With the Christmas season coming on quickly, everyone is thinking about gift buying. Not us, here on the farm, we have already done all that, so we no longer have to worry about the craziness of the season. We can just sit back and enjoy the holidays, family, food, and festive activities. We know the gift buying process can be nerve-racking.
Passed out on your favorite couch after a long, tedious day of shopping.
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We wanted to offer you some simple gift alternatives and practical green gift options for this year. Many of these brands and stores can be visited online. You can buy from the comfort of your own home, no mall madness needed. They will ship right to your door and if you start now there will be no worry of late deliveries. Maybe this list of simple gift alternatives and practical green gift options will help you get the buying out of the way so you to can just enjoy the Christmas season.
For those of us who are big on being green, and environmentally friendly, gift-giving can be a nightmare. The receiver may not care at all about environmentally friendly gifts but that does not mean that you can not give them one anyway. Here we will offer some green gift alternatives. It does not matter what the gift occasion is, Christmas, Birthday, Graduation, Valentines Day, Baby gift, Thank you gift, house warming gift, or just because, a green gift can be found.
With so much focus on new technology and the newest game or the newest trend, gift-giving has become almost a gladiator sport. Everyone wants to give the newest, the biggest, and the best gift. But why do people think like that? Because they have been trained to. If you can not give the best that is better than anyone else’s gift, your gift is no good. It is this thinking that keeps the commercial “gift” companies in business and thriving.
We do not think that way about gift-giving. It may be that we are of an older generation or that we were not raised to think of everything in monetary value. Or it may be that we are just quirky and eccentric. Whatever the reason, our family gift-giving is usually easy and non-stressful. Of course, we know each other well and know what the other family member will like. But also, we do not have to fight for the best gift award. Most of us are pretty laid back and whatever gift we receive, is appreciated.
We find the little things like putting some thought and love into the gift are better than the price of the gift. We also commonly give a couple of small, inexpensive items rather than a big expensive one. We usually keep our eyes open year-round.
We have a chest of drawers that we put little finds in all year long. So when it comes to needing a gift, we can look in the drawer and see what is there. Our Grandmother started this practice. She always had some kind of gifts in the drawer, waiting to be needed. This practice lets us keep things simple and save money. When you happen upon a great little item that someone would just love, and it is on sale, grab it and put it away for later. This also saves us from the “holiday” rush, price gouging, and last-minute panic. It is also handy when you have unexpected guests show up and you need a quick gift.
Of course, we often do handmade gifts, as we do with most things. We do love handmade items. It does not matter if it is handmade by one of our family members or local artisans, handmade is a great way to give a one-of-a-kind gift. It is always good to support your local artistic community.
As you may know from some of our other talks, we have a FaceBook store where we offer handmade items from here on the farm. We make jewelry, luminaries, Swedish Gnomes, re-tread threads, and more. Please feel free to browse The Raven’s Nest store. You may find just what you are looking for there.
But handmade is not a requirement. There are many alternatives that you can buy, that will cover the green, environmental gift. If you know the person or at least some of the things that they like, you can find a green gift for them.
Green gifts can have more than one meaning. It is usually called green when it is made from environmentally friendly products, sustainable resources, or made in an earth-friendly process. Of course, that is the goal but there are even alternatives to that idea.
The meaning of green can be applied to re-used, re-cycled, and up-scaled as well. You do not have to buy a “new” gift to get the green out of things. You can go thrifty as well. We frequent Good Will, yard sales, and flea markets to acquire all kinds of things. You can find just about anything you need or want second-hand, gently used, and cheaper if you have the patience to look and wait for it to come along. So do not be afraid to buy a second-hand gift, as long as it is still in good condition. Second-hand gifts are almost always a more unique gift than what you can find in the fashion current stores.
If you happen to find the perfect gift that is in “not so good condition” you can also up-scale it yourself. This will let you re-use a damaged item and make a one-of-a-kind gift. A little paint, some ribbon, or an added accent piece and you have a unique gift.
If you are set on buying “new” and green, we understand. We have a selection of gift options for you. I do not know about your family but our family is very diverse in ages and interests. When one of us says “oh cool”, another says “what does it do?”
