A glance at the calendar and we know one thing for certain: It's wedding season. We've got weddings lined up from now til September — and that means we have a lot of wedding gifts to buy. We're trying to be as green as we can in our gift-giving. Here are a few of our strategies (after the jump) please share yours!
How To: Give Green Wedding Gifts
1. Check and see if the couple is registered with a "green" retailer
We're noticing that more and more of our eco-friendly friends are finding ways to register with retailers that offer green products for the home. The couple getting married this weekend is registered with Gaiam. We've also seen a number of couples choose Heath Ceramics for all their table needs (it's a little pricey, but worth it, right?). And, just recently, we saw that Re:modern has a registry.
2. Pitch in for the honeymoon
Friends of ours getting married in September have signed up with a registry (thehoneymoon.com) that allows guests to help out with some of the costs of the honeymoon. This is a good way to give something experiential rather than something that may or may not end up becoming disposable. (We're thinking of getting them a nice dinner in Bali.)
3. Stick with the registry
If neither of the above options present themselves, just be sure that you get the couple something from the registry. Go off the registry and you run the chance of getting them something they don't want and will never use — which is pretty much the least green thing you could do.
Any other ideas on green wedding gift giving?
Image: Heath Ceramics
Comments (6)
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Great post!
- gift certificates (especially at green stores or for experiences - the most recent wedding shower gift I bought was a gift cert. at a local and organic brunch spot, so the couple could enjoy a nice brunch date together).
- wrap things in something re-useable (dish towels, bamboo pillow cases or towels, etc.)
- if you get something from the registry (eg. baking pans), add local and personal touches (eg. local milled organic flour, locally crafted wooden spoon, jar of local preserves, your favourite recipe for cookies)
- plants (if the couple has space and is into gardening) - fruit trees, for instance, are really expensive and each year when the tree yields beautiful fruits, they will think of you!
view PEIgirl's profile
If they register at a non-eco friendly store, look at their choices and purchase as close to possible from a green outlet. Things like breadboards, linens, ceramics (not matching tableware but casseroles or vases) can all be replicated with nicer handmade items that are also green. I guess the only trick is to notify someone that the item has been purchased off registry so it isn't duplicated. It's worth it, imo, to go thru the small hassle.
view cometz's profile
Urge friends to sign up with artists from Etsy!
view cometz's profile
Wrap your gift with newspaper or brown paper and a pretty, reused ribbon. You might get a few disparaging looks from people at the reception ("Eew, how distasteful," they'll think), but once your gift is mixed in with all piles of the other, fancifully wrapped gifts, no one's going to pick up your gift just to figure out who wrapped it differently. And if you do it right, it'll look hip and unique.
I remember sitting on the floor of our apartment as a newlywed, opening the gifts from wedding guests. After awhile, I groaned at the obviously-new paper and gift bags and expense people went through. I was ripping through it all and didn't care, after a few presents, what it looked like.
If you think of the weird looks society will give you, just think of the couple, who you're gifting to in the first place. They'll appreciate your thriftiness when they shove all the embossed and carefully-taped and painstakingly ribboned wrapping into a trash bag because they don't have room to save it all.
view Kate The Great's profile
The best gift we got for our wedding (last year) was a handmade blanket, two handmade mugs, and a bag of fair trade coffee, all bought locally and not from the registry.
In my opinion the registry is there to help people get something for you when they have no idea what to get.
view Hollie's profile
PEIgirl, love the plants idea!
Most of the gifts people gave us were not on the registry...and I'm glad for that! We have beautiful art (some collected during guests' travels) and handmade ceramics that you'd never find in a store, and we use them all the time.
This wedding season, my number one priority is shopping local. I want to know who made whatever it is I'm buying, if possible. And I try to stay practical - salad bowls, that type of thing.
view Britomart's profile