As you know, overconsumption is an ecological scourge! So this year, perhaps you have decided to spoil your loved ones differently? However, it is not always easy to find good eco-friendly gift ideas for everyone... Follow our Eco-friendly Christmas guide with dozens of ideas that don't hurt the planet!
Why eco-friendly gifts?
Deciding to offer gifts that do not pollute and do not contribute to the destruction of the planet is a strong gesture. It is an opportunity to show your commitment, transmit your values, spark discussion and share your knowledge about ecology. Bonus: it is also economical! We tend to think that a gift must be expensive, new or straight from a well-known store to please. And the ecological situation in which we find ourselves sometimes echoes that of our wallet, which can also be on fire and blood. But times are changing: we may prefer to offer a homemade or second-hand gift and use the money saved to offer a special moment to the person who will receive it. The important thing is to be together! Don't forget to wrap these zero waste or zero plastic gifts with eco-friendly materials too!
The different types of eco-friendly gifts:
– A Do it yourself gift to promote upcycling: a great opportunity to make something with your hands by reusing or transforming materials
– A zero plastic gift to preserve the oceans : to prevent plastics and microplastics from ending up in an unscrupulous recycling channel or in nature, to be traded for the sea
– A zero waste gift to… reduce waste ! That’s so much packaging that society won’t have to manage and so many costs and materials saved
– A second-hand gift to reduce the carbon footprint : the circular economy makes it possible to avoid the manufacture of new objects which is always polluting at one point or another in its development.
– An “exceptional moment” gift (gastronomy,sport , well-being , cultural leisure) to avoid maintaining the accumulation of objects and promote sobriety in our homes.
Digital gifts offer a special moment together, and focus the intention on connection: something that ecology also needs to progress, all without polluting or using resources, or almost.
Eco-friendly gift ideas for Christmas
For the stressed: a massage or treatment in an Institute
Reconnecting with yourself requires getting out of the mad rush of everyday life and taking a moment away from the hubbub. Offering a break dedicated to contact and resting the body is the best way to ensure a gift that only contributes to warming hearts and not the planet!
For the curious: a concert, theater, opera ticket
Offering a beautiful souvenir, to share with yourself by going together, or offering two tickets for a couple, is a gesture that supports the human and the artists. It is also offering a different perspective if we introduce a show that the person would not have thought of going to see. An opening to the world, conducive to exchange. For exhausted parents: an evening/a night/a weekend of babysitting
The most zero waste gift in the world: providing a service! And what a gift! Offering a turnkey evening and the carefree nature that goes with it if the children are supervised. Being able to really enjoy a moment together!
For a friend: a dinner together at a restaurant
Here again, we offer a moment, an evening to discuss, exchange and enjoy. Precious to maintain the link when we no longer take the time to see each other because of exchanging messages remotely! Bet on a vegetarian restaurant because meat production is responsible for many problems. The opportunity to test a good veggie address!
For gourmets: refined condiments
These are products that we often hesitate to treat ourselves to: truffle oil, flavored mustard or pickles. In glass jars, we enjoy tasting them and discovering new flavors. Another idea: ready-made organic preparations (like at Marlette) to make delicious, organic and healthy cakes!
For home lovers: household linen
Beautiful materials, local or at least European design and production, quality finishes... This is what many confidential brands of tea towels, sheets or even towels and beautiful bathrobes in natural materials such as linen or organic cotton offer. Offered to last, they will delight those who like to give their interior a little extra soul without going through globalized productions.
For siblings: A workshop to realize your passion
Today, we can find absolutely every possible discipline in the form of a workshop or introductory course: cooking, painting, oenology, perfume creation, singing or jewelry! Ideal to offer as a joint gift if the price is high, offering a course to reconnect or finally allow yourself to explore a passion is a gift that we remember and that generates a lot of joy.
For craft enthusiasts: an original creation
To make artists and craftsmen work, Christmas is the ideal time: we offer more than a beautiful object. By turning to small series of creators, we are sure to limit pollution linked to transport or manufacturing if it is artisanal. An object such as a vase or plate, in terracotta or ceramic shaped by hand in a family workshop, a painting, a statuette or even a beautiful wooden kitchen tool… those that come out of small workshops are nuggets! This is also valid for fashion accessories!
