So, where to start when you’re planning your decorations? Here are a few thoughts to begin with:

• Don’t buy tinsel – it will shed tiny pieces of plastic everywhere.
• Turn off your Christmas lights overnight and when you are out the house to save energy.
• Give Christmas crackers a miss – they often contain plastic toys. Instead make your own using toilet roll tubes.
• Make your own natural table decorations - holly leaves look fantastically festive.
• Avoid throwaway plastic, go homemade, and keep wildlife happy this year.

DIY natural Christmas decorations are a great eco-friendly alternative to buying cheap, plastic decorations that may break easily and end up in the bin. Many home-made decorations can be composted. You’ll find most natural materials required to make your own decorations from your own garden or park. Twigs, pine cones, and pine branches can all be used to bring festive cheer to your home – although to avoid damaging any trees, it’s best to check on the ground to see what has already fallen.

When you’ve collected your materials together, it’s time to get creative. For example, you could use 5 sticks of similar size and tie them together in a star pattern with string or super glue for a classic nature-inspired Christmas decoration. You can even turn your wooden star into a Christmas Tree topper by wrapping wire in a spiral around the bottom of your star.

The creation of Christmas cards is another great excuse to get crafty in the outdoors. Bark rubbings can make beautiful images, and gardens are still full of fallen leaves, which you can use to create leaf prints in all sorts of colours.

DIY wreaths or garlands for your front door and living rooms are also festive favourites – but too many of us buy mass-produced versions, laden with plastic.  Why not create your own from the materials you can find in nature? Our urban wildlife site in Bristol, Grow Wilder, recently hosted a workshop to help people make their own Christmas wreaths, and it was a great success. Participants used willow to weave a circular base, then added trimmings from nature to create something unique to take home. You could try something similar.

Perhaps the ultimate nature-friendly Christmas decoration wouldn’t be something for people at all.  What could be better than a festive decoration to give your garden birds a treat? As the days get colder, our garden and countryside birds can struggle to find enough food and fresh water naturally. Providing bird food and clean water in the garden is an important way to help them over winter.  It will also give you the chance to see these creatures at close-range, including some species, such as waxwings, that are only around in the winter months.

YOU WILL NEED:

• Pines cones
• Long twigs
• Garden wire
• Soft lard
• Mixing bowl
• Holly and other leaves
• Bird seed, breadcrumbs and grated cheese
• Dried fruits or unsalted nuts

MAKING YOUR CHRISTMAS BIRD WREATH:

• Twist together bundles of long twigs and fasten with wire into a ring.
• Squish lard into a soft paste in a bowl.
• Mix in bird seed, breadcrumbs or grated cheese.
• Smear over pine cones and decorate with dried fruits and nuts.
• Attach the cones to the ring with twisted wire.
• Decorate with festive greenery and hang up your wreath! 

Remember to keep birdfeeders and bird baths clean to prevent disease and parasites spreading. Keep bird food and titbits, like your new wreath, topped up over the winter months – a constant supply will bring a steady stream of visitors!

Whether you are decorating to please the birds or the in-laws, don’t forget: humans were marking the season with beautiful things for many years before plastic or synthetics were invented. Let’s make 2021 a year to remind ourselves of how wonderful nature is, when it’s allowed to be.