Trying to live a more sustainable life is never harder than it is at Christmas. Temptation to consume around every corner, plus the pressure of giving thoughtful gifts to just about everyone you've ever met can add up to a stressful, expensive and wasteful time of year. The good news is that making a lot of your own gifts is exactly the opposite! Relaxing and meditative, drastically less expensive than shop bought gifts and generally not nearly as wasteful. In this tutorial we're going to show you how to make oat bath bags: little pouches of bathing joy that soothe the skin and calm the mind, and honestly each take about two minutes to make. Score!

What you'll need:

• Your fabric - something natural with not too dense a weave works best. Opt for things like linen, muslin or cheesecloth

• Oats - rolled, jumbo or porridge, preferably organic

• Rock salt - we like the pink Himalayan kind or Epsom salts

• Essential oils of your choosing - go for relaxing oils like rose, lavender, chamomile and frankincense, and remember to keep a note of which oils you used so you can let the person receiving them know!

Gather your materials. For this tutorial, we used some leftover blush pink linen from an old duvet cover that we cut up, and some cotton cheesecloth. We used organic porridge oats, pink Himalayan rock salt and rose and chamomile essential oils. If you're planning on making these for children, or people with sensitive skin, make sure that you do your research and only choose suitable essential oils.

Start by cutting a circle from your fabric. We used a side plate as our template.

In the middle, arrange a small handful of the oats and salt, and then add the drops of essential oil. Make sure that you check the guide on the bottle which tells you how many drops to put in a bath.

Gather up the sides to make a little wonton-shaped pouch. Cut or tear a strip of fabric to make a tie.

Tie the strip of fabric around the pouch securely in a double knot.

All done! Now make loads more! And remember to keep a few for yourself :)