Note: This blog post contains affiliate links and I was sent some Wrag Wrap to review/ giveaway.

Eco friendly wrapping paper alternatives course and the #CutTheWrap Challenge

Last year I set the challenge to not use any single use wrapping paper over the festive season at all. I think it is relevant every year! Find out why and pledge to take the challenge here: Cut The Wrap Challenge. When you sign up to the challenge, you can then join my newly formed Zero Waste Christmas Facebook Group. It’s a group to share ideas over keeping waste low over Christmas.

This blog post can help you with the challenge. However there are so many ways to wrap up gifts beautifully and with the environment in mind, that I am setting up a course on the subject! It will be fun, filled with tutorials for different gift wrapping ideas and is going live on 23rd November. It will be ready in plenty of time for you to wrap up your gifts in time for the festive season. Find out more here to pre book your place and get an early bird discount: Sustainable Gift Wrapping Course

Eco friendly alternatives to wrapping paper

Once you have your sustainable gifts sorted, these eco friendly ways of wrapping them will give them the perfect finish! You could also add upcycled gift tags to them to take it one step futher

The fabric eco friendly wrapping paper alternative

One of my favourite techniques for wrapping gifts in fabric is Furoshiki. It’s a Japanese wrapping style that is elegant and involves zero waste! It is a bit like origami for gift wrapping!

There loads of ways to wrap up your gifts in fabric aside from Furoshiki. You can wrap up gifts with fabric and string. Or put the gifts in fabric gift bags or sacks. If you can sew, these gift bags made out of festive pyjamas are a fun upcycling project and look great.

Another way of wrapping up gifts in fabric is to use Wrag Wrap. I first found out about it at a local Zero Waste Christmas market. Wrag wrap is reusuable and is made of recycled plastic. It comes in a variety of beautiful colours and patterns and looks really attractive. Wrag wrap crackles when you use it, so that it sounds a bit like paper folding as some people said they miss that with fabric wrap. It isn’t cheap and is a bit fiddly to wrap up with, but it is fun and looks great! Tip: I found it a bit tricky to wrap up soft items in this, but boxes or books work well.

Use items from your recycling

There are lots of things that you would usually put in your recycling that makes fun gift wrap. For example colourful pages from old magazines or kids artwork. Check out some more ideas here: Saved from the recycling – beautiful ways to wrap gifts

The no wrap method

You don’t have to wrap up a gift to make it exciting. Obviously you could just hand the person a gift unpackaged. But if you want to make it more fun, hide the gifts around your home and set up a treasure hunt. If you need help with this, I’ve written a handy list of Treasure Hunt Clues for around the house.

As you can see there are lots of ways to wrap up gifts whilst bearing the environment in mind. So come and sign up for the Cut the Wrap Challenge and why not treat yourself and/or a friend to my sustainable gift wrap course

For more ideas about how to save money and the environment at Christmas time, check out this post: How to have a luxurious eco friendly Christmas on a budget

Wrag Wrap and Keep This Cracker Giveaway

Next week I will be reviewing reusuable Christmas crackers by Keep This Cracker on the blog and I am giving some away alongside this Wrag Wrap bundle. They are the perfect combination to help you on your way to an eco -friendly and zero waste Christmas.

You can enter the giveaway below. None of the options are compulsory, but you must choose at least one option to enter. The more you do the more chances you have to win. If you purchase access to the Sustainable Gift Wrapping course you will get 5 entries to the competition. If you sign up to the mailing list and the Cut The Wrap challenge, you will get 3 entries and you will get one entry per relevant Instagram follow. The competition closes at midnight on the 3rd December – full terms and conditions here. Good luck everyone!

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Note: This blog post contains affilate links. It won’t cost you anything extra to shop through them and all opinions are my own.

Sustainable gift experiences for families and couples

Experience gifts can be a lot of fun and don’t need to be disposed of afterwards. Not all experience gifts are eco-friendly though e.g. motor car racing or trips to Barcelona. So look for experience gifts that are good for the planet too like National Trust membership and these eco friendly experience gifts for kids, families and couples.

