Holidays are incredibly hard on our environment. From wrapping paper and decorations to unneeded gifts to gimmicky candy and toys, we produce huge amounts of stuff in our factories and ship it all over the world only to throw most of it away the day after the holiday is over. This stuff doesn’t honor the spirit of any holiday and doesn’t really benefit anyone except the capitalist class investing in all of it. Many of us try to celebrate more minimally; to focus on the things that matter and drop the things that really don’t. With Easter coming up, in the same month as Earth Day, it is difficult not to make these connections. We want to celebrate in ways that don’t cause harm to the planet, and at the same time, to reduce holiday stress in people. We don’t have to spend money and create waste to make a holiday memorable!
On April 1 (no joke!), we hosted an Easter basket event for families with environmentally friendlier items for kids to decorate baskets to take home. Removing as much plastic as possible is our mission. Shredded paper replaces fake grass. Fabric and crocheted eggs replace plastic eggs. Upcycled and reused items round out the decorations instead of brand new manufacturing.
Not only are these baskets better for the environment, the kids really enjoyed being able to make and decorate their own baskets!
