Ho Ho Ho! Are you a Sustainable Santa?
We’re always keen to hear about fun ways to make our traditions and festivals less wasteful and more sustainable, so we were excited to learn about a green twist on Secret Santa.
Our friend Nicky Nicholls, Community Lead at Sideshore in Exmouth, tells us more more about how they’ve made Secret Santa a little more sustainable, and what a hit its proved to be with everyone involved. Food for thought for you and yours to start a new tradition in 2025.
“What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever got in a secret Santa? One of those funny wire head massagers? Comedy socks? Some blow up antlers? Safe to say it’s usually something you neither want nor need! This year at Oxygen House, we mixed it up a bit! Over 20 of us signed up to be a part of our first ever Sustainable Santa! And what a delightful half an hour we had today as we swapped our gifts!
We had prepped each other in advance (on a special Teams chat) with little bits about ourselves – “I love walking in the countryside, I love Spielberg movies, cycling is my thing, I love laughing, I adore anything to do with cats”.
The rules said nobody was allowed to spend any money – we should re-use, upcycle or make our gifts. There was genuine delight in the room as people opened their presents. Mine was a fantastic pair of fingerless gloves, made from an old jumper (how clever is that?!), there were poems and paintings, regifted paperbacks, homemade biscuits, a specially written book of compliments, some firey looking home-brew, a globe and NO blow up antlers!
If only every home was full of Sustainable gifts this Christmas. So much thought and care – for people and planet.”