Homemade and homegrown sustainable gifts

Homemade and homegrown sustainable gifts can show that a lot of thought went into a gift. Plus you can have complete control over the materials and ingredients that go into them and how they are packaged. Check out these ideas for homemade and homegrown gifts, which include things like making fudge, or bath salts. But before you go into production remember to double check the gift will be wanted! Another option along these lines, is to give your help or skills as gift.

I find that homegrown or homemade gifts make great small festive or end of year gifts for teachers.

Secret Santa gifts

Secret Santa gifts are often a bit of a joke. People give each other things like this nothing as a gift. It is a plastic empty ball, totally ridiculous. I can’t believe quite how many people have paid that amount of money for it and reviewed it! You get a few laughs out of it and then the gift is put to one side and either gotten rid of, or collects dust at the back of a cupboard.

Don’t give people a load of tat this year. Instead check out my list of alternatives to Secret Santa – they include things like giving experience gifts, or donating to charity instead.

Eco friendly gifts for him

Perhaps an experience or homemade offering isn’t going to cut it and you want an eco-friendly gift you can put in his hands.

Of course it depends on what he likes, but I’ve put together a list of suggestions here: Sustainable gifts for him. They include things like getting him a reusable coffee mug or cork wallet.

Sustainable gifts for her

Again sometimes only a physical gift will do. A lovely gift that doesn’t cost anything is to give her some jewellery that you already own. My parents gave me some earrings and a bracelet that had once belonged to my grandma’s for my birthday one year and I loved it!

If you want some ideas of gifts to buy, I have some suggestions here: 5 top eco friendly gifts for women, which include bamboo sunglasses and a cork leather handbag

Eco friendly gifts for everyone

For the baker or cook

I love cooking and enjoy using pieces of equipment in the kitchen that do the job really well. Especially if they are long lasting, great quality and are good for the environment. For some ideas for gifts like this, check out this list of my favourite eco-friendly kitchen products. There are some great products listed like Fig and Pickle battery free scales.

For the bookworm

There are some brilliant books out there about being eco-friendly (including my Eco Thrifty Living book – obviously I’m slightly biased though). Some are practical, some are entertaining and some are educational. Check out my handy list of Sustainable living books for a gift for the book lover in your life!

Sustainable wrapping and gift tags

If it makes sense to avoid buying gifts with excess single use packaging, then it also makes sense not to add your own! Yes it is more fun when gift is wrapped up, but do it sustainably! There are loads of options for sustainable gift wrap, including using brown paper from packages you have received and popping the gift in a reusable bag without wrapping. Check out my tips for alternatives to gift wrapping here: wrapping paper alternatives (scroll down to the bottom to find links to more ideas).

Take your gift to the next level and make your own gift tags from upcycled materials too!

How can you spot a sustainable or eco friendly gift?

if none of these ideas quite did it for you, then I have a few more suggestions to help you before you go shopping. The terms sustainable and eco-friendly are quite vague and could cover a variety of qualities. So I’m going to break down into bite sized chunks, what I think makes a gift sustainable.

1. Do they want the sustainable gift?

Before worrying about the eco credentials of an item, first we need to ask if the gift is wanted? It’s a waste of your money and the resources that went into the gift if it isn’t. Check out these 10 easy ways to stop unwanted gifts to avoid that problem.

2. Is the gift genuinely sustainable?

What is the product made of, how is it packaged and where did it come from? It is difficult to find a product that ticks all the sustainable boxes. But some things you might want to do are:

• Avoid single use excess packaging. Gifts often come with lots of packaging.
• Where possible, get things second hand, upcycled or made from recycled materials.
• Look for good quality items that will be long lasting (where relevant).
• Find items that are easy to repair if something goes wrong with it.
• Avoid perishable items like flowers, that are flown in, or hot housed out of season.
• Check it doesn’t contain any nasty chemicals and try to avoid unsustainable materials where possible.
• Avoid greenwashing

It is likely that no gift will be perfectly eco friendly or sustainable, so focus on choosing one that has features that you are happy with.

