25 Great, Consumer-Less Gift Ideas

One of the very best things we can do for the Earth is simply to preserve natural resources by consuming less, but this does not mean that we must forgo gift giving.

Here are some wonderful, simple gift ideas that help to sustain the Earth, an act of friendship toward all living things, not just the single recipient of the gift.

Giving experiences you can share, rather than material goods, saves resources. And you can also simply give a gift of yourself. The key to giving a gift of yourself is to know the wants and needs of the person to whom you are giving the gift. Equally important, don’t underestimate your own special skills and talents. One valuable aspect of giving a gift of yourself is that it is the perfect solution for those who “have everything.”

Give a Gift of Yourself or Your Time
Make homemade bread and deliver it every week for a month
Collect family recipes and compile in a wooden recipe box
Make one dinner a week for a month that you deliver
Offer baby-sitting time
Offer a monthly lunch date with an elderly relative or friend
Offer free lessons in a sport in which you excel
Weed a friend’s garden
Offer your talents, such as photography, financial planing, or hairstyling
Offer yourself as a willing cheerful worker for a day
Put together a photo album
Make a video of people the gift recipient loves
Offer to do a chore for a month that a family member dislikes

Give a Green Gift that Isn’t a Thing
Give tickets—to concerts, sporting events, whale watching trips, etc.
Give a pair of weekend tickets to a ski area
Giive frequent flyer miles
Give a museum pass or membership
Give an experience (a day kayaking)
Provide a gift certificate for a lesson (tennis, swimming, drums, for example)
Provide a gift certificate for a dinner for two
Donate something in the name of a friend or relative, in a subject area of interest to them (such as for Literacy Training, or to protect the Rainforest)
Give a gift certificate to a used book store
Give a plant or a tree

Give a Gift for the Earth
Giving a membership to a non-profit organization that does hands-on work to protect a part of the Earth’s ecosystem is giving a gift that gives a gift. Not only do you enrich the life of the person to whom you give the gift, but you help organizations that are trying to make a difference.