Now that Thanksgiving has past and we are well recovered from our food comas, it’s time to start thinking about your holiday gift-giving! When thinking of purchasing decorations and gifts this year try to be more environmentally responsible in what you choose to buy ☺
Gifts You Can Make:
Holiday Card—The first thing that should accompany every gift you give out this holiday season should be a personalized card with a heartfelt message. Personalize your card further by making the card yourself! Use old scraps of magazines, newspaper, and any other paper that you would otherwise toss away. It would give a nice touch to the card. In addition to your message, consider putting in a blurb encouraging your friend to be more eco conscious in the following year ☺
Service Coupons—On tiny slips of scrap paper you have lying around you can write small favors you would be willing to do for the person such as “one babysitting session,” “one pet-sitting session,” or “one grocery run.” Personalize them with tiny pictures and decorations! Or you can write more daring ones depending on who you are giving these coupons to. The recipient would be sure to appreciate these and actually use them unlike some trinkets that they will let pile up!
Gifts You Can Buy:
A Plant—By giving a potted plant of any type, be it flowers, trees, etc., you are encouraging your friend to be more in touch with nature and providing them with the potential for cleaner air to breathe ☺ If it is a plant that can bear fruit, it will show your friend the fruits of labor and nature! Should you gift your friend a plant with an invasive nature be sure to warn them to protect our local plants.
Plant-Trees.org—Plant a tree under someone else’s name.4 By planting a tree you are replacing our depleting trees in forests which will filter out the carbon dioxide in our air and provide us with more oxygen! You will also have the option of sending them a certificate!5
2Hydros Water Bottle with filter—Purchase your loved one a Hydros water bottle!6 By using these reusable, BPA-free water bottles they can save money and our planet instead of using disposable bottles! This specific bottle also filters your water, and for every Hydros bottle you purchase, a portion of the funds are donated to a clean water in Africa project in collaboration with Engineers Without Borders.7
Gifts that Give:
Kiva.org—Buy your friend or coworker a gift card from Kiva that allows them to make small loans to sustainable efforts of their choice in third world countries, and even now in the United States. When the loan is paid back they can loan it out again! It is a gift that just keeps giving.8
DonorsChoose.org—Likewise, a gift card from DonorsChoose can allow your close ones to donate money to classrooms to fund projects that teach young children to be more environmentally conscious.9 Teach them when they are young and they will grow up to change the world! Simply donate to any cause you choose or they choose in their name ☺
Of course the best gift that you can give anyone is the quality time that you are willing to spend with them. Have fun during the holidays eating your favorite foods with your close friends. Roast marshmallows over an open fire under the night sky. Perhaps share a cup of hot cocoa with them beside a cozy fireplace and exchange stories and laughs. For more eco-friendly holiday ideas, check out: “Green Your 2009 Holiday Season”
Happy Holidays everyone!