Happy gift hunting – hope you find gifts that will be loved!

By the way if you are looking for ideas about how to save money and the environment at Christmas time, you will like this post: How to have a luxurious eco friendly Christmas on a budget

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So many of us do not want them. Add to that the effort people go through to find the gifts, the money it costs them and the negative environmental impact of it and it seems crazy to keep doing this every year!

Let’s make things easier for everyone and put an end to this madness! Here are my 10 ways to put a stop to unwanted gifts:

1. Gift lists can put the brakes on unwanted gifts!

Agree to shop from gift lists in your family/ amongst your friends. You would have to all agree to this together as you can’t tell people they have to buy you something from a list!

2. Ask before you shop

Ask people what they want before you buy them a gift and only buy stuff they actually want. For an element of surprise in the gift, ask them for a few ideas and just pick one of them!

3. Give money to stop unwanted gifts

Give money, it is better than gift cards. This is because if you buy a physical gift card that is a waste of plastic and/ or paper. Secondly a large proportion of gift cards get forgotten about and never get used.

4. Do a Secret Santa

Instead of giving gifts to all the adults in your family, do a Secret Santa. Make sure to still check the gifts will be wanted. It doesn’t even have to be secret. It could just be that each member of your family gets one gift from the rest of you. That way there are a lot less gifts being given between family members meaning less stress. Plus you can all club together and spend a bit more on one big gift, rather than lots of smaller gifts.

5. Only give to the kids in the family

Agree to stop doing gifts between adult friends and extended family and just give to the kids in your family. This makes me think of unilateral disarmament. All put down your weapons a.k.a. gift shopping activities together. Remember to ask what to get the kids before you shop!

It may be tricky to do straight away, as some people might be a bit resistant to it. We phased out gifts to extended family by starting off with a Secret Santa first and then stopping it altogether.

6. Stop unwanted gifts by telling people what you do and don’t like!

We all know those people who are impossible to buy for. You have no idea what they are into and no clue what to get them for a gift. If you want gifts, that you will like, don’t be one of those people!

When someone asks you what you want, give them some ideas. If there are certain things you really don’t like let people know!

7. Break the cycle

This is a tip for people who want to keep giving and receiving gifts, but repeatedly get the same unwanted gift (or gift type) year after year. For example, how can you politely tell someone that you don’t like fruit cake any more, when they have been giving you one every year for 15 years?

In this situation you could say something like this (before they bake the cake):

I wanted to let you know before you bake your annual fruit cake that I’m really sorry but although it is really lovely, as I’ve got older, I’ve gone off fruit cake a bit. Your lemon drizzle cake is delicious though (/ insert a type of cake / alternative you do like).

It’s OK to let someone know your tastes have changed and to give them some hints about the kinds of things you do like. This can apply to things like beauty and bath products and food and drink. It can also apply to a particular hobby that you are no longer into and your kids changing tastes as well (if the gift is for your child).

8. Stop giving gifts and ask for nothing in return

This doesn’t have to mean never giving or receiving gifts. Just scale things back so that you exchange gifts with a smaller circle of people e.g. your immediate family.

I find that when you tell people you don’t want gifts, there will still be people who will give you gifts anyway. This could be for a variety of reasons, maybe they don’t believe you or they are used to showing they care by giving gifts and can’t imagine not giving them.

How to get people to stop giving you gifts:

The two most effective ways I found to get people to stop giving me gifts were to:

• stop giving people gifts myself because then people don’t feel obligated to give you anything and
• give people their gifts back, if they ignored me and bought something anyway.

Giving someone their gift back is filled with problems and could easily cause a lot of offence. It’s probably best not to do this. But if you are going to, avoid try to avoid causing offence by being careful about the way you say it. Things you could say to smooth things over could go something along these lines:

Thank you so much for the thought, I really appreciate it, but we already have one of those and there isn’t anything else we need, so I would rather you took it back and got your money back

You could substitute the ‘we already have one’ part with we used to have one of these, but found we didn’t use it much or I’m so sorry but we really don’t have anywhere to put that and so on.

