Getting your home ready for the Christmas season can sometimes feel like a daunting task, especially if you’ve recently moved into your new home. Don’t worry! At Strongvox, we’ve got some great eco-friendly ideas to make your festive preparations fun without costing the earth – either financially or environmentally!

2020 has been a tough year for many, so this is an ideal opportunity to support local businesses with your Christmas shopping, whether it’s a local flower shop, butcher, greengrocer or an independent gift shop. If you have the time, get creative and make your own decorations – we’ve included some very easy ideas below. If you are feeling adventurous, make some gifts too. Homemade gifts don’t need to be expensive – it’s the thought and effort that counts!

Check out these ideas to get you in the festive spirit and your home ready to enjoy this Christmas!

Visit a ‘pick your own’ Christmas tree farm

If you’d like to have a real Christmas tree, gather the kids, get your wellies, and head over to a Christmas tree farm where you can select your own tree! You’ll find hundreds to choose from at Mendip Christmas Tree Farm. Take their train, or walk into the Christmas tree forest and choose the perfect tree. Pop a tag on it and they’ll cut it, ready for you to take home. A selection of freshly cut trees are also available to take away.

Forage for Christmas foliage

For centuries, people have used winter foliage to decorate their homes at yuletide. This traditional approach is making a big comeback, as more people look for sustainable alternatives to tinsel and glitter. You may have some suitable foliage in your own garden but if not, grab a bag and take a winter walk to your local park or through the countryside and see what you can find! Look out for holly, twisted willow, pinecones, ivy, ferns, conifers, hydrangea flower heads, or any variegated leaf shrub – you can even use surplus trimmings off your Christmas tree. Supplement your collection with a visit to your local flower shop for mistletoe, eucalyptus and other greenery and festive flowers.

Awaken the senses with festive displays, wreaths and decorations

Now it’s time to get creative! It’s easy to make a display for a mantelpiece, shelf or windowsill by arranging your winter foliage using height, depth, contrasting colours and textures. Add a candle, or baubles, ribbon and bows for extra interest. Awaken the senses using a fusion of cloves, crushed bay leaves and cinnamon sticks to create that distinctive essence of Christmas in your home.

Homemade wreaths and table centrepieces can be a little more challenging for the novice, but you’ll find plenty of helpful advice online if you want to make your own. Many florists also make a wide selection of wreaths to buy. Bouquet Florist Cheddar offers 14 different wreaths to suit your preferred style and budget.

If you’d like to make some simple sustainable decorations, our ‘spiced and sliced’ orange decorations are really easy to make, smell great and can be used on the tree or to adorn other Christmas displays. Click here for full instructions. The National Trust website also has some great child-friendly Christmas decorations to make, if you are looking for more ideas.

Shop locally for Christmas gifts

We can each do our bit to support local businesses this Christmas and we are lucky to have an abundance of quality retailers selling locally made goods on our towns’ High Streets. Please make time to see what they have to offer – they’ll be delighted to help you!

Hampers are very popular at Christmas, and  The Hamper Guys, as well as being locally based, also source local produce, where possible, from their trusted suppliers. Their mouth-watering hampers will go down a treat!

If you’d like to buy plants as gifts this Christmas, Cadbury Garden Centre has a huge selection, plus fashion and home ware.

Homemade gifts to tickle the taste buds

There are many delicious foods ideal for gifting, which keep well and don’t require specialist equipment to make. Homemade jams, chutneys and lemon curd can all be carefully decanted whilst hot into recycled sterilised jars. Or pair some homemade Italian biscotti with a bottle of dessert wine to make a unique gift.

How to make your own ‘spiced and sliced’ orange and clove decorations

These decorations are super easy to make, super versatile and they’ll fill your home with the luscious scents of Christmas! Hang them on the tree, use them to add interest to a winter foliage door wreath, or incorporate in a mantelpiece display or table centrepiece. Add some cinnamon sticks to complete this festive ‘scentsation’!

You’ll need:

Three or four oranges, cloves, chopping board, sharp knife, oven, ribbon or garden twine, scissors.

1. Slice the oranges widthways into slices about 10mm thick. Each slice will have a cross section of each of the orange segments, which look a bit like spokes on a wheel.

2. Lay each slice flat and decorate it with cloves, pushing each clove into the orange flesh with your fingers and with the clove’s star facing upwards. Get creative with your designs! Make a ring of cloves on the outer or inner edges of your slice, or make up your own patterns. Using the end of the scissors or a skewer, make a hole at the top of the slice so you can thread the ribbon or twine through it, once cooked.

3. Lay the slices flat, directly on the oven shelf, or on a wire rack if you have one. You can also use a baking tray covered with non-stick baking paper, but they will take longer to bake and dry out. Put them in the oven and turn your oven on to the lowest setting (around 65 °C ). Leave them to dry out for about four hours.

4. Once cooked, remove from the oven and let them cool. Don’t worry if they still feel a bit tacky to touch. They will continue to dry out naturally. Thread the ribbon or twine through each slice and they are all ready to be hung!