Your Christmas decorations can be environmentally friendly and energy efficient. Christmas is almost here so it is time to put out the Christmas lights and put your house in a festive mood. There are many different holiday lights you can choose from. Here are a few ways you can put up Christmas decorations and still be green.

Use natural holiday decorations: They’re lots of Christmas decorations that don’t use electricity at all. You can make your home festive with fresh evergreen boughs and other winter plants like holly trees and mistletoe. Natural decorations are environmentally friendly, won’t end up in a dump and add an unexpected touch to any house’s decor.

Use energy efficient Christmas lights: LED (light-emitting-diode) Christmas lights cost a little more new but they offer large energy savings over regular light bulbs. You can save up to 40% on your electric costs for Christmas lights if you switch to LED lights. Don’t forget that there are lots of things to think about when purchasing LED Christmas lights. Some home improvement stores are trying out Christmas light trade-in rebates to help encourage people to change to LED holiday lights.

Reuse lights you already own: By reusing Christmas lights from one year to the next you are keeping lots of wires out of your local landfill and being smart about using resources. Try to avoid buying all new Christmas decorations each year. One of the best ways to save money is to go shopping in your own closets!

Remember that your choices now can be a perfect gift for tomorrow’s generations. As long as your Christmas lights are in adequate condition it should be safe to decorate with them again and again. Many of these green decorating tips will put more cash in your pocket that you can spend on Christmas gifts! With a little planning you can put up decorations for the holidays and still be environmentally friendly.

Searching for more great holiday decorating ideas and tips? Check out our site for all sorts of diy home project articles for Christmas or any time of the year!