Gifts
Tips for a sustainable Christmas
Christmas is the perfect time for presents, festive outfits, and beautifully set tables. This makes Christmas not the most sustainable celebration. Fortunately, it can be different. So, time for a change! Read our tips for sustainable Christmas shopping in Breda. Nice to give, receive, and wear – and better for the world.
Buy your party outfit second-hand
Second-hand clothing has forever shed its dusty image. In Breda, you will find more and more shops where the worn clothes are hardly distinguishable from new. Carefully selected and cleaned, and of good quality. Around the festive season, the most festive outfits also grace the shop windows here. That way, you can steal the show at the Christmas dinner without adding extra burden to the Earth.
Sustainable Christmas tree
Room pines of The Green Submarine
The Green Submarine in St. Annastraat has the ultimate alternative to a Christmas tree: the kamerden. You can enjoy it all year round and at Christmas, you can give it a genuine festive look with baubles and lights.
Better Tree
If you prefer an actual Christmas tree, at BeterBoompje you can return your Christmas tree (with root ball) in January. If you buy a tree here without a root ball, BeterBoampje will plant two organic cuttings back into the Christmas tree forest in return. In Breda, you can pick up your ordered tree on 6 or 7 December at Wolfslaar or at Frontaal on Liniestraat. OR you can have it delivered to your home. Very convenient.
Christmas decorations from the thrift shop
Looking for decorations for the Christmas tree or to bring a festive atmosphere to your home? Then it's worth the effort to go treasure hunting at a charity shop. There you'll find all kinds and sizes. Items with a story, which may have brought joy to people for years and are now waiting to brighten up your Christmas.
Gift tip 1: Marie Stella Maris
Buy a gift and do something good for the world at the same time. Sounds good, doesn’t it? From each sale, Marie Stella Maris donates a percentage to projects that around the world ensure people have access to clean drinking water. So far, the company has donated more than 2 million euros!
Marie Stella Maris' beauty products are produced environmentally friendly, and the packaging is made from recycled materials. The refills help reduce waste. A gift with a good conscience!
Veemarktstraat 29
Gift tip 2: LOYA
At LOYA, Yara and Lotte bring together a variety of sustainable brands and trendy lifestyle products. Whether it's women's and men's clothing, interior accessories, or personal care products. LOYA is the go-to place for beautiful and honest items. No greenwashing here. All products are carefully selected to ensure you can shop with a clear (green) conscience!
At LOYA, you can now have your gifts wrapped in reusable wrapping cloths, made in collaboration with Ons Label Breda.
Wilhelminastraat 31
Packing the Japanese way
Have you heard of Furoshiki? With this Japanese wrapping method, you can make the most beautiful presents in a sustainable way.
Furoshiki uses (square) cloths instead of disposable wrapping paper. You knot the cloth around your gift in a certain way and finish the package with a nice twig or card. The wrapping cloth can be used again and again.
Shop without packaging
Cucumbers in plastic, peppers in plastic… enough to make you feel despondent. It can be different when you do your Christmas shopping at the market. With your own shopping bag. Sometimes, being sustainable is quite easy.
Did you know that on Tuesday mornings there is a organic farmers' market on Veemarktstraat? Double sustainable!
Another thing you can do is go to the red bus of Breda Food Co-Op! It is scheduled to be at various locations in Breda where you can do your shopping free of packaging. Please bring your own containers.
At Breda Food Co-op, you can also subscribe to a bi-weekly Breda Dichtbij Box with vegetables and fruit.
Products close to home
At farm shops, you buy products that are produced 'around the corner'. This means your groceries don't have to travel far before they are on the shelves. Did you know there are quite a few farm shops in and around Breda where you can do your shopping?
Help combat food waste
Almost 10% of all food produced is wasted by shops or consumers. Naturally, that's a shame! Fortunately, there is increasing attention for this issue and the number of initiatives to combat food wastage is steadily growing.
Take a look in the app of your trusted supermarket. It may offer 'surplus' or 'outliers', or give a significant discount on products nearing their expiration date. There's nothing wrong with that, and they're even cheaper too.
In Breda, you can also help reduce food waste by participating in programmes such as 'Out of the Box', Too Good To Go, Breda makes me happy and No Waste Army.
All ways to make a festive Christmas dinner more sustainable (and often cheaper).
And do you still have food leftover after your Christmas dinner? Then check out this page about cooking with leftovers.
