Sustainable Christmas - gifts #2

One of the happiest smiles I got from a gift at Christmas was from something that took me a few minutes to make: Rose Geranium Sugar.

I picked about ten leaves of my potted Rose Geranium and buried them in 500g raw sugar in a jar. After about two weeks I took out the dried leaves and decanted the wonderful-smelling sugar into a pretty jar I found at an op shop.

The sugar turns out quite damp but nothing wrong with that.

I wrote on the label to sprinkle on porridge. It would be nice to bake cakes or things with it too.

In the photo I have some sugar along with the leaves of the rose geranium plant macerating in almond oil. I turned this into face moisturiser later; smells divine.

Next I'm going to try Peppermint Sugar. I've got a yummy smelling Chocolate Mint going haywire in a hanging basket.

Sustainable Christmas - wrapping

This year I wanted to avoid buying wrapping paper. Most stuff is terrible quality this time of year, anyway. It's hard to keep it from tearing, getting covered in sticky tape, and all wrinkled.

Small things I just wrapped in brown paper and jute string with a little bit of red ribbon.

However for larger family gifts I've got another tactic - fabric wrapping.

I found some really pretty Christmas tea towels at Spotlight. Now, this is wapping you can re-use an unlimited number of times - immediately!

Sustainable Christmas - gifts

The most sustainable gifts are things that your individual recipients truly need. Failing that, something that can be eaten! And failing that, something either homemade or something that by its use can lead to a more sustainable lifestyle.
This year I'm giving:
homemade rose geranium sugar
homemade calendula skin salve and aloe vera cleanser
knitted long socks
non-leaching, re-usable stainless steel water flasks

This is my absolute fail-safe ecipe for aloe vera cleanser, from Josephine Fairley
In a blender, mix together 30 ml aloe vera gel
50 ml olive oil
30 ml rosewater
4 drops rose essential oil
2 drops grapefruit seed extract (for preserving the cleanser - however I ran out of this and the cleanser still kept fine out of the fridge, during the winter at least)

If you have your family, friends and neighbours saving their cosmetics containers for you, you can repackage your own creams, stick on cute labels and voila presents for female relatives.

You can make yummy-smelling shaving oils for men too - these are so overpriced commercially - by adding a few drops of an essential oil (my man likes sandalwood, but try rosemary or eucalyptus too) to 30 ml or so of almond or olive oil. A little bit goes a really long way. One of the great things about shaving oil is you don't need moisturiser after the shave.