Inexpensive, Creative and Eco-friendly Gift Ideas
In one of our New Dream holiday polls, 82% of Americans indicated that they would rather receive a photo album of times shared than a store-bought gift. But that's just one idea for a meaningful holiday gift. We have lots of others.
- Gifts for Children
- Homemade Gifts
- Gifts of Time
- Family Gifts
- Gifts for the Environment
- Ideas for Donations in the Name of a Loved One
- For those gifts you're still going to buy, check out our Conscious Consumer site
- Regifting without Guilt
- Gift Swaps
Gifts for Children:
1: The makings for hand puppets.
2: Box of dress up clothes
3: Jewelry kit
4: Upside-Down Day: Let kids set the day’s agenda (with parental supervision). Take off your watch, wear pajamas under your coat to the movies or eat dessert for breakfast.
5: Homemade Bird Feeder Kit:
6: Teach a child knitting or some other craft.
7: Write and illustrate a story with the child as the main character.
Homemade Gifts:
8: Booklet of your favorite memories related to a friend or loved one.
9: Cookbook with your favorite recipes.
10: Set up a monthly lunch date or phone call: Perfect for elderly friends or relatives.
11: Monthly care basket: Works really well for those who spend most of the year in separate places. Over the holidays send them their first basket of muffins or banana bread for January, and then each month of the year send something new to go with the theme of that month.
12: Gift of art: For grandparents, a framed picture drawn by a grandchild is the perfect present.
13: Make your own cards and send them to relatives and good friends.
14: Make your own calendar using cut-out pictures, photos, and/or drawings.
Gifts of Time:
15: Special activities with a significant other--a candlelit dinner, massage, or outdoor activity.
16: A monthly lunch date with an elderly relative or friend.
17: Gift certificates: Dinner and a movie, a home-cooked meal, a car wash, a day of babysitting, etc.
18: Reconnect with someone: Call an estranged friend or write a letter to someone you haven’t seen in a few years.
19: Shovel snow for a someone, even if you remain anonymous, it will make their holiday season.
For more ideas on how to give the gift of time, read our In Balance article, Good Gifting: Spend Time Instead of Money.
Family Gifts:
20: A jigsaw puzzle for the whole family.
21: Set up a family tournament in your favorite card game whether it is Gin Rummy, Hearts, Spades, War, Go Fish, Twenty-One, Speed, Spit, Uno, etc.
22: Tickets to a favorite cultural or sporting event
23: A family hike, game of capture the flag, tag, or hide-and-go-seek.
Gifts for the Environment:
24: Buy renewable energy credits: Credits help offset the environmental costs of our energy needs by funding renewable energy sources, like wind and solar power, elsewhere on the grid.
25: Take a friend off of junk mail lists: give the gift of the 41 Pounds service.
26: Help someone become a Carbon Conscious Consumer: assemble a basket with items related to each of the six pledges.
27: Buy a potted Christmas tree and replant after the holidays. (You can also have a tree planted elsewhere in someone's honor through American Forests.)
28: Instead of new wrapping paper, reuse old paper—the Sunday comics section, old maps, decorated brown grocery bags, or a colorful piece of material.
Donations in the name of a Loved One:
29:Alternative gift fairs offer a chance to channel some of your holiday gift dollars to good causes, while sharing a little goodwill with others in your community. If, however, you missed the fair in your area, don’t despair. Browse the Conscious Consumer Marketplace for online giving options.
30: Give a donation to a local cause such as a soup kitchen, a shelter for battered women, a local environment group, etc.
31: Give a friend a membership to a non-profit organization. JustGive.org allows you to donate online to thousands of charities.
Regifting without Guilt
32: Re-gift: Although many times the idea is misconstrued to be taken as a way to get rid of your junk, when articles in good condition are passed on it saves space in your attic and the landfill.
33: Share a love of reading: Give away the last great book you bought.
34: Shop thrift stores in your area or online:
Gift Swaps
35: Cookie Swaps: Share recipes, go home with a variety of cookies.
36: Name Drawing: Each member of your family/group of friends buys/makes only one gift, for the name drawn from a hat.
37: White Elephant gift exchange--a great way to reuse items you aren't using yourself.