Green Gift Ideas

Giving presents doesn't have to create waste. The following are some ideas for eco friendly gifts for your friends, family, housemates, and co-workers.

• Make a card from recycled paper entitling the recipient to a project to be completed by you, for that person. For example, a promise to build a tree house, make a tire swing, or paint a bedroom.
• Write a story about your child's favorite characters.
• Give a gift to your friend's favorite charity (such as the Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund, or Conservation International) in his or her name.
• Make your housemates or parents a coupon they can trade in to have you do chores for them that they normally do themselves.
• For plant lovers, decorate ugly thriftstore flower pots with salvaged materials (paper, broken ceramics, ribbon ends, fabric scraps etc.)
• Sew a blanket out of squares or other shapes cut from torn jeans - try including pockets on a few of the squares.
• Bake cookies, fudge, or bread for you friends, keeping in mind their personal flavor preferences.
• Shop for items made from recycled materials at fair trade stores like Ten Thousand Villages
• Give your relatives a photo of yourself with them, set in a home made picture frame (foil chocolate wrappers make excellent decorating material).
• Make sock puppets or stuffed animals out of old holey socks and shirts
• Order a journal or stationary made out of elephant poo.
• Make a special effort to spend real quality time with your parents or kids without rushing off to do other things (with the cell phone, tv, and computer turned off).
• Shop for unique items at second hand stores - there are often treasures buried among the junk.
• Get a sleek wallet made from old bike tubes.
• Volunteer to plant trees in the name of your nature-loving family member.
• Sew bags, tea cozies, or even house slippers out of old blankets or holey clothing.
• Quit smoking for your partner.
• Buy shoes or bags made entirely from recycled clothes and leather from Worn Again
• Order a membership to a weekly local farmers' produce delivery service such as Tiny's Organic or one of the many listed at Local Harvest.
• Give a small IOU card which the recipient can trade back whenever they please in exchange for a backrub, an evening of free babysitting, a weekend of petsitting, a special home cooked meal, a ride to the airport, a customized collection of downloaded music, teaching of a specific skill, a bedtime story or music performance, etc.
• Unknit an old mothy sweater and knit the yarn into a new hat or scarf.
• Let your child or geek explore new technology with a hydrogen fuel cell toy car.
• Browse TreeHugger's Gift Guide for organic, recycled, and repurposed and repurposable items.

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