Forget worrying about finals and wrapping up work in December — it’s time to get festive! Enjoy traditions, make memories, and still lower your impact with these sustainability-minded tips.
Twinkle Twinkle
Let it glow and brighten up with more efficient LED lights that use 80-90% less energy than traditional incandescent ones. LEDs are also longer-lasting, safer, and stay cooler, producing almost no heat.
Deck The Halls
You don’t have to lose the sparkle of the season by ditching tinsel and glitter, which are sources of microplastics. Decorate with natural materials like wood, pinecones, dried citrus, and cinnamon sticks. DIY with crafted garlands made from fabric, ribbon, popcorn, and cranberries. Thrift stores and flea markets are also treasure troves for unique and affordable decorative trinkets.
All Spruced Up
Get a live centerpiece for the holiday from a local farm that doesn’t use pesticides and herbicides or a tree lot that donates part of its proceeds to a cause. Indoor potted plants are a nice option. A festive, different direction can be a tree constructed sustainably with mango wood, recycled driftwood, stacked books, branches, or bamboo.
Season’s Greetings
Skip the paper and send an e-card. Have fun with animation, music, and other design elements that are only possible with a digital greeting. Or share your environmental consciousness with a plantable seed card. To show a real personal touch, express your feelings with a handmade sentiment.
Nice List
Green giving. Buy preloved and secondhand, reusable presents like bottles or bags, plants, or gift experiences, such as a museum membership, activity pass, or event tickets. Give back to the community by shopping in your neighborhood and supporting local artisans and small businesses. Or a homemade item! Also nice? A gift that gives back: donating in someone’s name to a non-profit organization or charity.
Wrapped Up in Cheer
Rethink your wrapping. Alternatively, use newspaper, fabric, or cloth to bundle presents.
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry
For meals, try to plan ahead, shop for only what you need (preferably at a Farmers’ Market), make use of leftovers, and compost food scraps.
Jingle All the Way
For winter activities around town — skating at the Ice at Santa Monica rink, visiting Santa Claus at Westfield Century City, or enjoying a sweet treat on Sawtelle — ride a bike, take the bus with your UCLA-issued transit pass, or carpool.
Joy To the World
Connect with nature by gathering family members, friends, or others for a hike, to bird watch, visit a botanical garden, do a group walk or bike ride, plant a tree, volunteer for a park or beach clean-up — any activity in the great outdoors. Have a wonderful winter break, Bruins!