Five Gifts that Keep on Giving: A Guide
Your gift is your presence.
We are officially chest-deep in the holiday season and scrambling to buy last-minute gifts, meet up with friends and family, and send holidays wishes to everyone we care about.
Unfortunately, whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa – and even if you don’t observe any of the above, chances are you have a kiddo or two in your life expecting some magic – those celebratory sentiments can translate into a lot of waste. From wrapping paper, packaging, disposable utensils, and food waste to gift cards and decorations, Americans generate 25% more trash during the holidays than at any other time of year. In some European countries, the statistics are nearly as high.
On the other hand, in a world where constant distraction and the need for immediate gratification keep us in a permanent tizzy, it’s more important than ever to connect with one another in real time. We know you know the numbers, but adults devote one third of their waking time to apps, and children learn all too early from our example. During the holiday season, it’s easy to fall into the pattern of overloading kids with the latest toys and technology. But there’s literally no better gift than the present. So, in the spirit of creating less waste and more quality time spent as a family, we’ve put together a little list of alternative gift ideas to keep you sane and responsible this giving season.
We know children of all ages love to open packages (especially if it comes in a beautiful furoshiki fabric wrap!) so we’re not suggesting a hard pass on gifts. But find something they will really love: a lightly used hand-me-down, a tool or accessory related to a larger experience-based gift, or something made of anything other than plastic. And then pair it with one of the ideas below to lighten the landfill load and help open their eyes to the world.
Give the Gift of an Experience
Experience-based gifts not only help decrease packaging waste, shipping costs, and the amount of returned items that wind up in landfills, they also create an opportunity for you to learn new activities together, encouraging bonding and locking in lasting memories. Physical objects come and go, while memories of a shared experience can last a lifetime.
Think rock climbing lessons, a concert ticket to your kid’s favorite band, or a sushi-making class. A voucher for ice skating or swimming classes, roller-skating or hiking expeditions, or anything that is out of the ordinary will get your child’s attention. Try to come up with something that will teach them something new, fun, and relevant for each individual child while providing the chance to share quality time together.
Travel and planet-themed books for all ages: Gestalten’s The New Traditional, Sustainable Travel by Holly Tuppen, The Green Edit by Juliet Kinsman, Stranger’s Guide, All We Can Save and Lo-Tec by Julia Watson.
Cultivate a Responsible Travel Bug
If you have the resources for a full-blown adventure, take the experience-based concept one step further and present your kids with the gift of a larger trip. Find a way to pique their interest – a destination-themed poster made of recycled materials, a coin from a previous voyage, or a dog-eared atlas –anything that will help ramp up excitement for the future trip and get them engaged in the planning process.
For a more immediate, less costly alternative, try a virtual experience. Yes, this means more time online, but this is an example of the ways in which connectivity can actually enrich our lives by expanding our horizons. Skip the lines at the L’ouvre and experience the museum intimately with Tours by Locals. Explore Antarctica with polar expedition leader (And Heyterra Changemaker) Susan Adie (link)— The options are endless. Besides, this might be the very most planet-friendly way to travel. Airbnb Experiences offer one more ticket to explore the world. Whether in person or online, at home or abroad, the platform is chockfull of family-friendly activities from visiting a nearby animal sanctuary to taking a virtual safari in South Africa.
Instill the Spirit of Giving
Of course, it’s also important to teach kids from a young age that the holidays are just as much about giving as they are about receiving. Show your children how cool mutual aid and generosity can be by helping them give a gift to a child with less access to resources than them. This year, children in Gaza and the West Bank have suffered terribly. If there are no needs in your immediate community, search out a local toy drive such as this one and give the act of love.
For all the animal lovers out there, the World Wildlife Fund Species Adoption Kits are a double win. Supporters of the WWF’s global conservation efforts can choose from more than 100 species to fund, from bees to gentoo penguin chicks, and receive a personalized adoption certificate and a huggable stuffed animal to boot.
Buy Local, Small and Thoughtful
No matter how convenient it may seem sometimes, we all know we won’t find special, one-of-a-kind gifts on Amazon. If you must order online, try Etsy for more unique, handmade wares (and to support a company with a goal to reach net zero emissions by 2030). Just do a little digging before purchasing. Read through reviews and ratings to make sure a seller is trustworthy and hasn’t ripped off someone else’s design and check how far the item has to travel to get to you. Of course, the best route is always to buy something in person, like perhaps a cute, handcrafted item from a local Christmas market. Local bookstores also often feature a variety of thoughtful gifts that support the local economy, makers, and creators.
Handmade ceramics.
Canvas Atlas’s Gabrielle Schneider with her handcrafted leather pieces at a holiday market in Germany.
Keep Waste to a Minimum
To avoid buying wasteful products, collect used tissue paper, ribbons, bags, boxes, and mason jars throughout the year and repurpose them as giftwrapping. DIY holiday cards and ornaments make fun projects for kids. Many people these days make their own reusable cloth bags to wrap presents in, but if you are not handy with a needle and thread or don’t own a sewing machine, the furoshiki fabric wrapping style offers an awesome, beautiful, easy-to-learn alternative. Just remember to keep recycling and upcycling whenever possible.
