Sustainable Gift-Giving in Our Time
Do you like giving gifts to show your love and appreciation to your friends, co-workers, and family? We sure do! While it would be quite easy to just shop for popular gifts in the market, you can take the extra mile and make a conscious effort to support sustainable gift-giving.
Not only will the people around you appreciate receiving something unique and sustainable, but the planet will surely be grateful to you as well. Let’s see how you can do this!
How to Support Sustainable Gift-Giving
Less can be more, even in gift-giving. Here are our ideas and suggestions on how you can promote eco-friendly gift-giving in our time.
Prepare Homemade Food
Everybody loves good food. If you want to make others feel special, you could try making homemade food in the comfort of your own kitchen. You will not have a hard time preparing this gift. From snacks and pastries to healthy and delicious main dishes, your options are endless.
If you want to make it truly sustainable, we suggest carefully picking your ingredients. For instance, you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables coming from organic farms that do not use synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. If you want to save on money, a great tip is to look for products that are in season. They cost less and are definitely fresher and tastier.
To complete your gift, make sure to use reusable food containers for your home cooked meals. You can use mason jars or stainless steel lunch boxes but remember to not use disposable plastic containers.
Give reusable items
Do you want to give something personal? You can choose eco-friendly items instead.
This is where your knowledge of the recipient will come in handy. Think of their lifestyle, current hobbies, and interests. What do they like or enjoy doing? From your answers to that question, you can think of eco-friendly items that they can reuse often.
If your loved one is into nature or gardening, you can give items like gardening supplies, microgreen growing kits, and vegetable and flower seeds.
If the receiver has an active lifestyle, why not consider giving a reusable water bottle? A good-quality stainless steel bottle can keep drinks cold or hot for many hours.
For your friends who love skincare, this is the best time to introduce them to sustainable beauty products. You can give them reusable facial pads as one time-use cotton pad alternatives, organic cleansing facial bars, or facial oils.
Remember, the best presents need not always be the most expensive. More often, people will appreciate thoughtful gifts that you personally choose for them.
Gift experiences
Another great sustainable gift-giving idea is to give no-gift gifts. Some people don’t fancy material things, but that should not stop you from giving.
Here are some ideas on how to give experiences as gifts to your loved ones.
- Treat your loved one to an eco-friendly spa where she can relax and de-stress.
- Attend a tree-planting activity together. It’s a nice day to enjoy the outdoors so don’t forget to prepare a picnic as well.
- Arrange for short-term art or cooking classes, depending on their interests.
- Go camping with your family. Experience nature at its finest but never leave any trash and traces behind.
- Enroll your loved ones in an online class that would increase their business knowledge or help improve their skills.
- Gift them with a membership to a fitness training camp.
Practice sustainability while shopping
You can control your whole shopping experience to practice sustainability.
First, don’t forget to check on the brands before you make your purchase. Buy only from brands that are ethical and environmentally responsible. Make sure that they promote sustainable practices.
A lot of times, companies would use the words “organic” or “sustainable” as part of their marketing strategy. However, it is possible that they do not truly practice sustainability. Verify this information with a quick visit to the company’s website or by reading comments and reviews from previous customers.
Next, if you are going personally to the mall, make sure to bring your own shopping eco-bag. This will minimize waste like the unnecessary use of plastic and paper bags.
Finally, do not forget the importance of gift wrapping. It would be best if you can reuse gift bags or gift boxes. You can also be creative and use old magazines and newspapers as wrappers. If you don’t have the time to do this, use gift wraps made from recycled materials.
Skip those ribbons that look cute but are made of plastic or cellophane. Keep in mind that the wrapper itself will probably just end up in the trash can. The key to sustainability is to minimize waste as much as you can.
After going through our list, we are now confident that you can practice sustainable gift-giving in our time.