Looking for original, inexpensive gift ideas this Christmas? Here are a lot of fun, environmentally friendly gifts. A few also help others out as well. Enjoy!
1. Bento Box, such as these at http://www.laptoplunches.com. Made of recycable, nontoxic leaking plastics, these badboys are perfect for your kiddo or for you. I am making a goal in 2009 to reduce waste in my lunches. This compartmentalized lunch box helps reduce use of plastic baggies. It is also a fantastic resource for packing healthy, nutritional lunches. They also are designed to help teach/learn natural portion control without calorie obsession.
2. Glass lunch containers. So maybe the bento box isn't your thing. I use these bowls by Anchor (comes in 1 cup and 2 cup) like their going out of style. They are glass, bio-friendly, and are nontoxic. Most plastics leach chemicals into your food when you heat them. So all those tupperware reusable containers... not so good if you are going to be popping them into the microwave. I love these. Very durable, inexpensive (Walmart). I have even dropped them, in true Caroline fashion, and they didn't break. :)
3. Reusable shopping bags. Most are $1 each. The nice insulated ones are a little more. You can get them at any grocery store. Great stocking stuffer.
4. Seeds... I asked for seeds to plant spices in the spring... basil, parsley, cilantro, etc. It's SO much cheaper than buying them in the store, and you can control what goes on them (e.g. no pesticides). My sister grew basil this last year, and we made pesto ALL the time, saving a lot of money.
5. Toms Shoes (www.tomsshoes.com)... Stylish shoes for the whole family. $40-$60 for women's and men's, $35 for children. But here's the kicker... For every pair of shoes you buy, Tom's gives a pair to a child in need in an impovrished country.
6. Don't really need anything and looking for a good cause? Check out my 11-14-08 post on Heifer... www.heifer.org. You can give one of these guys to a family in need.
7. A 2009 Entertainment Book... www.entertainment.com
These are discount books to a lot of restaurants and sites/activities in your book. They have them for most major cities in the U.S.
8. A gift certificate for local farm products. If you purchase a gift certificate at http://www.localharvest.org/store/giftcert.jsp, it can go towards any farm on their website. A great start for a CSA membership in the spring.
9. Support the locals by giving a gift certificate to local restaurants. Nashville's association for local restaurants is Nashville Originals. These restaurants are locally owned and help with your local economy. Plus, a lot of them focus on supporting local farmers and decreasing fossil fuel from shipments of food from all over the country. Google for a similar organization in your area.
10. A GOOD water bottle. I use the SIGG (www.sigg.com). They are about $20. Expensive for a water bottle, yes. Here are the benefits:
a. Saves the earth... Most disposable water bottles (e.g. – Evian, Dasani, Aquafina, etc.) are made of PET plastic. Americans are currently adding 30 million PET water bottles to our nation's landfills everyday, and only 14% of these bottles are recycled. Most of the PET bottles end up in litter or trash where they can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade, filling our landfills and injuring wildlife. Even if PET bottles are sent to the recycling center, they are really being "down-cycled", converted to a lower form of plastic, much of which goes unused. PET is a petroleum-based plastic. Manufacturing and transporting bottled water (especially from distant countries such as France and Fiji) unnecessarily burns fossil fuels – approximately 1.5 million barrels per year according to the NRDC.
b. Saves a lot of money... Assuming you drink 1 liter per day, you'd spend $500-$1,000 in bottled water a year.
c. Saves your health... A lot of plastic water bottles contain chemicals in the plastic that leach into your water, which gets into your system. Not good. Sure, I will buy a water bottle when I am out, but if you are drinking it every day a good water bottle is an investment.
d. It's made of aluminum with a coating that is rustproof, and that has been proven not to leach any chemicals or metal into your water. They can last for up to 20 years.
e. You can get a lot of cute colors and designs to boot!
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