You probably know this already, but it's Black Friday, a day that is a little difficult to reconcile with our efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
We love the holiday season -- the lights, the hot chocolate, the people, and, yes, (True Green Confessions here we come ) sometimes we even love the shopping. But this year, we're going to try our very best to make better gift decisions. At the top of our list? We won't buy anything for anyone unless we know it is something they need and/or desperately want.
We're also going to try to buy things that are easy on the environment (which means grandma is probably getting 100% organic cotton PJs this year).
In the spirit of green giving, we thought we'd round up all of our green shopping (yes, sorry for the slight oxymoron there) resources for you, right here in one post. So when you do buy your gifts this year, consider these great options:
• TING Home: Green for the outdoors
• Homemade gifts at Sew, Mama, Sew
• Lauren Spa: Organic Bed and Bath
• Cooler: Crabon Neutral Holiday Shopping
• The Global Exchange Online Store
• Uncommon Goods
• Alabama Chanin: Expensive, beautiful, handcrafted decor and clothing
• Rejuvenation
• Builders Booksource
• Organic Style
• MoMA Store
• Olio United: Home decor and clothing
• Gaiam
• 3R Living: Future Friendly Products
• Livinggreen
• VivaTerra
• Branch
Image: Via danagraves; flickr.com
We too are trying to be "green" this holiday. For example, we are giving everyone in our family their own reusable Chico bag, because we've found them to very functional and easy to remember. (Greenfeet.com has them on sale 5 for $20). However, we are still trying to figure out green & affordable wrapping options. Last year I used brown paper grocery bags and decorated them with holiday patterned ink stamps, but this year we got so good at using our reusable grocery bags, I don't have any paper bags! We don't get a news paper, so the funnies are out. I've seen people recommend fabric wrap, but when I've looked into that it is pretty spendy. Any other creative ideas?
view Green Me's profile
Waterreflecting -
One year my mother sewed fabric baggies with a ribbon tie at the top, for all the presents she was giving - they ended up being all sorts of sizes, and we've been reusing them ever since - just stick the present in the right sized bag, and then tie it closed with a bow. Opening them is not quite as fun for small children as tearing off a pile of paper, but much more environmentally friendly, b/c we'll be using them for years and years. Of course, she had a huge collection of fabric already on hand, and the sewing skills to do that...
Whenever I buy fresh flowers, I save the tissue paper that they're wrapped in to use for wrapping presents. My family also tends to save used wrapping paper after christmas and birthdays - my grandmother unwrapped gifts verrry slowly, and would save even the tiniest peices of giftwrap year after year - I think some of the paper used last christmas was several decades old...
view Rosie's profile
Waterreflecting -- Why do you need gift wrapping, anyway? Can you find better ways to pack things up, or buy gifts that just need a little bow on top? You could also ask your friends neighbors if they have any old kraft paper around. If you want fabric en masse, try buying old sheets or blankets at the thrift store.
view maryhawkins's profile