Eco Friendly Home Furniture Design Ideas

Thanksgiving is a time to be with family and friends, to enjoy each others company and be thankful for everything you enjoy day to day. It’s actually the perfect holiday to make eco-friendly choices, as one of the things we must be most thankful for, is the planet we all live on.

One of the easiest ways to go green on Thanksgiving is by getting a free-range turkey. Free range turkeys come from farms that treat animals fairly and that don’t use hormones in the animal’s feed. Stores such as Whole Foods and Williams and Sonoma sell free-range turkeys or you could also find one from a local free-range farm.

Once you’ve gotten your turkey, try to shop local and organic for the rest of your meal too – milk, cheese, vegetables and fruits. Something you could try is called the 100-Mile Challenge from Treehugger, which asks that you try and get all the food for your Thanksgiving dinner using only ingredients found within 100 miles of your home.

If you have kids, a trip to a local market or farm is really educational. Your kids can find out where our food comes from, and best of all, they get to pick the food from the harvest for their special, local dinner!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and this year, you should aim to create a memorable experience for your friends and family, and while you’re at it – make some sustainable choices! What could be a better idea around the time of giving thanks, than appreciating the planet that we live on!

You can start by retiring all those plastic decorations that you got from your grandmother. Most of them are made from petroleum-based plastics, and you don’t want any of that near your food! If you are using candles as lighting, try and use some soy-based candles, they burn longer, and there are less chemicals used in their manufacture.

As far as a centerpiece goes, nothing is better suited for a Thanksgiving feast, than a cornucopia of autumn foliage and gourds. During the fall season, you can find gorgeous shapes and colors at your local farmers market, where pumpkins, squash, and other fall favorites are in ripe abundance. Arrange these around your table and in the center, and then add big orange, red and yellow leaves, pine cones and branches to the mix.

Another option is using a long tray down the center of your table and filling it with beautiful and edible fruits and flowers. You can’t get a more sustainable decoration than an edible one!

What’s Christmas without Christmas crackers!? These wonderful looking crackers are made from recycled paper and cardboard, so not only are they perfect for the holidays, they are better for planet Earth! Inside each recycled eco-friendly Christmas cracker is a different traditional parlor game, so you can have fun around the holiday table playing simple and old-fashioned games. It’s like stepping back into a simpler time. And, as an adorable little extra, at the bottom of the box, there is an eco version of that old family favorite board game, Snakes and Ladders.

There are plenty of uses for old CD’s, especially around the holiday season. Decorate your Christmas tree with these great-looking and eco-friendly hanging decorations made from recycled CDs. They will shimmer and shine in the lights from your tree, and will be durable enough to use year after year. This is just one idea you can use to make sure you have a much more efficient and green holiday season.

Also check out these bamboo Christmas tree ornaments, and these energy efficient LED Christmas lights.

Ever wondered what species a leaf or tree is? The ‘About Trees’ Kit is a tree identifying and measuring kit for all the family. Entertaining and educational, this will be a great eco-friendly christmas gift. The kit contains 24 identification cards showing the tree, leaf, fruit and bark, a real skeleton leaf with instructions on how to make your own, a wooden tree height measure, 3 packets of tree seeds with growing instructions and details of how every part of a tree is used in commercial use and what they are used for. Made in the UK using recycled products wherever possible. Wood from managed forests.

Flensted Mobiles are a leader in gorgeous hanging mobiles throughout the world. They are produced in Denmark by a family run business that has been designing mobiles since 1954. Traditional methods and simple raw materials are used, with each mobile being expertly hand crafted. This charming sweet swallow mobile is a real delight. Hang it over a bed or sofa and recreate the clever acrobatics of the swallow as it swoops and soars in the breeze. Even the faintest current of air will cause the mobile to rotate, creating an ever changing visual impact and a gentle sense of movement. The swallow mobile is made with cardboard, wire and thread. This will be appreciated by anyone with a love for whimsy, design and tradition.

The ideal eco-friendly stocking stuffer has been carefully handpoured from soy wax with the fragrant scents of sandalwood and clover. This spicy smelling Sandalwood and Clover Christmas Candle comes in a beautifully boxed, chlorine free paper pulp biodegradable box with a pack of mint seeds to grow in your garden. These candles make a great eco gift and are available in three other delicious scents; bamboo and green tea , fresh grass and thyme and olive leaf. Each candle is made from soy wax with a cotton wick, and the candle will burn for approximately 45 hours. Also makes a wonderful dinner party gift.

Solar Christmas Lights are just the way to go this holiday season. This 7 Piece snowflake solar light set emits a natural white light or spectrum light and simply sticks into the ground. They do require batteries, which are included, but you’ll never again forget to turn on the christmas lights again, because the sun will do it for you!

The Christian Ulbricht line of wooden Christmas ornaments offers something for everyone. This designer Snowflake Ornament is carefully painted and with great detail. If you are looking for the perfect finishing touch to your Christmas tree look no further than these wonderful wooden Snowflake Ornaments. Another good idea is to attach these to gifts under the tree as a sparkly addition.

Great for personalizing stockings, party favors, or gifts. Wooden Holiday Gift Tags that can be used again and again. This assortment of 20 wooden glitter ornament gift tags make gift giving a real treat. Star, circle, and rectangle-shaped tags in varied colors are perfect for personalizing stockings, party favors, or gifts.