Nowadays all we do is talk about sustainability, organic product, reducing the carbon footprint… but rarely we find ourselves making truly conscious choices! And it is precisely in this holiday season, that we indulge the most in crazy and unnecessary shopping, always backed by the usual excuses “it’s Christmas” or “I don’t know what to gift”!
This is why, we offer you a guide to a more conscious gifts shopping, with different gift ideas than the usual “disposable” or fast-moving consumer good that very often come from a type of production unsustainable not only for the environment but for the workers too!
- PERSONALIZED GIFTS = when you give a gift to your friend, to your relative or to your partner, give something that will be actually useful. No more of the usual trendy gifts! That in the long run only became unnecessary or that will end up thrown away. Instead, pay attention to what your loved ones might need, and give them something really useful and that they will use for a long time!
- EXPERIENCES = a dinner, tickets to a concert, to a museum or an adventurous trip are definitely more expensive gifts, but also more interesting ones and less consumeristic. A material good with time wears out while memories stay forever!
- FOOD AND DRINKS = how much better food tastes when it’s free!? That’s right, gifting food or drink is never wrong! A bottle of wine, chocolates, some specialty food from a region, you name it! When you give consumable goods as gifts, you are always sure that it will not remain gathering dust on a shelf!
- HANDMADE = of course it is not easy and not everyone is gifted, however, what could be better than a handmade gift, specifically made for you, from someone who loves you. So, if you are good at making something, anything: homemade soaps, sweaters or even liquor, then you should turn it into a gift for those around you.
- SUSTANABLE PRODUCTS = if, on the other hand, you already have in mind what to give as a gift, and you can’t necessarily be persuaded otherwise, then buy sustainable products! So many companies nowadays commit to environmentally friendly production, with sustainably sourced packaging and raw materials. It is always good to try to support these companies and show that we as consumers are enough aware to prefer products, that maybe are not always cheap but surely are environmentally friendly!
- DONATION = nowadays there are so many projects and start-ups that in return to a donation offers products, or a certificate or else, so that we can make donation in our loved one’s names, as a gift for them. Through a simple donation you can plant trees, adopt bees, or even remove plastic from the oceans, in the name of your loved ones!
- ADOPTION = for an original Christmas gift, but also sustainable, you can opt to adopt a hive at a distance. It will also be a concrete gesture to contribute to the protection of bee repopulation and terrestrial biodiversity.
And this is it! Our guide to a more conscious shopping season! But one more thing…when buying online remember to combine as many of your purchases into one shipment! Moving couriers is not without environmental impact, in fact many times transportation is the most impactful step in the manufacturing of a product.