9. Don’t be a repeat offender – giving the same unwanted gift year after year

If you are guilty of always giving the same gift every year, check in with people and make sure they still like and want it! I usually give photo calendars of the kids to the grandparents every year, because they don’t really need anything and they love having photos of the kids. It makes my life a lot easier not having to think up something new each year!

However, they might be fed up with the calendar size or it might be that they would rather have a photo book than a calendar and are too polite to say. It is a great idea to check that people still want that gift you keep giving them to save them the stress of trying to work out ways to tell you that they don’t want it any more!

10. Share articles like this one with your friends and family

If you feel the suggestions above are a step too far, another approach is to share articles about the problems of unwanted gifts. You can do that on social media, email or even just in conversation with people. That way you are opening up the issue for discussion rather than imposing anything on them.

Find out how your friends and family feel about gift giving. Some will love give giving. However you might be surprised to find that some would be really happy to stop doing it!

I have a whole section in my Eco Thrifty Living book about gift giving, in which I raise some of the issues and problems with it. Sharing my book with them could be another way to ease into the subject!

So there you have it – 10 ways to put a stop to unwanted gifts!

Take things further and make sure the presents you do give are sustainable gifts!

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Pool the money you would have spent on individual gifts and buy a whole family or couple an experience gift (you could also club together with others to do this). This means they get to enjoy loads of great experiences throughout the year together and there are no unwanted gifts gathering dust at the back of a cupboard. It’s also less hassle for you because you can buy and give them online and they don’t need to be gift wrapped! If you want to though, a relevant book could make a lovely addition to these gifts.

1. National Trust Membership makes a wonderful experience gift for couples and families

The National Trust is a national treasure conserving and protecting historical homes, gardens and natural sites for generations. Membership for a year isn’t that expensive. Buying a a couple or a family this kind of experience gift gives them access to lovely days out all year long. Plus it goes with them when they go on holiday in the UK, providing them with a source of free entertainment while they are away!

I have such good memories of going around National Trust properties when I was growing up and my kids have loved visiting some of the outdoor National Trust spaces  e.g Brownsea Island. It has a gorgeous wooden playground surrounded by trees in a secluded spot towards the end of the island (maybe when they are older they will be more interested in the houses too)!

If you are buying this gift for a family and don’t want the kids  to get upset about having nothing to open you could get them The National Trust: 50 Things To Do Before You’re 11 3/4*

2. English Heritage membership – a fun experience gift for budding knights, princesses and their parents!

English Heritage membership  is a great experience gift option. We took our kids to visit Pevensey castle a while ago, which is an English Heritage site and they loved it. They were talking about it for ages afterwards! I think this is a great gift and we have given membership of this to our parents in the past. It’s lovely that they get to enjoy it all year long. Both National Trust Membership and English Heritage membership are brilliant gift ideas, but it is worth looking into how many sites are near the people you are giving the gift to, as in some areas English Heritage membership would give access to more local sites and in other areas National Trust membership would make more sense.

A great physical gift to go along with this membership for people who are likely to visit London is London’s Blue Plaques* – useful for kids learning about London’s history at school and interesting for the adults too! Also dress up costumes, such as knights and princesses that the kids can wear on their visit would go down really well too! Tip: scour local charity shops and car boot sales to see if you can find any of these.

3. ZSL Memberships make great experience gifts for kids and contribute towards animal conservation too.

ZSL membership gives you unlimited access to ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo for a year. On their website they say ‘(ZSL) is an international scientific, conservation and educational charity whose mission is to promote and achieve the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats.’ There are so many animals on the brink of extinction and every effort to save them is so important. Going, Going, Gone: 100 animals and plants on the verge of extinction* could be a good accompanying book with this gift! I know my kids would be fascinated by something like that! Another great book to go with this is The Last Rhino’s by Lawrence Anthony* (suitable for adults and teenagers). It is a true story, very readable and really makes you understand how hard it is to protect some of the really endangered animals in Africa.

