100+ Eco-Friendly Gift Ideas: The Ultimate Guide to Plastic-free Holidays

As someone who has been trying to reduce plastic from every aspect of my life, I often get the question:

What should I get you as a gift?

And I totally get why it’s challenging. It’s not easy to come up with unique gift ideas, let alone make sure that what we’re gifting is also good for our planet.

So without further ado, here is my guide to a more thoughtful and sustainable gift giving. I compiled my top 10 tips on how to be more mindful about the planet when thinking of presents this holiday season and split the guide up into sections for different people in your life.

Here’s a table of contents for you to skip to the chapter that’s most useful for you:

• Chapter I: Why to gift sustainably?

• Chapter II: Top 10 tips for eco-friendly gift giving

• Chapter III: Eco-friendly gift ideas for foodies

• Chapter IV: Eco-friendly gift ideas for travelers

• Chapter V: Eco-friendly gift ideas for nature lovers

• Chapter VI: Eco-friendly gift ideas for kids

• Chapter VII: Eco-friendly gift ideas for beginners and all who want to reduce plastic

• Chapter VIII: 10 concrete and ready-to-go green gift ideas

• Bonus Chapter: Letter to your friends and family

Chapter I: Why to gift sustainably?

Let’s start from the beginning. You might just have started reducing plastic from your life or have been doing it for a while now, and want it to reflect in your gifts this Christmas season. In this case, kudos to you! I’m happy to see you’re making changes also in this area!

If your friends and family are on this journey and you’re wondering why it’s so important to them, here’s what you might find interesting.

The truth is we produce an unbelievable amount of waste over the winter holiday season.

In the UK alone folks eat around 10 million turkeys during Christmas which leads to 3,000 tons of turkey packaging and to 125,000 tons of plastic wrapping that’s being disposed of.

And it goes far beyond food (and drinks). There’s miles of wrapping paper (227k miles of it in the UK to be precise, out of which 83km will end up in the trash), tons of ribbons, bubble wrap, plastic toys, cards, and Christmas trees.

Just imagine it on a global scale!

On average we produce 30% more plastic waste during the holidays than in any given time of the year. This also includes £42 million worth of unwanted Christmas presents that end up in landfills each year. And this is just the UK alone.

The consequences of this are catastrophic and include increased CO2 emissions, plastic floating in oceans, wildlife endangerment, rising temperatures, and natural disasters.

I think it’s wise to stop and think before we throw ourselves into the shopping frenzy. Also because, it IS possible to be more mindful. This guide is to show you how.

What Does Sustainable or Green Giving Even Mean?

In simple words, it’s thinking about our environment and the impact our every buying decision has on our planet.

Green giving means being mindful and less wasteful when choosing our presents. There’s so much we can make, recycle (or upcycle) and experience, instead of going down the easy route and often buying unwanted gifts that end up in landfills.

So, let’s get started!

A little disclaimer: I’m not affiliated to the brands I mention. I admire, follow, or purchase from many of them because of their pledge to the environment. Ok, apart from Ecofiltro. They are our partners here in Refill Aqua, and I absolutely love their mission and product!

Chapter II: Top 10 tips for eco-friendly gift giving

1. Rethink your gift packaging

How about we try to reduce those 230,000 miles of wrapping paper used every Christmas?

Here are some alternatives:

• Reusable tote bags or kitchen towels which can also become part of the gift
• Paper bags - they look like kraft paper and you can have your kids or nephews decorate them in advance
• Pages of old road maps
• Old calendar pages
• Fabric scraps that can be used for sewing projects afterwards
• Old book covers (wrapping a book in a different cover might be fun)
• Handmade pillow cases (if it’s for kids, you can make their favorite themes)
• Newspaper
• Last year’s packaging (challenge: how many years in the row can you reuse the same gift paper or bags?)

2. Gift consumables

Millions of unwanted presents are disposed of every Christmas, but it’s difficult to do so with consumables, especially if it's something your family or friends really love. If you’re not sure what people like, conduct a little research and ask your friends’ partner or kids’ parents to make sure what the best option is. Here are some ideas:

• Stuff for gourmet cooking: himalayan salt, truffle oil, selection of Spanish sardines
• Homemade cookies, cakes, or energy balls
• Wine or craft beer
• Fair trade cocoa or coffee beans
• Something typical from your country they have never tried
• Almond chocolate or a cookie spread (my niece and nephew love the Belgian Speculoos! The jars can be then used for storage) - extra points if you can make those yourself

