Your Eco-Friendly Gifting Guide For All Occasions

Gifting is a big part of our culture. Whether for special occasions like birthdays or just because, giving presents is important for our relationships.

So when you want to live a more sustainable life, finding sustainable gifts to give is a must. After all, what’s the point of going green yourself, if you then give gifts that aren’t sustainable.

But what is sustainable gifting? Is it just giving eco-friendly alternatives? Well, not quite, but that’s certainly a part of it.

By the way, if you’re expecting a list of sustainable products that make good gifts, sorry to disappoint. This eco-friendly gifting guide is about more than that. It will show you how to change your approach to ensure every present you give is sustainable.

(We have, however, put a list of eco-friendly gift ideas together, if you need some inspiration.)

Thoughtfulness Is Key

While a thoughtful gift is always received well, it’s even more important with sustainable gifting. Thoughtless gifts tend to be thrown away.

According to government data, the UK alone throws away an estimated £42 million worth of unwanted gifts each Christmas. That’s a huge amount of additional waste every year that’s unnecessary. Not to speak of the money that is wasted.

So what does a thoughtful gift look like?

• Practical: It’s something the receiver needs or at least will use
• Interests: It’s something that relates to their interests or passions
• Enjoyment: It’s something that will bring them joy
• Emotional: It’s something that has a meaning to them

If the gift you’re considering falls is one, several, or all of the above categories, it’s highly unlikely that it will be an unwanted present that ends up in landfill.

The more intimately you know someone, the easier it is to get them a thoughtful gift. But even if you don’t know someone well, like the new colleague you got for Secret Santa or your brother’s new girlfriend to whose birthday party you have been invited, you can still find a thoughtful gift.

All you have to do is find out a bit more about them:

• Ask people who know them what kind of things they like, etc.
• Talk to them about their hobbies, interests, etc.
• Listen to them when they talk, they might mention something that sparks an idea

As you can see, being a thoughtful gift giver isn’t difficult, it just demands a bit of time and effort. But it’s well worth it, when you see their face light up, and you’ll know that it won’t end up in landfill.

Focus On Quality Not Quantity

I used to be one of those people that would go over board when buying presents. The more the better, was my approach, because I just loved to give gifts to people. I still do but my approach has changed.

The thing is, I was buying things for the sake of it. So I ended up with many gifts that, while still thoughtful to a degree, were really just add-ons.

Doing what I did, you also spend a lot of money, or you try to buy small, cheaper gifts to be able to buy more. So now I focus on buying fewer quality gifts.

Here is the problem with lower quality products:

• They don’t tend to last long – so they will end up as waste fairly quick
• They send a certain message – you don’t care as much
• They tend to have a higher environmental impact – cheaper items are often made of plastic and aren’t recyclable
• They can’t be repurposed or repaired – cheap things are designed to be thrown and replaced when they are no longer usable

So sustainable gifting has to include focussing on quality not quantity. You want to ensure that the present you give won’t end up in landfill after a few months.

Instead, you want it to last them as long as possible, with the option to be repaired or repurposed if it breaks or is no longer of use to them with its original purpose.

Sustainability Criteria

Once you have made sure that your gift idea is thoughtful and meets at least one of the categories we mentioned, and you’re looking out for quality, you have to find the actual gift.

Whether you’re buying something for yourself or for someone else, the same criteria apply when it comes to sustainable products. So before you buy, check:

• Sustainable company – is the business you plan to buy from putting our environment on its agenda? Ideally, you want a company as close to home as possible who also produces their products close to home.
• Sustainable material – so many things today are made of plastic, which is mostly made from fossil fuels and leaks microplastics and harmful toxins as it breaks down (Wojnowska-Baryla et al., 2022) – so look for more sustainable materials where possible, such as glass, metal, wood, natural fabrics, like organic cotton, etc.
• Zero-waste – in an ideal world, we would never throw anything away, so look for zero-waste options, that can be composted or recycled
• Reusable – stay away from disposable and single-use items, as they create a lot of waste
• Sustainable packaging – plastic-free packaging is a must for sustainable gifts, so look for sustainable alternatives
• Natural ingredients – synthetic ingredients have a huge impact on our environment, so look for products that use natural ingredients

By ensuring your gift meets these sustainability criteria, you can make sure your present is eco-friendly.

Consider Buying Second-Hand

This is rather controversial, as many people might consider a second-hand product as an inferior gift. It might come across as if the giver is trying to get a present on the cheap or doesn’t care.

However, buying second-hand is so much better for the environment than buying something new:

• Keeping things out of landfill – buying second-hand means you give unwanted, but serviceable things a second lease of life and preventing it from becoming waste
• Reduces the need for natural resources – the more we buy second-hand, the less the demand for new things, which will preserve precious natural resources
• Reduces pollution – many manufacturing processes are responsible for pollution, so by buying second-hand we can reduce pollution associated with making new things
• Reduces carbon emissions – Making new things involves many processes that are energy intensive and require transport, which release carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is responsible for global warming and climate change
• Circular economy – buying second-hand prevents a throwaway economy and fosters a circular economy creating a cycle of good

As you can see, buying second-hand can have quite an impact. Therefore, I believe that you should always consider buying second-hand, even for a gift.

Personally, I would have no issue whatsoever, if I got a present that isn’t new. But I want to live a sustainable life, so my attitude towards those things is different to many other people.

I would love to live in a world where getting a pre-loved item as a gift is seen as normal. Alas, we live in a consumerist society where people want the newest things and as many of them as possible.

