Are you dreaming of a green Christmas?

Christmas is undeniably an excessive time of year. This Christmas alone, the UK is set to receive almost 60 million unwanted presents, with bath products topping the list as the nation’s least loved gift. Top unwanted Christmas gifts:

1. Bath products
2. Film/box set
3. Candles
4. Chocolate
5. Socks

After the mayhem of mass consumerism spanning Black Friday and Cyber Monday, international development charity Send a Cow is calling on shoppers to think more consciously about where they splash their cash.

#DontWasteXmas

Greenhouse worked with Send a Cow to launch their #DontWasteXmas campaign on Giving Tuesday, a day of international giving and charity awareness. By commissioning new research, devising key messaging and securing press coverage we built an impactful campaign to encourage consumers to waste less this Christmas. We also enlisted the support of a network of bloggers to spread the word on social media and commissioned a CGI showing the millions of unwanted presents piled up next to Big Ben. To date, we’ve secured features in national and regional press, including interviews with CEO Paul Stuart with Sky News, Press Association, talkRADIO and LondonLive. Plus features in The Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and The Sun have amplified the call to give meaningful gifts this year rather than cheap stocking fillers and novelty socks. Send a Cow offers a wide range of practical gifts on their virtual online shop, from goats and garden gadgets to seeds and stoves. The average person spends between £10 - £20 on unwanted presents for loved ones each year. Instead they could buy:

• Two chickens that can provide malnourished families with eggs to eat and sell (£16)
• Garden tools for two families so they can grow their own vegetables (£14)
• Fruit trees to help people establish their own orchards (£20)

“Buying a Send a Cow virtual gift for a loved one has a double impact and goes far beyond your typical gift of socks or smellies which often end up in the bin.The person receiving the gift feels good and a struggling family in Africa receives vital support to help them transform their lives. What could be better than that?’’

Paul Stuart, CEO of Send a Cow. 

Send a Cow is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and hopes to continue to grow so more African families can lift themselves out of poverty for good.

London's first ever zero waste market

If you are looking to be sustainable but still want to soak up that Christmas cheer, head down to London’s first ever zero waste Christmas market, where visitors can browse a range of eco-friendly, sustainable, reusable and compostable gifts that don’t cost the earth. The organisers will donate 100% of profits from ticket sales to ​Cool Earth ​to help prevent deforestation in the Amazon and offset carbon. The pop-up market is opening its doors at 2pm on Saturday 8th December at Hoxton Arches. Tickets available online here. Greenhouse is proud to work with pioneers making tangible steps towards a greener, cleaner, more sustainable world. If you’re looking to make your impact known, we’d love to help you tell your story. Get in touch to see how we can help.