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All made up

All made up

DoAction 21

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Give home made giftsDoers doing this DoAction have pledged to save: 1742 kg CO2
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Home made wrapping paper

Gifts are great! When they’re appreciated, that is. Sadly many of them aren’t. About 20% of presents given end up being unwanted, unloved, and thus unused – oh dear!

£4bn

is spent on unwanted Christmas gifts each year.

But there’s nothing quite like a homemade present – isn’t that what mum always said?

So sponsor your friend by giving a homemade gift with a personal touch rather than breaking the bank and wasting yet more resources.

Read on for ideas of how to reuse old bits and bobs to make a present that your friends will be sure to appreciate.

Why?

Resources:

You can’t make something out of nothing. Each time a new product is made, we need to extract fresh resources from the earth – through mining, quarrying or tree felling. 

 

20% 

of Christmas gifts are unwanted and laid to waste.

Be they clothes, books, films, electronics, or cosmetics, they’re all made from something, and something pretty precious.

Climate change

Greenhouse gases are emitted from every stage of the lifecycle of your household goods, from extracting, refining, transporting and processing the raw materials, right through to landfilling the finished product.

80kg CO2 is emitted by the production of unwanted Christmas gifts given by the average adult in the UK.

Love.

Love your things, love your friends. Nothing means quite as much as a home made gift, or even a home made card. Especially if it’s made out of things that you’ve already given some love, that you’re reusing and re-loving.

How?

No matter how creative you are, there are endless options, you could make:

Kirstie Alsop is a well of ideas and inspiration for all things homemade, check out her great book, Kirstie's Homemade Home.