So, give a pre-loved gift some consideration as a sustainable gift option. But I understand that this will only be suitable for certain people.

Homemade Gifts

I was shocked when I recently found out that, according to an Oxfam poll, homemade gifts are on the list of unwanted gifts. For me, if someone puts time and effort into making something for me, that makes the gift infinitely superior to a bought one.

But I guess, it’s a similar thing like with second-hand gifts. Our consumerist society seems to believe that something that has been bought is better than something that has been made.

Here are the advantages of a homemade gift:

• Control over materials – you can choose what your gift is made from, and where you source it from, making the gift more sustainable than a bought one
• Handmade is more eco-friendly than machine-made – making anything by hand has a smaller environmental impact than mass-producing with big machines
• Money, time, and effort – when you make a gift yourself, you don’t just spend money, but also time and effort, showing that you care
• Uniqueness over mass-produced – a handmade gift is unique and can’t be gotten anywhere else

For all these reasons, I believe that any eco-friendly gifting guide has to include homemade gifts.

But of course, you still have to make sure that the gift is thoughtful and of good quality to qualify as a sustainable gift. I think that is probably one of the issues why homemade gifts made it on Oxfam’s list of unwanted gifts.

Making a tie for someone who doesn’t wear ties is just as pointless as buying one. The fact that it’s handmade doesn’t make it any more thoughtful or sustainable.

Time, Experiences, And Memories

When we think of gifts, most of us think of physical items. But why not give time, experiences, and memories?

In a materialistic society like ours, these are much less appreciated than actual things, which is very sad. Because those things are so much more precious.

A few years ago, my husband and I have started to focus less on physical presents and more on giving experiences, spending time together and making memories. And honestly, they are the best presents we can give to each other.

And the choices are endless, when you start to think about it. There are organised experiences, such as courses to learn a new skill like dancing, adventures like zip lines, or educational activities like going to a museum.

There are many companies offering such experiences and you can find them online on platforms such as Airbnb, Not On The Highstreet, or Red Letter Days.

Or you could buy tickets to their favourite comedian, musician, magician, football team, rugby team, etc. I bought a VIP experience for my husband’s favourite football club for his 30th birthday.

It included a stadium tour with a famous former player, a lunch at the club restaurant, and many photo opportunities. He loved it and appreciated the fact that I took him, given that I don’t like football.

The memories he made on that day will last him a lifetime. That’s more than can be said of most physical gifts.

But it doesn’t have to be an organised experience. Why not take them to see this new film they want to see, but don’t want to go alone, even if you aren’t keen?

Or give up a weekend for a Harry Potter marathon, when you and your HP-mad friend, partner, spouse, sibling watch all Harry Potter movies while eating snacks and takeaway.

You might not be a Potterhead, but they will cherish the fact you did that for them forever. Or maybe you take the time and make the effort to cook a fancy meal for the food-lover in your life.

Just be creative. My husband contacted a restaurant we used to go to a lot before we moved and asked them for the recipe for their Baileys cheesecake I love. I thought I’d probably never have that again.

But now we can make it ourselves whenever we fancy it. It didn’t cost him anything, but the fact that he thought of it and took the time to contact them means so much to me. It’s one of the most romantic presents I ever got.

Giving time, experiences, and memories is also so much better for the environment. There is no waste, packaging, harmful ingredients, plastic, etc. So for me, no sustainable gift guide would be complete without them.

Eco-Friendly Gift Wrapping

Getting sustainable gifts is only one part of eco-friendly gifting though. Did you know that wrapping paper has a huge environmental impact?

This is down to several reasons, for one you can’t recycle most gift wraps because they aren’t just made of paper but might contain plastic and metal too. So most of it ends up in landfill.

And given that in the UK alone we use 227,000 miles of wrapping paper each Christmas, this means a lot of waste. Especially if you also consider that gifts are given at other occasions and they are wrapped then too.

The solution is eco-friendly wrapping paper alternatives. These include using any recyclable paper, such as newspapers, non-glossy magazines, brown packing paper, etc.

Reusable fabric wraps or gift boxes are another way to wrap presents without using commercial wrapping paper.

While you at it, ditch plastic sticky tape and get a paper one that can be recycled with the gift wrap. And forego decorative items such as glitter, ribbons, bows, as they are made of plastic and can’t be recycled.

Instead opt for natural alternatives, such as recyclable paper decorations or plants, such as leaves, pine cones, pine needles, flowers, berries, etc. They are plastic-free, zero-waste, and add a piece of nature to your gift.

And what about greeting cards? Did you know that many greeting cards can’t be recycled in the UK? As you can imagine, this means they have quite an environmental impact.

If you want to give a card with your sustainable present, make sure it’s made of pure paper, without plastic, glitter, ribbons, or foil.

Final Thoughts

There is a saying that giving is better than receiving. And I believe that’s true, because the joy I get from watching someone’s face light up when they open a present I gave them is more rewarding than opening a gift myself.

But to know that what they are opening is an eco-conscious gift makes it even better for me. Whether this is something bought second-hand, made yourself, the gift of time and memories, or an eco-friendly alternative doesn’t matter.

Green giving increases the pleasure of giving. So why not give it a go. Hopefully, my eco-friendly gifting guide has shown you the way to find eco-friendly gifts for your loved ones, whether as Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, for an anniversary or just because.

If you’re in need of some more concrete inspiration, head to our list of the best eco-friendly gift ideas to get you started.

By the way, if you want to make your Christmas greener, check our out article with eco-friendly Christmas decoration ideas.