4. The Eden Project experience gifts

We visited the Eden Project the summer before last and as well as educating it’s visitors about environmental issues, there was so much on for kids in the school holidays. When we went they had story telling and live dinosaur performances. If the people you want to give a gift to live near Cornwall or visit it a lot, Eden project membership is such a lovely gift and is pretty reasonably priced as with all their memberships they allow you to bring a family guest (or more guests depending on the membership). A good book choice for the adults or older children to go along with this gift is Eden by Tim Smit* which tells the story of how the Eden Project came into being!

5. RSPB membership – the perfect experience gift for bird lovers!

There are over 170 RSPB nature reserves around the country which you can visit for a bit of bird spotting! Yearly RSPB membership will give you free access to these sites, along with a quarterly magazine for adults and the kids will get a magazine 6 time a year as well as other perks. The RSPB says they spend ‘90% of net income on conservation, public education and advocacy’ so you are supporting a good cause along with your membership. The RSPB Pocket Guide to British Birds* is the perfect gift to give with this one so that they know what to look out for on their bird spotting adventures!

The prices of these experience gifts vary, but on average you are looking at around £100 for a family, which is pretty reasonable. Experience gifts like these can make lasting and treasured memories for years to come and I know lots of people would prefer them to being given something they really don’t want. On top of that they won’t clutter up anyone’s house and you will be supporting some great charities – what’s not to like!

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Please note this article contains affiliate links marked with an asterisk. If you click through and buy something, it won’t cost you anything extra, but it will help to support the blog – thanks! This post has been updated in 2020.

1. Bamboo sunglasses

These sunglasses are made out of bamboo* and come with a cork leather case. Bamboo is a great sustainable material as it is fast growing and easily replaced. The sunglasses look great too!

2. Travel mugs make stylish and practical eco friendly gifts for women

This gift will help her save money, is much better than getting teas and coffees in disposable mugs and looks good! A reusable travel mug* is great for a commute, long journeys and days out. It looks so much nicer to have a reusable coffee cup in your hand, than a disposable one. I also have a similar ceramic travel coffee cup*, which is great for long car journeys and keeps the heat in that bit longer, but is too heavy and breakable to take outside the car.

3. Eco-friendly gin

Is she a gin fan? I’m not a big gin drinker, but I’ve noticed it is pretty popular these days, mainly after reading the brilliant and hilarious parenting blog Hurrah For Gin! There are some really great gin brands out there from an environmental perspective including Elephant Gin* (15% of the profits go to charities to protect elephants) and Dodd’s Gin* which uses organic ingredients.

Note: Do not drink alcohol if you are under 18 (or whatever the legal limit is in your country) and remember to drink responsibly.

4. Cork leather hand bag

I love cork leather as it is a zero waste vegan alternative to plastic – as long as cork is stripped off the tree carefully it will grow back! I have a very similar bag to this cork leather Handbag*. It looks great and is made by Portuguese artisans. You can also get a cork leather purse* to match! The question is can you fit the sunglasses and the reusable coffee cup in it?

5. Shampoo and conditioner bar set

I love Friendly soaps because they are reasonably priced, smell nice and do the job well! They have a lovely shampoo and conditioner set* for sale. Sadly I can’t use the shampoo bar as they say it doesn’t work in a hard water area. But I love the conditioner bar, the shaving bar* and the other soap bars which come in a variety of scents.

Looking for sustainable gifts for all the other people in your life too? Check out my guide to sustainable gifts your friends and family will love.

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This blog post contains affiliate links. Buying stuff through the links won’t cost you any extra, but will help to support the blog. All opinions are my own. Thanks! This post was originally written a few years ago but has been updated for 2020.

1. A thermal imaging camera is fun and practical eco friendly gift for him

If he’s into gadgets and money saving, he will love this. The FLIR ONE is a thermal imaging camera that you can attach to your smart phone. Aside from making playing hide and seek easier, it can take thermal images of your home. This is to find out where heat is escaping. Allowing you to target the specific parts of your home that need extra insulation. This is particularly useful for the areas you can’t see easily like in the wall cavities.

