Eco Friendly Gifts

The silly season is almost upon us, and while is is easy to get carried away with gift buying (especially for those of us with small children) it is important at this time to try and think of the environment and find ways to have a greener Christmas.

gift being wraped with eco friendly presents
Eco friendly gifts

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We recently passed the grim milestone of human-made materials now outweighing Earth’s entire biomass. The last thing anyone needs this Christmas is something useless that might end up in the trash.

Buying cheaply made gifts for the sake of giving a gift, buying gifts with large amounts of packaging that will end up in the landfill, or buying gifts that require the ongoing use of unsustainable items like batteries are all harmful to our environment.

There are many many ways to reduce our impact at this time of year, and responsible gift buying is a great place to start  (p.s. using reusable gift wrap is another).

We don’t need to stop the fun to have a (more) sustainable Christmas, we just need to be mindful of what we are buying.

Before you click that buy now button ask yourself: are you buying something the recipient will use once and throw away, or something likely to have been made using socially or environmentally-damaging methods?  

Consider whether you could give something recycled (or upcycled), an experience, some baked goods or something homemade.

Our children will thanks us for it in the future! (though realistically they probably won’t).

Of course you want to find the perfect gift for Grandma, or Dad, or Uncle Eddie, so try using our eco-friendly gift buying guide for some ideas.

Eco Friendly Gifts

Zero Waste Gifts

Give the gift of reducing waste! These gifts all help the recipient to reduce their waste footprint through reusable use.

Recycled Gifts

Better than buying something made from brand new virgin materials is to get something made from recycled materials.

Eco Friendly Gifts for Kids

Small children seems to grow out of their toys as fast as they grow out of their clothes. Sustainable gifts for kids can include good quality gifts that will grow with them, last and can be handed on to others or sold, or kept as heirlooms.

*This blog post contains affiliate links, this means if you click on a link and go on to buy the product I recommend, I will get a small commission, but you will not be charged a cent more – thanks in advance for your support!