Sweet popcorn garlands

The last of our eco-friendly Christmas decor ideas… Would it be Christmas without a popcorn garland or two?

These crunchy garlands look fantastic and are so easy to make. Just pop your popcorn (we recommend doing this a few days in advance as stale popcorn is easier to handle), thread together with a needle, and drape all over your home!

While they look fab on their own, you can also thread dried fruits, herbs, and beads onto your garland for an added pop of colour.

While we wouldn’t recommend eating these garlands when Christmas is over, you can pop them in the composter, where they’ll break down into compost you can use in the garden during the summer! 

Top crafty tip: If you want to keep your popcorn garlands for next year, store them carefully in an airtight container. 

Bonus eco-chic Christmas home decor idea: bring in a bioethanol fireplace

You’ve got the decorations up, and now it’s time to relax in front of a blazing fire with a mug of hot chocolate and a delicious mince pie. 

If you want an authentic fire without smoke, ashes, and having to get up to put logs in a burner every half an hour, a bioethanol fire is the perfect choice. 

These fires use renewable energy, don’t generate polluting smoke, and only create as much carbon dioxide as a few burning candles. 

Plus, as you don’t need a chimney or flue, you can install your bioethanol fireplace anywhere you like! Why not bring it outside for cosy warmth on a cold winter evening?

At Imaginfires, we specialise in a range of stunning and sustainable bioethanol fireplaces. Whether you want something traditional like a woodburner style or more contemporary like a freestanding fireplace, you’ll find what you’re looking for here.

Eco-friendly Christmas decor ideas? Sorted!

We hope you enjoyed this guide to eco-friendly Christmas decor. While it may be white with snow and ice outside, you can make the inside of your home green and sustainable with these ideas. 

Grab some leftover bits and pieces from around the home, get the kids around the table, fire up a festive playlist, and get decorating!

What are your favourite eco-friendly Christmas decoration ideas to deploy at home? Please don’t forget to share your thoughts with us.