We know giving soaps and personal toiletries can be an iffy thing, You are not sure how the person will take it or what they may think you are trying to tell them. But sometimes that personal item can open up a whole new world of things that the receiver never even knew existed. Sometimes people find out that they love that brand or that item. They would never have bought it for themselves so they would never have known. Do not be afraid to buy these things just because you have never been given this kind of gift before. New experiences, after all, are the point of gift-giving. Along with giving them something that they like, they want, they may want, to fill a need or to just make them happy.
We have one friend, a man, who received a shower puff as a gift. He had never had a shower puff before and thought it was odd. But he found that he loved shower puffs and now always keeps one. You just never know, so give new gifts a try.
Here are some of the green gift options that we have bought. These are companies that we love, use and support ourselves and we have always been happy with their items.
Tea Drops offers a variety of specialty flavored teas. They are a zero-waste company as well. The tea is not in a regular throw-away tea bag but compressed into a cute tea shape. You just drop the tea “drop” into your hot water and it disolves into a perfect cup of hot tea. You can choose regular tea, flavored teas, un-sweetened, or boba. There are different gift packages to choose from. Or you can just buy the exact kind you know your “giftee” will like. Some of us are avid tea drinkers and use Tea Drops several times a week. We love the quality tea and the green, zero waste option.
Click HERE for all your Tea Drop options
Click for Unsweetened Tea Drops
Click for Boba Drops
Today Glitter for crafters, glitter bugs, and DIY projects
Today Glitter can be used for all kinds of crafts, nail polish art, face painting, and more. Anything you can use traditionally “plastic glitter” for, you can substitute Today Glitters’ Eco-Glitter. There is the added benefit that Today Glitter is environmentally friendly as well as kid and pet friendly. We use Today Glitter in many of our DIY projects. From handmade crafts to lip balm to glittery bath salts, Today Glitter will add some festive shine. Today Glitter comes in a wide range of colors, so you can get the right color for any occasion.
Today Glitter offers all the best colors. There are several different shapes and sizes of glitter to choose from.
Click here for pocket of colors
Today Glitter is environmentally friendly.
Click here for Bio-Glitter
From stage makeup, and Halloween costumes, to arts and crafts, Today Glitter has all the shinny, sparkle you need.
Click here for Glitter
Chelsea Green Publishing is a great place to find “useful” gifts for everyone. Skip the useless, trinkets and go for a book. Books are always a great gift. You can never go wrong gaining new information. This is an employee-owned company that offers books for every aspect of a simple, natural, self-sufficient lifestyle. If you need a gift for a nature lover, they have all kinds of nature and environment books. Chelsea Green offers books on farming, gardening, health, green subjects, environmental issues and so much more. If you need a green gift that is actually useful for years to come, a Chelsea Green book is the way to go.
Click here to see all your book gift options
Spring the Rescue Pig
How to grow mushrooms on woodchips
We know everyone loves straws. We use them for drinks, milkshakes, slushies and all kinds of other fun etables. But everyone also knows how bad plastic straws are for the ocean and the environment in general. It seems you can also get micro-plastics in your own body. In comes, Simply Straws. You can still enjoy sipping your drink and helping the environment at the same time. Simply Straws offers glass or stainless steel straws. There are different colors, different sizes, fat, skinny, classic and boba straws. You can get custom made straws just for that one person. You can get environmental friendly utensiles, mugs, lids and assessories. The stainless steel straws are good for kids. It is never to early to start a kid on the environmental path. Teens love the different colors and the boba straws.
Click the pics for your gift options
We did a talk some time ago on some of the companies that we love, use and support. Some of these companies many also have what you are looking for. Please check out those other talks also, you never know when the perfect gift will present itself.
Click the links below to visit the talks on some of our favorite companies.
Going Green/Zero Waste Companies
Books, Craft, Beads, Tool Companies
We hope these green gift options will at least have given you something to think about, if not given you the perfect gift for someone. Please do check out these brands and see what wonderful things they have to offer for yourself. Who knows, you may find your new favorite also. Happy, safe, and stress free gifting.
Merry Christmas to your family from ours.
Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.
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