Handmade Sustainable Gift Pack

Using eco friendly, reusable items and living a more sustainable, less packaged existence, has not only had an impact on our immediate family, but also extended family and friends. 

Reusable bread bags 

I've had a lot of people asking me how to make something, or where to get an item from, or how they can make it themselves.

Beeswax Wraps
Plastic Wrap Alternative

So I decided to come up with a Handmade Sustainable gift pack. A pack full of goodies that I have made to gift to people for housewarmings, birthdays, or whenever! 

All the items are easy to make, and are not only a great gift, they are also a great talking point. When you gift these items, it gives you the opportunity to not only explain how they work, but also make people more aware of the disposable way in which we currently live, and introduce a way of reducing their waste and living more sustainably (without freaking them out or lecturing them!).

I have made all of these items, and blogged about them previously, follow the links to find out more on how to make each one.


My pack includes; A cotton bread bag (made from a 100% cotton tea towel). Three felted dryer balls, and two reusable beeswax wraps.

A Handmade Sustainable Gift Pack
Your friends and the environment will thank you!

These are the items I included in a gift pack, however you include any number of things. Items that you might prefer to make, or already make. Items such as shampoo bars, a pot of flowers, or even herbs, in a handmade pouch (as pictured). Even a few good old handmade handkerchiefs! There are a myriad of possibilities.

What items would you include in a handmade sustainable gift pack?

Mind your own beeswax; Sustainable food wrap

In my pursuit to reduce our waste. I came across an adorable eco-friendly glad wrap alternative; Bees Wax Wraps! 

I originally purchased a lovely Honeybee Wrap from the gorgeous store String and Salt in Warragul. Honeybee wraps have much more to them than the ones I attempted below. If you're not wanting to go to all the trouble, I highly recommend them, they come in various sizes and in a range of beautiful fabrics.

Honeybee Wrap - Pic courtesy of Honeybee Wraps

I have an abundance of beautiful cotton that I purchased many moons ago for my small business which tried (and mostly failed) at selling iron on letters. This was the perfect use for these. Before I started, I washed the fabric first and gave it a little iron too.

Cotton and Beeswax

The only problem was, where to find beeswax? I tried a couple of health food stores half heartedly, knowing I wouldn't have any luck. Then, we attended a local farmers market and I asked the honey man from Pure Peninsula Honey (honey man isn't his official title by the way) I bought a small soap like bar of it and was even more excited to get making.

Not cheese, grated beeswax!

I followed the tutorial by Karen B at The Art of Doing Stuff. 

I love her take on the whole sustainable bit... It's not going to be possible for 99.9% of people to go 100% green, however if we recognise that we can help reduce waste, it's going to help make a big difference. (she says it much more eloquently than that)

I put my oven on 70 Degrees Celsius (for those not in fahrenheit) and it took about 5 - 10 minutes for the wax to melt and soak in. I also popped into my local op shop and purchased some old trays and an old grater just for this purpose, this cost me a whole $2. Mainly as I think if I'm trying to reduce waste, throwing foil in the garbage might be a little counter productive.

They've turned out beautifully, although I did end up repeating the process as I wasn't liberal enough with the wax the first time. Next time around I may concoct a mixture from beeswax and coconut oil. Thus far, I've been using them to wrap cheese and cover bowls... I am also keen to make some for gifts.

My Wraps

Have you attempted to make beeswax wraps? Do you have a special recipe or formula?

Waste free 5th Birthday Party

Felix had originally asked for a superhero party, however, without any prompting from me, decided he'd like a 'Nature Birthday' instead. What followed was a lovely afternoon tea in the backyard, and keeping it waste free, was actually very easy.

A nature birthday cake! Easy

We didn't invite a cast of thousands, this made it easier to begin with. Guests numbered 13 including kids and not including the 5 of us. For those who did attend, along with the (e)invitation, we included a note requesting no waste or low waste gifts along with a brief explanation.

The guests took on the spirit wonderfully. Books and gifts wrapped in newspaper, handmade cloth bags and hand decorated paper. On the day, his favourite gift was a terracotta pot and some plants that he immediately decided he needed to plant. 

The cake (banana) I was able to bake in my amazing silver anodised cake pan from Silverwood. I didn't line it, merely greased with a little butter and sprinkled with flour (actually Felix helped with this bit) and the cake came out fine, no waste there.

Mud Pies

Decorating the cake, I used fondant flowers and rice paper butterflies I already had on hand. However these things can be purchased from cake decorating stores loose and you can take along your own packaging to pick and choose. 



The inedible decorations and candles were wiped clean afterwards and popped back into my jar of cake decorations. I have a reusable piping bag, and the ingredients either came from bulk or recyclable packaging.

I made 'mud pie' chocolate brownies in my Tupperware tuppcakes moulds. No waste there.

An easy waste free spread

Sausage rolls baked in the oven on my reusable Tupperware baking sheet.

