‘Tis the season once again and in this modern age where more and more people are environmentally conscious and may want to buy eco friendly gift. This goes right along with that concept. The desire to “go green” has already changed the way many people shop and now it is moving on to the way in which they shop for gifts.

Why Buy Eco Friendly Gifts?

The concept of going green extends to just about every aspect of life. If you have friends who do everything they can to protect our planet, that way of life does not stop for them at Christmas. Think how much it would mean to them when you buy eco friendly gift as a sign of support, not to mention you would also be reducing your own carbon footprint at the same time.

Eco Friendly Gift Ideas

Some people can be notoriously hard to shop for, but when that person tries to lead an Earth friendly lifestyle, you might think that eco friendly gift ideas are few and far between. That is not true because buying green has become much more popular. There are more and more options available such as products made from bamboo. Eco friendly gift ideas made from bamboo include things like cutting boards and butcher blocks, pencils, and bowls.

Other eco friendly gift ideas include:

Flowers – This is almost a no-brainer. They are a very popular gift for just about any occasion. However, flowers in a typical flower shop are full of pesticides and poisons. Luckily, there are some on-line flower retailers that sell affordable, organically grown flowers.

 

Trees – The eco friendly gift of a tree is literally “a gift that keeps on giving”. There are a few Gift Tree programs you can find online from which you can buy small trees that are ready to plant. Or else you can give as a gift a “Give-a-Tree” card. A tree is then planted in one of our national forests in the name of the recipient of the card.

Solar Powered Tiki Torches – These torches look like a traditional Tiki torch but require only the light of the sun and not kerosene to produce soot and pollution.

Some other eco friendly gift ideas include energy saving programmable thermostats, a wooden flashlight, and a solar powered light for a garden shed. At Christmas, what would be more perfect than a wreath made of organically grown herbs?

Eco Friendly Gift Bags

Another great idea is eco friendly gift bags filled with several environmentally friendly gifts. You can use colorful cloth shopping bags that can be used to carry home groceries from the store and include in it things like a non-toxic reusable water bottle, some of those bamboo pencils mentioned earlier, and an assortment of natural, organic goodies. Eco friendly gift bags are as fun to put together as they are to receive.

Eco Friendly Gift Wrapping Ideas

One Christmas tradition that is not so Earth friendly is that of filling our landfills with huge amounts of wrapping paper that people forget to recycle as well as holiday ribbons and bows. There are plenty of clever eco friendly gift wrapping ideas that can help avoid the paper and bow issue.

· Reuse gift bags you have received in the past or use colorful shopping bags from retail stores.
· Use new or used tin foil to make a shiny silver package and then add some colored raffia or hemp twine to finish it off.
· Old maps make smart looking gift wrap and can be educational for the kids.
· Practical eco friendly gift wrapping ideas include making the wrapping into part of the gift.

For example, if your gift is a cookbook, use a mixing bowl as a container to give it in.
It isn’t as hard as you might think to buy eco friendly gifts for your Earth conscious friends. Going green through the holidays is much easier than it might seem.