Do these fun activities with your partner this Christmas instead of giving traditional store-bought gifts!
The 1 Million Women ‘No Waste Christmas’ campaign comes down to the way we are choosing to spend, or more importantly to not spend our money this Christmas. It's also about making memories instead of giving 'things'.
If you are still thinking what to buy your boyfriend, finance, husband or partner this Christmas, then stop thinking! Talk with each other, and decide this Christmas you won't be buying anything for one another. Instead, why not do some great DIY activities together and create moments which you will remember forever. Memories are a beautiful gift which don't cost a thing, and by approaching Christmas together in this way you will be contributing significantly less to the wasteful consumerist side of the holidays.
Here are some of our favourite ideas which you can do together with your partner this Christmas. Hope you get inspired to get creative and start memory making...
- Make something together for your home or apartment: Think of something that you are lacking in your home or apartment, perhaps its a table, or a wall hanging, and look up a DIY tutorial for how to make this item. My Boyfriend and I really needed an outdoor table and some seating, which we have made together out of recycled wood pallets. It was super simple to do and looks really effective in our small outside area. We had a lot of fun together sanding and varnishing the table, listening to music and deciding on where it would go. We eat dinner most nights together on the table and it's a great feeling knowing we made it together, a memory that neither of us will forget. SEE HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN TABLE FROM PALLETS IN THE TUTORIAL BELOW.
- Make presents for other people together: Christmas is about giving, we all know this, so instead of giving something to each other, why not think of a homemade present for somebody else and make it together. It will be special just the two of you doing this, starting from the beginning, for example like finding a recipe for a homemade Chili Salsa, or homemade Jam or Pickled Vegetables, and then making it together. This is a great way to recycle glass jars and is a thoughtful and useful gift for somebody. There are countless other things you could make, and usually you can find many of the materials you may need around the home. This will be a fun activity together and a beautiful 'no waste' present for somebody else (My Boyfriend and I will be making Homemade Chili for his parents as we have countless glass jars lying around, shhh, I'll let you know how it goes! and check out my homemade hot chocolate jars in the pic).
- Make a homemade advent calendar: Advent calenders are not just for kids! They are a great Christmas idea for couples too! Here is how you can easily make one filled with homemade goods, photos and the gift of words - First of all, find all the recycled paper you can around the house, envelopes, newspapers, anything that you can put something inside of or wrap something in, remember you will need to have enough recycled materials to cover 24 small items. Then find 24 of the most memorable photos of you and your partner from when you first met to now, and if necessary get them printed or print them yourself at home. Now, the fun part, think of at least 12 gift cards that you will write for you and your partner to do together, for example; You cook dinner tonight, I cook dinner tonight, Let's watch a Christmas movie together, Let's get a photo with Santa, Let's sleep in until 12pm etc. Then write another 12 cards with beautiful quotes, or small sayings or a simple 'I Love You'. Now you have 24 photos and 24 note cards. Put one of each together and wrap them with your recycled paper until you have 24 advent gifts. If you have some small chocolates lying around at home that your partner loves, throw them in, or any other sweets or foodstuffs that can get wrapped up. This will be a month of memories, each day you open the gifts, see the photos together and do the activities together written on the cards.
- Make a photo wall together of the photos from your advent calender: Fill that blank wall in your home with a DIY photo board of all the photos collected from your advent calender. This is a super easy DIY activity and will be a present for you both filled with memories. See an easy how-to-tutorial here.
- Make a playlist of songs that remind you of your relationship and play it all through Christmas and the New Year: This is an easy one and self explanatory. Think of at least ten songs each, more if you can, and then add them together in a playlist. You can listen to it whilst doing your DIY activities together, on Christmas day, New Years Eve and you can keep adding songs to it next year too for the next Christmas.
- Make a bucket list of things you have never done: Make a list and start ticking things of this December of activities you've always wanted to do but have never done, and do them together. It could be anything as simple as watching a foreign movie, doing charity services, eating at a great restaurant, walking a trail, going surfing, taking language lessons or dance classes. Try to think of activities that will enrich both of your lives, experiences that will be all the more special because you're doing it together.
And here are even more ideas for you both this Christmas...
- Cook this delicious and sustainable seafood Paella together.
- If you are going on a holiday together then find out here how to 'green' your Christmas getaway.
- If after all you will be buying gifts for one another or for others, see here some tips on purchasing gifts which are more sustainable.
Now for the table made from recycled pallets. It's so easy, not even a drill is needed. Here is a simple how-to-tutorial...
- Find a pallet: Most manufacturing factories will have countless pallets being unused which you can ask to use, also supermarkets at their delivery docks usually have pallets or the delivery docks of shopping malls. We were given our pallets from an electrical company, so also think of any small or larger businesses near you that might have pallets and call them up to ask. Other places you could try is construction sites, landfills, recycling companies, hotels and restaurants, cruise ship terminals, retail outlets or even just searching online.
- Visit the hardware shop: Like I said, this table is really easy and can be finished in 1 day if you are both up for it. You will need to get some outdoor wood varnish from the hardware shop if you don't have any at home. Also you will want to find two trestle leg sets like in the picture below (you can usually find these for quite cheap in a hardware shop).
- Clean up the pallet: Check over the pallet for any nails sticking and remove them with the back of a hammer. If there are any dangerous pieces of split wood try to smooth them out using the roughest grade of sandpaper. Then sand back the whole pallet to make it smooth and ready to varnish. The trestle legs should already be smooth, but if not, give them a quick sand too.
- Varnish like pros: The pallet will need at least 2 and maybe even 3 coats of varnish. Take it in turns doing one layer each, varnishing the pallet table top and both trestle leg sets. While you are waiting for the first layer of varnish to dry you could make a beautiful lunch together or listen to your Christmas playlist. Make sure to spread the varnish evenly in smooth strokes and don't let any drops of varnish pool in the gaps of the pallet as they will leave run marks on the wood.
- Assemble the table: Once the varnish has dried you can now assemble the table anywhere you want. Just put the trestle legs up, pop the pallet on top and there you have it, a recycled chic pallet table.
The beauty of this table is that you can disassemble and reassemble it easily whenever you want. The reason we loved the idea of this simple table is because our house is quite small and we need to utilise all the space we have. Usually we leave the table outside in the backyard area so we can keep our living space more open and spacious. If we are going to have people over for a nice dinner or it's raining, we can move the table inside easily and then back when we desire. It's perfect.
As we had a few extra pallets (three to be exact), we made a bench of pallets too, just by balancing the pallets on top of one another. When the table and bench are together in our back area it really looks effective.
Have fun with all these ideas, and please send us photos of you doing them. We are featuring a photo every day on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in the theme 'No Waste Christmas' and yours could be one of the featured photos. See more on how to be involved here.
Follow Bronte on Twitter: @brontehogarth
