Green Decor to Brighten Up Your Home This Holiday Season

Holiday decorations have become a central piece of seasonal festivities. Unfortunately, not all holiday decor helps the planet. Some sap energy while others get thrown out at the end of the season. Green decor, on the other hand, warms your heart without warming the planet.

Here are some cheerful decoration ideas that will surely green-up your holiday season!

Holiday Lighting & Indoor Decor

During the winter months, the sun goes down earlier and the temperatures drop. Holiday lighting brightens up those cold, dark nights while indoor decor sets the mood for the most wonderful time of the year.

Small-Bulb LED Lights

Grand light displays are a hallmark of the holiday season. However, traditional lights need tons of electricity to operate and produce large amounts of heat. Switching from incandescent to LED lights can save you 80% on your electric bill, and LEDs last about 50 times longer than traditional bulbs, on average.

Additionally, LED lights come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and some even come with helpful features. Wayfair even offers a string of 100 LED lights that are charged by an included solar panel and can stay lit for eight hours!

Sustainable Scented Candles

In many homes, a warm scented candle accompanies every holiday. However, candle wax commonly comes from paraffin wax which comes from crude oil. Essentially, burning a paraffin wax candle is similar to burning fossil fuels.

Fortunately, plenty of brands offer clean-burning candles that also make for elegant green decor. For instance, P.F. Candle Co. sources their vegan and cruelty-free candle wax from domestically grown soy. Smelling of snow and tree lots, their holiday Spruce candle will be a favorite for all fans of the holidays.

Live Christmas Trees

As the pinnacle of Christmas decor, a live Christmas tree is as green as holiday decor can be. Unlike their artificial counterparts, live trees don’t release carbon emissions to be produced and shipped across the world. In fact, as is the case with all trees, they actually clean the air.

Furthermore, only about 30 million live trees are harvested in the U.S. each year. That’s less than 10% of the nearly half a billion trees growing on Christmas tree farms around the country.

At the end of the holiday season, live trees can be recycled and turned into mulch that will help new life grow.

Reusable Advent Calendars

As a kid, I remember the excitement of opening the flaps on our felt Advent calendar. Although today’s children get just as excited to find candy or toys behind each door, single-season-use, disposable Advent calendars dominate the market.

Luckily, reusable Advent calendars still exist. Durable wooden calendars can easily become cherished family heirlooms. Stocking them with fun and unique gifts each year will bring sustainable smiles to children’s faces.

DIY Green Decor for the Holidays

Oftentimes, the most sustainable holiday decorations are the ones you make yourself! This is especially true if you reuse old decorations to make new and improved green decor.

Homemade Menorahs

Hanukkah is a special celebration, so the menorah should be special as well. What’s more special than a homemade menorah?

There are endless possibilities when it comes to making your own menorah. Whether you use wine bottles, a toolbox, or olive oil, your menorah design will reflect your personality.

DIY Centerpieces

When you set the table, one piece of green decor that will surely liven things up is a creative, DIY centerpiece. The beauty of DIY decorations is that you can design them to fit your theme.

From a classic bouquet of flowers to gift bags at every place setting, there’s a centerpiece perfect for you!

Green Decor &

The holiday season is the most wonderful time of the year, and splurging for green decor makes it one of the most eco-friendly, too. Luckily, there are plenty of options for making your Christmas decorations as green as you are!

Whether you choose to buy sustainable decorations or make them yourself — or do both — the planet will thank you for it.

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