For parents or grandparents: framed family photos
By sharing our photos digitally, we forget to have them developed! However, it is tiring to look at them on the computer or phone. Taking the time to have them developed and framed, or why not create a photo book, is certainly a thoughtful gesture that will touch the heart!
For eco-friendly friends: a Do It Yourself gift
It is sometimes difficult to offer a homemade gift that can be seen as a lack of consideration by people who are not aware of it. But for loved ones who share your ethical values, a homemade candle, a terracotta object, a wooden frame decorated with shells or even a plant in a pot decorated by you can on the contrary be a token of value. Multiple tutorials are available on the internet to find inspiration.
For fashion fans: a beautiful second-hand piece or a vintage jewel
Don't think that second-hand is synonymous with old-fashioned! There are high-value second-hand clothes and some are even sought-after and more expensive than their current equivalent. You can find wonders in thrift stores that are now online! For a more modern style, offer a designer piece from a small series or an eco-responsible production made from recycled fabrics for example. Many entrepreneurs offer mini-collections precisely to be able to ensure clean production. As for jewelry, it is also easy to offer a beautiful gift since many brands offer old or contemporary second-hand items, not to mention second-hand sites that also offer luxury items or major brands.
For the coquettish: zero waste cosmetics
Often more expensive than others when they are of quality and/or organic, solid cosmetics are an ideal eco-friendly gift idea for Christmas. They are pleasure products, which open an easy door to new habits. Today we find almost everything in a zero waste version like cut soaps with divine scents, shampoos, conditioners or massage bars in vegetable shea or cocoa butter. Another idea: an essential oil kit to get started or organic/clean cosmetics, made in France and eco-responsible.
For children: wooden, cardboard or second-hand toys
A racing car, a stool, a classic game like snakes and ladders, dominoes or chess, always pleases without having to go to toy store chains or buy plastic. Also think about board games that are almost 100% cardboard, card games, and books of course. All of this can easily be found new (or like new) on Vinted, the essential app for buying second-hand.
For garden lovers: wooden objects, plants, flower beds, trees
Bet on wood to choose your object like a birdhouse, an insect hotel or even a small musical instrument that comes to life with the wind. Offer zen and nature! In the same vein, a tree or a beautiful plant grown locally if possible to replant or in a beautiful pot.
For the altruists: an ethical gift
Finally, here is the ultimate dematerialized eco-friendly gift: the gift that we give to the planet directly! Offer the planting of a tree, membership in an association, a solidarity object or even a donation to support a project. For those who never want for anything!
For everyone: a book on ecology!
A book, especially if its pages come from eco-managed forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) which guarantees responsible sourcing, and produced by Imprim'vert certified printers! This is the case - for example - of the title Dis, c'est vrai qu'on peux soigner la Terre written by me, to make as many people as possible understand, and easily, all the aspects of all the challenges of today's ecology from the climate, through biodiversity, pollution, of course linked to consumption. A complete 360° in the form of questions with solutions to implement and answers intended to allow adults to explain everything to children.
…or a zero waste object
To help our loved ones change their habits and thus, surreptitiously, act on their ecological footprint, there is nothing better than equipping them ourselves. On the program, to choose from a specialized store, a water bottle to avoid plastic bottles, bee wrap to say goodbye to stretch film, wooden kitchen utensils, a kit of washable makeup remover pads, jars, etc.
Good or bad ideas?
Offer a good tea: yes if it is organic
Growing tea requires the use of hundreds of pesticides and chemicals that seriously harm biodiversity ... The problem is that the leaves are not washed: they are infused directly in water, including product residues! To avoid swallowing any, it is better to opt for organic. The Ecocert label in France, for example, requires a biannual inspection at each stage of production, from picking to the factory, and producers also require pesticide analyses to guarantee the best quality and safety.
A bottle of wine: yes, but for a very good bottle
Conventional viticulture is among the most polluting agricultural activities because of the often preventive use of pesticides, which can even cause a health risk for citizens living in wine-growing regions. On the organic side, fewer pesticides but copper. Natural at the start, used in the form of "Bordeaux mixture", based on lime, it becomes harmful to the soil and copper being very soluble, it must be spread again in case of rain... We save ourselves for the good vintages!
Here you are, equipped with original ideas for eco-friendly gifts that will have a minimal impact on the environment, while promoting human connection and know-how. Merry Christmas!
