Give Green: 6 Eco-Friendly Gift Ideas

By RISE for the Earth

How many gifts do you think the average person gives per year? Think about friends, family, birthdays, promotions, weddings, anniversaries, religious holidays, and random acts of kindness. According to Investopedia, Americans spend an average of $935 on gifts during wintertime alone.

This can take a toll on our budget as well as our planet. We wanted to provide you with a few ideas to cut your budget AND your carbon footprint when it’s time to give a little love.

Greener Gift Giving

To get you started, here are 3 ways to change your gifting strategy to make it more green.

  1. Wrap in a Reusable Bag: We all have SO many well-made canvas bags in our pantries. Next time you need a gift bag, ditch the trip to the store and grab one of those instead.
  2. Create a Card: Just like wrapping paper, greeting cards are an unnecessarily wasteful aspect gift giving. Rather than buying a card that was created then transported, then transporting it yourself, why not make one with materials you already have? Consider unique textures like old travel guides and comic books to keep things fun!
  3. Make a Gift from Upcycled Materials: From old sweaters to beer bottles, there are SO many fun ways to spruce up things you already own and make something new. Here’s an article listing some of our favorite ideas.

Gift Ideas

Now that you have an idea about making gifting greener, here are some ideas to help your friends stay green with unique gifts!

  1. Solar Panel: You can find backpacks and water bottles with solar panels at your local camping and technology stores. This is a perfect gift for the outdoorsy tech enthusiasts in your life.
  2. Seed Packs: The gift of life! Seeds are so affordable and so fun. Grab your chipped coffee mug, throw in a couple seed packs, and you’ve got a unique gift that will make the world a greener place.
  3. Reusable Cloth Snack Bags: Snacking is one of our top favorite activities. It is SO easy to fall into the trap of prepackaged snacks and plastic snack bags. Help your friends help the world and get them a few reusable cloth snack bags.

After all of these fun ideas, don’t forget that the best gift of all is your time. Remember that you don’t have to buy anything to show someone how special they are to you. They already love and care about you.

Happy gifting, RISE fans! Let us know if you use any of these tips using #rise4earth on your favorite social media platform!

Sources