The new year is around the corner and it’s time to set some resolutions. But how about you ditch those old cliche resolutions this year and instead make some ethical ones that make a difference to your environment as well as the entire planet?

Sounds interesting?

Here’s what you can add to your list of ethical new year resolutions 2021 - 

Say No To Plastic - Plastic is a big no when it comes to the environment so this new year, abandon everything that is plastic. So instead of going to a supermarket and buying a new plastic bag every time, invest in reusable tote bags that you can carry when you shop. 

And remember to say no to bottled water because they are the of the primary reason for polluting the oceans and beaches.

The Minimalist Lifestyle - Living a minimalistic lifestyle in simple words means being mindful of your purchases. It means to be aware of the consequences of what you spend your money on. There’s a line between shopping for your needs and fulfilling your wants. This year let’s try to be cautious of our purchases and enjoy the liberation that this new minimalistic life brings with it. 

No Palm Oil - Avoid eateries, makeups, sanitation commodities, or combustible that contains palm oil in the component listing. Palm oil is one of the reasons that contribute to disastrous changes like deforestation, global warming, human rights breaches, and deteriorating health when used. 

Sustainable Home Decor - When we talk about sustainable home decor, it is about being considerate to both living beings as well as the planet. It is about picking commodities that use the least resources which are long-lasting, or that can be reused or recycled, so as to make sure that we leave the world in a sound position and create succinct waste. 

This also habitually means utilising products that add to green living or adapting manners that help save resources like energy, water, etc.

Choosing to go for Eco-friendly home decor also lessens augmentations to different kinds of pollution which is why it is so important to be mindful about what you add to your living space.

Winter is on its way and that goes to say that Christmas is near.

The gleaming autumn shades of orange, gold, red, and brown are going to soon disappear and possibly all our trees are going to be decorated with white snow.

The festive season is fast approaching and we have the perfect solution for your gifts..

Flowers, yes!

Flowers are the perfect way to show how much you appreciate your loved ones. It's something about fresh flowers and the aroma of these gorgeous bunches that takes the cake!

So for the next set of questions - what are the best flowers that you can add to your list of Christmas gift ideas and on Christmas flowers delivery in the UK, we’ve taken care of it too!

We’ve specially curated a few bouquets that you can order on the go as your Christmas gift.

Attention on the climate emergency and the sense of ethical consumerism is increasing with time. 

So while most of the readily available bouquets out there are imported, this bouquet is made up of British grown flowers as it is considered to emit around 95% less CO2 emissions than the imported ones.

Additionally, they are wrapped with biodegradable hydrating fabric & reused coffee bags of hessian so you can celebrate a guilt-free green Christmas!

Now, let’s go over a few more tips for a Eco-friendly Christmas - 

• Choose Decorations Wisely - While decorations are the paramount part of Christmas, plastic decors just go down as waste once the party is over. So this year, go with long-lasting decorations that are environmental friendly and can be used again next year. Fabric and glass ornaments are great substitutes for plastic, and recycled wood is a great way to go too. 

• Dinner The Right Way - While ending up cooking too little is the worst nightmare for any host, ending up with a lot of leftovers isn’t pretty either. Buy according to your guest list, and cook according to what seems right for the amount of people joining for the meal. If you still end up with some leftovers consider including the veggies in a recipe the next day. 

• Send E-Cards - Rather than going for the paper cards, choose e-cards or other digital channels to connect with your loved ones. If you still prefer going traditional with the handwritten card, recycle old cards or paper. 

We hope we have given you something to think about at this special time of year which can be good for you and for our planet!  Here's to a very special Christmas period- goodness knows we all deserve it! 

Happy holidays!

Floral foam, usually referred to as Oasis is much loved by florists worldwide for its convenience.

Oasis is really appealing for any florist, those green blocks of sponge foam are brilliant for making arrangements from small to large designs as they are able to absorb and hold water.  This means that the floral design can be kept fresh up to 4 days without adding any extra water.

It is also simple to cut and mould,  is easy to transport and holds flowers tightly in place even for lengthy journeys in the van.

However, there are a few significant problems with the floral foam that are difficult to ignore.

It’s made from synthetic non-recyclable plastic and is created using a combination of carbon black, formaldehyde and phenol foam, which are all toxic both to humans and animals.

Each block of foam contains the same amount of plastic as 10 shopping bags.

But what is floral foam?

Invented by Vernon Lewis Smithers in 1954 it was a milestone for floristry and has become very quickly an essential tool in the floral industry for creating quick floral arrangements.

Each block holds up to 50 times its weight in water and keeps the blooms fresh up to 12 days.

Why is floral foam bad for the environment?

Floral foam is contributing to the growing crisis of plastic pollution. 

Thanks to its mossy texture, green hue and the fact that it's used with flowers, it can be easily  be mistaken as a natural product.

But in reality floral foam doesn’t fully dissolve in water or degrade in landfill or soil. Instead, it breaks down into smaller and smaller micro-plastics and can take thousand of years to completely revert into natural elements and are a real menace for the environment by contaminating our marine life and food chains.

Our Commitment:

Fortunately we live in a growing environmentally-conscious world.

We all got captivated, young and old by David Attenborough’s Blue Planet who bought our attention to the issue of plastics in the ocean and highlighting now more than ever it is important that we do our part for living in harmony with our Earth.

At The Hiden Collective we are floral foam free and instead we use either chicken wire or keizan (a metal spiky devices that sit in a vase or bowl and hold the flowers stems shown in the picture to the left).

Also we feel that it it is important that we voice our concern and that we try to raise the bar of the floral industry to a more environmental friendly place.

We are really happy to see that The Royal Horticultural Society has banned  the use of  Oasis from all its garden and horticultural shows from 2021.

