Wai Not Go Green?

Give Something that will be USED! 
A consumable gift is one that will be used up, not stashed in a closet for the next yard sale. A consumable gift is something that can be eaten, sent, read, or enjoyed by the recipient. To think consumable, think "experience". You won't be buying things, so much as buying an activity. Many consumable gifts are very direct: passes to a movie theater, cafe or restaurant vouchers, magazine subscriptions. Others take more imagination, like giving a group of women friends the same book and inviting them all for a Book Night party in the New Year.

For the person who has everything, food & beverages may be the answer - maybe they yearn for the best (fair trade) Swiss chocolates, or the wines of a particular province in France. Or perhaps their gastronomic tastes run to the nostalgic, and the candies and other favorites of their childhood - raspberry jam, plum pudding, perhaps, or a selection of their favorite, hard to find, childhood candies or cookies. Another approach is to invite a friend or family member to their favorite restaurant, an enjoyable outing during which you also give the gift of your love and attention. This event could actually become a yearly tradition, a ritual anticipated and cherished by you both.

Of course, consumables don't have to be food or beverages. A doting grandparent would welcome a box of photographs, taken throughout the previous year, of her or his grandkids, along with scrapbooking materials. 

For children: creatively package and bundle a few cookie cutters, a rolling pin and a box of cookie mix together with a certificate for "cookie lessons". (n.b. kitchen utensils can be second-hand or borrowed for this one!) and hey presto! the child in question learns some baking skills and has a memorable afternoon with Grandma or Auntie.

Your parents? Forget more decorator junk to add to their overstuffed house. Give them tickets to a play or a certificate for dinner in a restaurant. How about a voucher for a round of Golf at an oft-admired golf course.

Here are some suggestions, just a few of the many humanitarian eco-gifts available online.

Kiva Gift Certificate - this gift funds a small loan to a developing world entrepreneur. Watch their business grow, get repaid as the business succeeds and when the loan is repaid you can choose to lend again!

Heifer - Give a gift of a selection of Heifer projects from around the world. When you choose to fund a project, you decide where to invest your gift. You pick the projects that are most important to you. You decide how you’d like to change the world for the better. Find out about all the different projects available at the Heifer website

Green Living Now

Good Gifts Catalouge Vouchers - You purchase a gift voucher and the receiver goes online to shop for all kinds of crazy gift ideas eg a family of trees and a chicken plough. You can even set-up a wedding list. You gotta check this one out!

Bloomin’ Gift Cards - this one is really great. These folks have created handmade plantable seedpaper that grows! You can give all sorts of growing gifts including bookmarks, gift cards, tags, postcards, ornaments and even invitations.

There's a whole lot more ideas out there, check these one's out for yourself!

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