CHRISTMAS is notorious as a time of excess.

Eating too much and still being left with bin loads of waste food thrown away, wading through heaps of old wrapping paper, small mountains of new toys that the children tire with after half a day and plastic cracker toys that go straight into the bin have all, unfortunately, become hallmarks of the season.

But an alternative is possible, and it doesn't mean compromising on celebrating Christmas. In fact, for these two Hampshire families, celebrating the season in a more environmentally friendly way helps them to focus on having special time together, rather than worrying about busting their budgets.

GP and mother of two young children, Christelle Blunden from Shirley is a committed activist, who actively campaigns on environmental issues and against the arms trade.

She sees Christmas as a particularly wasteful time of year.

"There's a lot of pressure on people to but what they don't need with money they don't have, and so much then gets chucked away," she says.

This year, Christelle and her family are trying to have their most environmentally-friendly Christmas ever.

This includes giving homemade and second hand presents, or vouchers for experiences, using solar Christmas lights, wrapping gifts in cloth and having a Christmas tree made from old wooden pallets.

"I've been swept away by the news recently since the last climate change report, which makes it clear that we only have 12 years to stop the world from heating up by three or four degrees, which would have disastrous consequences such as natural disasters, mass migration, and likely subsequent public health threats and conflicts.

"That's not the world I want for my children to have to deal with, and I think as much as we need political action on this, we're all responsible for thinking about the impact of our everyday decisions.

"Many people think of car use as causing climate change and it is, but most of our carbon footprint is inherent in what we buy and consume generally."

One of the things that Christelle finds difficult about having as environmentally friendly Christmas as she would like is the difficulty in buying things that aren't wrapped in plastic.

"It's really difficult to avoid plastic wrap as it's everywhere," she says.

"I'd like to be able to walk into a shop and not have to buy anything wrapped in plastic, because a law had been passed that if you can't recycle it, you don't produce it," she says.

"The fact that non-biodegradable nappies, which stay in landfill for hundreds of years, and polystyrene, which never breaks down, can even be sold is astonishing to me.

"It is better to reduce consumption rather than just not throwing anything away, but I don't anticipate sending anything to landfill this Christmas other than flimsy plastic wrap, though I'm trying to reduce this wherever possible, and odd things like stickers given to the kids at school and biodegradable nappies."

Christelle and her family have moved to a more environmentally aware way of life over the years, and is aware that it can be difficult to begin to do things differently, but feels that it's important that we all make changes.

"It takes a lot of thought to change habits and people are busy and have social pressure to buy fancy stiff or to serve meat etc, but also don't necessarily realise that there are issues with what they are buying," she says.

"I'd encourage anyone to ask themselves the questions 'do I need this? What happens to the earth when this is made and when it's no longer needed? Is there a different way of doing this?

Christelle's top tips for a greener Christmas:

* reduce your meat and dairy consumption - recent research shows that avoiding meat and dairy is the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact

* buy loose foods wherever possible

* wrap presents in reusable cloth - wrapping paper cannot be recycled and can render the entire contents of your recycling bin unrecyclable

* no food waste - anything that cannot be composted is given to the family's four chickens

* giving presents which are handmade/second hand/from a sustainability-conscious supplier/vouchers for an experience

* use biodegradable glitter

* use Christmas lights with a solar panel

* don't buy anything with polystyrene in it

Kat Goodwin, from Badger Farm in Winchester, runs a popular Facebook group, Zero Waste Making Circle, which has more than 3,000 members, and give not-for-profit classes on reducing waste.

A mother of one, she also works full time in the public sector and is studying part-time for a degree.

"Our Christmas will be lower waste than in the past but just as low waste as it can be," she says.

"You never know what people will bring you and there are somethings that have unwanted packaging, due to budget restricting your options.

"We make a lot of things, wrap in recyclable brown paper, without tape, or in fabric ans handmade bags, or use gift bags from previous years.

"But the biggest reduction on waste for Christmas usually boils down to reducing the amount of edible items we buy. We only buy or make what we need, including seasonal treats."

Kat agrees with Christelle that it can be especially hard to reduce our environmental impact at Christmas.

"It's important to be more environmentally-friendly all round, and celebrations aren't an exception to that, but it can feel even more difficult when the season as a whole seems to be driven by packaging."

Kat says that aiming for zero waste has some immediate benefits to her family, as well as to the environment, and therefore its long-term future.

"We don't find our zero waste alternatives difficult, as they immediately produce such wonderful gifts in themselves, be it from baking gifts, making felted decorations, or creating homemade items for a hamper, these all generate their own memories, and time shared.

"Our daughter has adopted an animals every year, which is a tradition that can bring a smile to the recipient and the foundation we are supporting.

"I have also created a zero waste gift guide, which we try to follow all year round, which I added to the Facebook group.

"Each year brings its own challenges, but we always try to do whatever we can to reduce waste, reuse items, request memories over packages, and encourage that in our child too.

"We try to provide a charitable donation instead of sending Christmas cards wherever possible, have a living tree, use the same decorations, ribbons and string each year, keep the heating down and use layers instead and get outside for some fresh air, so it feels warmer once you're back indoors."

She adds that reducing waste could also help some people have a less stressful Christmas.

"One of the biggest grumbles I hear at this time of year is people genuinely being unable to think of gifts for themselves for others to get.

"No one seems to need or care about 'stuff' and why should they? Making memories, providing charitable donations, babysitting for a friend, or sharing the cost of a family Christmas meal are wonderfully loving gifts that no one wants to ask for, but everyone appreciates over a Christmas shower set for the sake of it."

Kat's top tips for a lower waste Christmas:

* home making items with friends or family is a great way to make memories and gifts at the same time

* only buy the food you need, including when it comes to treats

* don't ask for random items on the basis that someone wants to get you something but there isn't anything you want. If you are lucky enough not to need anything, ask them to make a donation on your behalf.

* share the cooking and the financial burden by splitting the Christmas/Boxing Day meal ingredients with all the guests

* where you can, offer your time as a gift rather than an item – this is more valuable than any top seller