Christmas might only be a few days away but it isn't too late to make some eco-tweaks to your celebrations. Sarah Lewis tracks down ten last-minute green and festive tips.

Keep it under wraps
If you run out of paper before your wrapping is done, don't rush into town to buy more, consider the alternatives instead.

Wrapping presents in old newspaper or magazines is fast becoming the trendy thing to do for eco-conscious types - or perhaps just a bow will do.

If you are not a natural hoarder, carefully unwrapping last year's presents and reusing the paper might not be for you - but you can still recycle it. According to Defra, if we all recycled just half the wrapping paper that gets used over Christmas we would save 25,000 trees.

Mood lighting
Leave your tree lights on for ten hours a day over the 12 days of Christmas and you will produce enough carbon dioxide to inflate 12 balloons, according to the Energy Savings Trust.

If you still have time to get into town, replace them with low-energy LED lights (remembering to dispose of the old ones responsibly) or, if not, only have them switched on at special times.

While you are seeking out the ultimate festive cosy glow you may also find you use your side lamps more. Be sure to check these all have energy-saving bulbs (ESLs) as well as your ceiling lights.

ESLs now come in all shapes and fittings and can use 80 per cent less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs.

Careful timing
Next to the amount of electricity we use, one of the biggest problems is the time we use it.

Everyone flicking the television on at the same time for the Queen's Speech puts much more pressure on a power station than a staggered demand. So watch Liz later on YouTube or read the highlights on news.bbc.co.uk.

There are plenty of little things you can do to run your kitchen more efficiently as well - parboil your potatoes a few nights beforehand, for example, and put them in the freezer.

They can go straight in the oven for roasting on the big day, saving valuable time and spreading your energy load.

You could even opt for a European-style Christmas dinner and eat on Christmas Eve, freeing up the grid for everyone else and leaving you with a relaxing day of picking at leftovers and eating cake come the 25th.

Blow hot and cold
Defrost your freezer tonight and it will be up and running again within a day.

Defrosting will make sure it runs more efficiently and also frees up room for your roasties (see above).

If your turkey is already in there, ask your neighbour if you can do a freezer-share for a couple of days, storing each other's food while the other defrosts.

Don't forget your oven, which is likely to be on for most of the day. Do you have any treats which can warm in the oven while it is heating up or cooling down?

And if you live in a small house or flat, the latent heat from an oven on for a couple of hours will most likely warm your kitchen, so nudge the settings on your radiator down a notch.

Keep it cosy
It is freezing out there and a lot of us live in rattly old Regency houses which let the heat out as soon as we turn the heating on. Close the curtains to keep it warm inside and dig out your themed Christmas jumper. For a lovely glow, light vegetable-based candles instead of the usual electric fairy lights.

Last-minute gifts
Unless you are super organised, chances are there are still a few gifts you need to get your hands on. So be brave and break the cycle of forking out for presents people will have forgotten come January.

You don't need to be an artist to create a scrapbook of photos (real or virtual) or a garden whizz to take a cutting from your favourite house plant. They can mean so much more than any plastic trinket. Perhaps your talent is baking, in which case get in the kitchen because everybody appreciates cake.

Charity shops and swap-shop sites such as Freecycle.org will be working overtime at this time of year and you may be surprised at the breadth and quality of goods you can find.

Decorations
A new look for your tree doesn't have to mean buying new decorations. Call your friends and see if they are throwing anything out that you could use.

Don't dismiss the idea just because it is secondhand - a Covent Garden Christmas swap shop recently saw a vintage gold Harrods bauble signed by Katie Melua trotting off to a very happy home.

Then there are the things you can make yourself - dried citrus fruit slices can be strung together and will last for years. Making paper chains out of old newspapers (feel free to use this one when you are done reading) and angels from doilies is a great activity to keep kids from under your feet.

Recharge your batteries
Christmas is traditionally a time for giving and receiving lots of battery-powered gadgets.

If you can't avoid doing this then avoid buying single-use batteries. Although Cityclean will pick up your old batteries in your recycling, they are still not easy to process, so it is best not to use them at all.

There are plenty of battery re- chargers on the market as well as the incredible USBCELL rechargeable batteries that plug straight into any USB port without the need for a bulky recharger. They cost £11.49 for two, and are available from www.nigelsecostore.com or call 0800 2888970.

Regifting
Let's be honest, some of the stuff you are going to get over Christmas is not really stuff you want.

If you can't stop your mother buying you yet another 'hilarious' stuffed toy reindeer, then pass it on to a young niece or nephew. And if you have racked up one too many boxes of Quality Street, have no qualms about sending it on down the gifting line - don't forget giving gifts is intended as an expression of love and friendship, not a competition as to who can spend the most money.

Waste plan
Christmas is one of the worst times for waste, with 12,600 tonnes of rubbish expected to wend its merry way to landfill in Sussex over the festive period alone.

Even before you start recycling, ask if there is something else you can do with that once-used wrapping paper and all those ribbons.

If you get a gift which comes complete with stacks of plastic packaging, send it back to the manu- facturer with a letter asking why all the packaging is necessary and how they suggest you dispose of it.

3:19pm Friday 21st December 2007

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