A Slice of the Green Life
By Robin Fosdick, Columnist
"Ideas For A Green Holiday"
As we approach the gift giving season, stores are already filled with Christmas trees, reminding us that it’s that time of year again to max out your credit cards in an effort to purchase the perfect gift for everyone you know.
Very few people actually truly enjoy the act of shopping, especially at the busy holiday season. After dealing with packed malls, long lines and the stress of trying to find the perfect gift that you never seem to find, you settle for a golf ball polisher for your father who hasn’t played golf in five years.
You aren’t happy giving unneeded gifts, but you feel like you have to give something, anything.
Do we really need all this stuff? Things tend to clutter and complicate our lives as well as become “time traps”; the new plastic toy truck inevitably loses a wheel. Now, what do you do with the broken truck? You desperately try to find the wheel (time trap, complication) and when you can’t, you toss the truck back into the toy box (clutter) hoping it magically fixes itself. Finally, you decide to throw the truck away so it can join all the other broken plastic toys already occupying space in landfills, where they will remain for the next 1,000 years before finally photo degrading into tiny plastic pieces (remember, plastic doesn’t biodegrade).
So, what is the answer? Should we not give each other gifts at all? While that is an option for some, my suggestion is to give “experience” gifts or homemade items. These types of gifts tend to be more environmentally friendly and in many cases are cheaper, but more meaningful to the person giving and receiving the gift. In doing this, I’ve found a deeper sense of giving, which is what the season is really about, right?
My husband’s birthday is a couple of weeks before Christmas. Since I fall into the percentage of people who don’t like to shop for gifts, two gift giving occasions in one month is about enough to put me over the edge.
Last year, I decided to take a new approach. Knowing he likes to practice random acts of kindness, I went to a local deli and bought $5.00 gift cards. On his birthday, I surprised him by taking him to the deli to give unsuspecting patrons the gift cards. People were genuinely touched when a total stranger handed them gift money to pay for their meal. He enjoyed handing out the gift certificates so much that we are planning to make it a yearly tradition.
Several years ago, I put together a “memories book” for each of my parents. I wrote all of their friends, family, co-workers, etc. and asked them to mail me stories, letters and pictures. Without my parents’ knowledge, I put together a scrapbook of life-long memories to give to them, which turned out to be one of the best gifts I’ve ever given.
The next year, I made a “remember when” box for my brother and filled it with scraps of paper recalling childhood memories. After he opened the box and read several of the memories, he actually had tears in his eyes, a rare sight.
Last year, Santa brought my daughter a ticket to the Georgia aquarium and ballet lessons. My husband received hockey tickets and DVR service (which turned out to be more for me than him!). Santa was incredibly wise and left a spa gift certificate under the tree for me. Our family gift was a beach vacation we all enjoyed. Years ago, we made the decision to take a trip as a gift instead of spending money on a bunch of “stuff” we didn’t need.
Our holiday season is simpler and less stressful because we aren’t rushing around trying to buy a ton of gifts. We’re also saving time, waste and money because we aren’t wrapping a heap of presents. And hopefully, we are teaching our children valuable lessons in the process.
Other ideas you may want to try include: gym memberships and personal trainers, cleaning or lawn service, classes or lessons in something that interests the recipient (music, dance, karate, cooking, painting), restaurant gift certificates, day or weekend trip for the recipient with his/her friends, concert or sporting event tickets, zoo, museum or park trips, a hand-written letter, homemade cookbook with your favorite recipes or a home-cooked delivered meal.
Or, give the simplest and best gift of all. It’s completely free, 100% environmentally friendly and requires no shopping trip whatsoever. Give the gift of your time.
For questions, comments and suggestions e-mail Robin at robin@insidegwinnett.com
