Gift giving in an economic crisis? Fear not. Green gifts to the rescue!
In your next issue, why not provide students with “A Guide to Green Gift Giving”? Here are a few ideas to get you started.
- Start with homemade gift ideas – whether handmade cards, homemade cookies or even a hand-knitted scarf, nothing says Happy Holidays like a gift made of TLC. Make these gifts green by using materials around the house: dig out old yarn and paper scraps that your mom has kept stuffed in the closet for decades, and never underestimate how many cookie ingredients can be found in hidden in the back of the pantry.
- Check out the ultimate in Green Gift Giving: the Design Sponge blog, managed by writer and creativity extraordinaire Grace Bonney. She offers great ideas for DIY Green Gifts, whether it’s a recipe for homemade bath salts or instructions on how to put together a journal of recycled paper.
- The BookSwim alternative. Rather than giving another paper-wasting subscription to a 200 page magazine, why not give a subscription to BookSwim? For a monthly fee, subscribers get access to a huge online library of paperback books, shipped for free in 100% recycled bags. Save gas by not driving to the library, and feel good knowing once you’ve read a book and shipped it back, more and more people can do the same.
Eco-friendly ways to give gifts and save yourself a little green while you’re at it? Happy Holidays!
— Amanda Smith