We had fruit and put out the compost bin for the scraps.

All food and drink was served in our crockery. No soft drinks or juices, just water and beer or wine from recyclable glass bottles. 

If I had organised myself a little more ahead, I could've made reusable napkins, however everyone seemed ok just washing their hands or just wiping them on their clothes (mainly the children!)

For the party favours / activities we cut up and stamped an egg carton with the kid's names on each little cup. My dad helped out with this one and dutifully stamped away. We then filled a tub with some seed raising mix we had in the shed and let the kids plant some seeds to take home. It kept them out of trouble for a little while, I think they were mostly happy just to run about playing in the great outdoors though.

Personalised thank you gift

Do you think you'd ever attempt a waste free kids party?

Oh balls - dryer balls that is

My second make of the year, and I'm currently still on the sustainable makings bandwagon.

Don't need much for balls!

In my search for eco friendly makes, I came across handmade dryer balls. What are dryer balls you ask? Supposedly they help reduce drying time, by 30 - 50%, reduce static, and help to soften items, so no fabric softener required. This is done by the balls absorbing the moisture, moving the clothes about and providing better air circulation. You can read more behind the science on the David Suzuki website.

Okay, I know using a dryer in itself isn't exactly environmentally friendly, (unless you're off grid) however we have three children and the weather in Melbourne is changeable to say the least. Often times I have items strung all over the house to dry them in wet weather, however sometimes you need to dry sheets and there's just nowhere to hang them inside.

To make mine, I followed this tutorial from The Seasoned Homemaker. 

Pre felted

I made three out of 100% pure wool. One out of alpaca and one out of 100% felting wool. I put some tea tree oil on one, then gave up trying to scent them. I ended up washing them in a eucalyptus wool wash and figured that'd be enough. Mine are also a little smaller than recommended as I couldn't locate a tennis ball.

There's more than a run in my stocking

To tie the stocking together, the tutorial recommends dental floss. Instead, I used some reusable cotton jersey tie. You could use anything that you know will come out the other side of a hot wash.

I found that the alpaca and the felting wool felted the best, however they destroyed the stocking when I removed them after washing.

After I washed them, I popped them in the sun until they were completely dry, and they came out great. They are now hanging out in the dryer, waiting for their first tumble. As soon as I've given them a go, I'll give a full report on my findings.

They'd make a pretty neat and very easy gift for a keen juggler too!

The finished product, they're quite friendly!

Have you ever made dryer balls? Did you find they made a difference?

Sustainable Makings; Bag the Bread

My first official make for 2016 is a useful make, and one that's been helping us to dramatically reduce our waste. It's also something I've sewn!!

Hmmm Mysterious...

A few weeks ago I started following Tammy at Gippsland Unwrapped. Tammy is on a mission to live sustainably and encourage others to do the same. If you'd like to be encouraged, I highly recommend reading her blog.

We've started buying meat straight from the butchers in our own containers, we've also started buying some grocery items in bulk, which go straight into our own containers too. Each time we successfully buy something waste free, we feel pretty darn good about it.

One small part of my tea towel collection

The one thing that got me to pull out my sewing machine and making again, was Tammy's handmade bread and produce bags.

The question was, what to make them from? It turns out I had a collection of about 30, very lovely, cotton and linen tea towels, and I wasn't using even half of them.

I dusted off the sewing machine, and attempted to sew some straight lines. I don't know that I was entirely successful staying on the straight and narrow, but they did turn out ok. 


So far, despite the wonky sewing, they've been working a treat. I'm pretty sure they keep the bread much fresher than plastic. This isn't based on science, merely me keeping the bread in them and then using said bread.

They've been met with great enthusiasm by both our local and chain bakeries. In fact we've become something of a legend at our local bakery, with the story of 'the family with the bread bags' spreading quickly.

Bagged Bread

The produce bags, I made out of our old kitchen curtains. Channelling my inner Julie Andrews, I think I secretly always wanted to make something out of curtains. The hills are allllivveeee... My apologies for getting that one in you're head.

The most awesome thing about making these was, I just had to thread some ribbon through the part where the curtain rod is supposed to go, and voila, instant drawstring!

My first curtain bag purchases;
onions and dates

Not terribly difficult things to make, however they've really made a difference to not only how we buy groceries, but also how we view the items we purchase, particularly heavily packaged items. 

Not that long ago, us humans used to live much more sustainably. I remember putting out glass milk bottles for the milko at my grandparent's house. We recycled and mended clothing (don't even get me started on clothing) and there was not a plastic bag in sight. It's quite scary to realise what a throw away society we've become, and how quickly too.

I must say, I am also extremely excited about how my husband has completely jumped on the band wagon. 

I'm now planning on gearing my making towards sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. My next challenge? A waste free, 5-year-old birthday party, stay tuned.

Have you ever made something that helps you to reduce your waste?