Once you’ve identified and then plugged in the gaps you could potentially save pounds on your heating bills. It’s not cheap coming in at around £199. However, it is one of the more affordable thermal imaging options. You can also spread the love around your friends and families homes too. The camera has lots of other uses too! Such as looking for water leaks, finding rodents hiding in your home and spotting nocturnal visitors in your garden.

We had a lot of fun playing with a Flir 1 a while ago and finding out where heat was leaking from our home.

2. Eco friendly whiskey

Does he love whisky?  Make it a sustainable bottle! There are a few to choose from. If you are looking for organic whiskey Benromach Organic Single Malt Whisky 70 cl or Highgrove Gardens Organic Whisky are good options. To take the gift up a notch, you could get some reusable whisky stones to keep his whisky cool!

Note: Obviously this is a gift for over 18’s only (or whatever the legal age is in your country) and you should always drink responsibly)

3. A vegan cork leather wallet

Is he a vegan? This Boshiho® Mens Cork Wallet Bifold Slim Vegan Wallet Purse  is made from cork leather. This is a great material and a brilliant alternative to plastic for vegans! I was given a cork leather purse a few years ago that I love. It has worn really well. It feels soft to the touch and is a great use for cork. As long as the cork bark is stripped off the tree properly it will grow back. So, not only is it vegan, it is also a sustainable* and renewable option!

4. Reusable coffee cups – such useful eco friendly gifts for men

My husband didn’t see the point of a reusable coffee cup until I bought him one a few years ago. Now he finds it useful on long journeys and any time we are enjoying the great outdoors in cold weather. Most single use coffee cups are not fully recyclable and even if they were they are still a waste of resource. Instead why not get him a stylish and eco-friendly reusable coffee cup like this Bodum travel mug . If he regularly buys a coffee on his way to work it will save him money too! 

5. Safety Razor

In the ever growing zero waste movement this shaver could be the perfect gift. It looks really stylish and has great reviews. It should last for years and will save packaging and waste in the long run.

Want to get sustainable gifts for everyone else in your life too? Then check out this guide to sustainable gifts your friends and family will love!

* Please note that I don’t have any knowledge of the source of the cork in the cork leather wallet shown and can’t verify whether a sustainable source of cork was used in it’s making or not.

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Lavender is in season and I have loads of lovely fragrant lavender growing in my garden right now. There are many uses for lavender, but my current favourite is to make lavender wands. I don’t use them for casting spells – I use them to keep my clothes smelling nice (but if you or your kids want to make one for casting spells, don’t let me stop you :)).

These wands make great gifts and one year, I made a load as going home gifts from my kids birthday party and they went down a storm!

I’ve shared my instructions for how to make a lavender wand below:

How it is zero waste?

I made use of lavender growing in my garden, so it was unpackaged, home grown and used up. I also made sure to leave plenty for the bees, as that was the main reason I decided to grow lavender in the first place!

The ribbon had been sitting in my cupboard for years and needed using up. I also save ribbons from clothing, gifts and more to reuse for this kind of project. I store my ribbons in an old toiletry bag!

It is really simple, doesn’t take long and they make great gifts! 

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‘While collectively taking off the lens called how much can I get? and putting on another labelled how much can I give?, how many people can I make smile today? or how can we work together to nourish and sustain the life around us? wouldn’t by itself cut the Gordian Knots of climate chaos, resource depletion and TV-generated boy bands, it would make for a crucial starting point.’

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1. Take some empty jam jars and peel/ scrub off the labels (soaking in water and scrubbing with bicarbonate of soda did the trick for me – eventually)
2. Cut strips of green card, wind them around the jars and stick them down with double sided sticky tape at one end.
3. Fill the jars with a layer of stones to allow for drainage when the cacti get watered
4. Add some cactus compost to the jars
5. Take cuttings from the large cacti and put them in the soil
6. Add another layer of stones on top of the soil to hold the cacti in place

I then tied some gift tags on, which I got my older son to write a message to each of his teachers in.

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