Join now the floral foam free movement!

Sometimes life gets hard and it becomes difficult to see the light in the darkness around us.

To feel better, having a positive mindset is very necessary, but also the objects and beings that are around us are critical too.

Being surrounded by nature has long been known to boost our mood and ease stress, but what if you could mimic that soothing vibe at home?

Having flowers at home could be the secret to improving your health, reducing stress and helping us to find peace of mind.  

Multiple studies has shown that flowers have a brightening effect on the mood that can last for days, proving much more powerful than a bar of chocolate! 

Flowers Colour 

Red flowers such as tulips and roses, are connected to concentration and attention to detail, instead blue blooms such as agapanthus and delphiniums are great to promote free thinking and creativity.

Orange and yellow flowers such as dahlia and chrysanthemum are connected with happiness. By combining both orange and yellow you can promote a calming mood and by adding greens you can reflect feelings of peace.

Scented Flowers & Foliage

Of all the five senses, our sense of smell is one of the most powerful. Not only does it allow us to enjoy some amazing scents and appreciate our food, but it’s also an amazing trigger for memories. When you need to improve your mood or if you know of somebody who needs a bit of an emotional boost, consider sending some flowers.

Lilies are some of the most powerful smelling of all flowers and they have a way of lightening the mood.

Lavender helps soothe away that stress which makes way for a new, better mood.

Eucalyptus with its woody scent is great to energise you. 

The positive impact of flowers

Flowers are a perfect solution to communicate emotions when it’s hard to find the right words.

Also the simple gesture of gifting some flowers is a powerful sign of showing your friendship, love, your support and is so powerful that it can help to lift the receiver from a difficult place or low point.

Scientific Studies Confirm Benefits of Flowers

Flowers not only have the power of cheering us up when we are feeling down, but they also have many other properties such as helping us get a proper night of sleep, boosting our creativity, increasing our productivity, making our tolerance to pain higher, boosting our health, and even improving our attention span.

A study from the university of Texas have found that patients in hospital rooms decorated with flowers and potted plants needed less postoperative pain medication, had lower systolic blood pressure and pulse rates, were less anxious and tired, and generally were in a more positive psychological state than patients in rooms without flowers.

Another recent scientific study finds that nature can also hold the secret to business success.

The research demonstrates that workers’ idea generation, creative performance and problem-solving skills improve substantially in workplace environments that include flowers and plants.

Classrooms with flowers and plants in it have a bigger attention span, and students show more creativity, free-thinking skills, and overall satisfaction.

We do love a good deal and a hunt for a bargain but also we believe that there is an alternative to the ruthless policy of the big retailers to push you into purchasing a deal. Especially when most of the time, we would suggest, the item may not actually be needed...

Black Friday has an incredible negative impact on our planet, it is the biggest sales days of the year thanks to the crazy discounts that generate an incredible amount of waste worldwide.

What we are going to do instead!

We do not support black Friday, it will be very hypocritical if we were considering that here at The Hiden Collective we stand for Ethical & Locally source seasonal flowers, hampers and gifts from local independent business and 100% Eco-wrapping.

Our goal is to generate a small positive impact without costing the Earth.

We would like to offer you for 4 weeks (commencing on the 30th October) unique product discount that is different each week but valid to be used within the next 12 months whenever you wish to!

Unique discounts by week:

30/10-05/11 - Gift Card

- 30% discount on Gift Card from £100 

- 20% discount on £80 Gift Card

- 15% discount on £50 Gift Card

06/11-12/11 - 20% discount on all our Hampers

12/11-19/11 - 20% discount on all our Plants

20/11-26/11 - 20% discount on all our Flowers

27/11 - 20% of every sale goes to the Woodland Trust, the UK's largest woodland conservation charity

 #takebackblackfriday - #greenfriday

#takebackblackfriday is a growing movement started by Global Fashion Exchange and Eco-Age and they are calling on our communities around the world to celebrate a slower, more sustainable ways of living.

#greenfriday is campaign where companies are trying to coax the public out of the shops and away from their computer and mobile screens (where they are spending so much money!!), to instead spend time outdoors, with friends and family, enjoying the wonders that our world has to offer.

They want us to keep buying as if there is not tomorrow, and Black Friday or Cyber Monday are just another way of wooing us into keep spending money and buying “stuff".

When consumers demand more, more needs to be made which increases the negative impact on the environment. Our consumption habits are already taking a toll with increased emissions, increased land-use and deforestation, which is accelerating climate change.

We need to change the way we shop

As global sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday increase year on year, the phenomenon of frenzied festive discount shopping is growing exponentially.

To move towards a more sustainable future, we need to change attitudes in order to positively impact the way we, as a global community, think and act; changing the way we shop is just one small factor in this.

The Hiden Collective sustainable value:

At The Hiden Collective we are trying to do the right things for our planet and we think that we are on the right path.

So far this is what we manage to do and we still improving every day:

• We only source Ethical & locally grown British flowers
• We also buy only what we can sell and if we have any spare blooms, we donate and brighten the life of the residents of an elderly home close to our studio
• Our supply chain is very simple, trackable and energy efficient.
• All our packages are biodegradable or recyclable
• We guarantee that all our delivery are Carbon neutral 
• We are protecting a parcel of land in the Nicaraguan cloud forest on the Isla de Ometepe
• All the above should be more than enough to offset any Carbon that we may produce, but just to play safe we plant a tree every 100 order
• Also, we donate every order £1 to our current charity

 Would you like to know why it is important to buy Ethical & Sustainable British Flowers for your home or for your flowers delivery UK? 

Read more here on our blog  Best Blooms - British Blooms