3. Give experiences and invest in quality time

This is my personal favorite. Not only are you keeping things completely waste-free, but you’re also going far beyond physical objects. By gifting experiences, you’re actually offering memories, knowledge, and quality time which are priceless.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Courses or workshops
• Road trips and getaways
• Concert tickets (for example for Home Concerts)
• Museum or theater entries (for example for the Monet interactive exhibition)
• Cooking class
• Dinner date at a restaurant you’ve always wanted to visit
• Balinese or Thai massage (my personal favorite)
• Sport activities
• Boat cruises
• If you’re musical, record a song (then choose a memorable spot and play it to them when you’re together)

I’ll give you some concrete ideas in the sections below, but there’s one more thing. You can make those sorts of gifts even more unique by creating handmade coupons. You can use online tools like Piktochart or do it by hand. See the wood workshop example in Chapter VIII: 10 concrete and ready-to-go green gift ideas.

4. Help your loved ones reach their goals

The idea here is to figure out: “how can I help them grow or support them in meeting their objectives or new year resolutions?”

Here are a few inspirations:

• Meditation app subscription (for example to Headspace)
• Signing yourself and your loved one for a marathon and teaming up for training
• Gym or yoga pass
• Productivity planner - this simple notebook helped me get things done faster and taught me how to work in time slots and prioritize better
• Udemy course
• Growth Mentor subscription - your loved one can book 1:1 mentoring sessions with growth marketers and startup founders who can help them grow their business
• Business, self-development, or healthy eating books - if they’re thinking of starting their own business, here’s a book that helped me on my journey: The $100 Startup
• Subscription to an online tool which will help them learn new skills (for example: Piktochart where they can create posters, social media visuals, or presentations)
• Business cards made of recycled t-shirts like these from Moo
• New Year's resolution action calendar for their fridge

5. Be mindful and listen

Being a good gift giver means you’re thoughtful and you focus on the actual wants and needs of your loved ones. To me there’s nothing worse than going shopping last-minute and getting useless generic gifts. Those are the ones that end up in landfills, people!

Since I saw my unpacked presents from years ago in my family storage room, I’ve decided to always ask in advance. I know that surprises are special, but those work best if you really know someone.

If you aren’t sure, don’t shy away from asking your family or friends to give you a list of things they need. There are apps like Gifster which help you create and manage lists.

Don't be like Joey and Chandler.

6. Organize Secret Santa. Make new rules.

If your family is open to trying a new approach this year, suggest that each person gets only one gift and organize a draw. This way, everyone focuses only on one person and might be able to put more thought into it.

As an organizer, you can create a simple spreadsheet listing all the family members and having them fill out their wishlist (it can include links to concrete presents).

You can also make rules about gifts:

• It cannot be anything physical (think of experiences, consumables, digital gifts)
• It has to be handmade
• It should come wrapped in a recycled or usable material

This way you make sure gifts are thoughtful and waste-free.

7. Do it yourself

Let’s face it, handmade and custom gifts are the ones you don’t easily forget. I still have the “official letter” congratulating me when I turned 17 and a toilet paper roll with a story written backwards with letters cut out from a newspaper. Yes, those were the actual gifts my group of friends gave me in high school. I revisit them every time I’m home for Christmas.

Does it take more time? Hell yeah. Does it give you more satisfaction and happiness to the person you’re making it for? Absolutely. You choose if it’s worth it.

Here are the top picks:

• Scrapbook of memories - it can be a photo album summarizing your year, latest trip, or fun times together. You can also do it digitally with apps like Once Upon or order an album via Social Print Studio (I’ve created endless presents with them in the last few years. The quality is amazing!)
• Family recipe - imagine the final effect if you type it out on a piece of kraft paper or parchment
• Baked goods and other treats
• Homemade cosmetics such as body scrub or bath salts stored in a nice reusable mason jar decorated with handmade labels
• Plants - not really a DIY object, but you can replant your existing one into a beautiful ceramic pot which is also a nice home decoration element. Bonus: plants such as aloe vera purify the air.

8. Help to be more eco-friendly

If someone from your family is at the beginning of this journey and wants to be more conscious about the environment but doesn’t know where to start, gift them something that can help them reduce plastic. Head to Chapter VII: Eco-friendly gift ideas for beginners and all who want to reduce plastic!

9. Practice philanthropy towards the planet and others

If your family and friends are aligned with your goals and love helping out, they might really appreciate the gesture of planting a tree, donating to a good cause (like The Ocean Cleanup), or supporting a Kickstarter campaign that helps fund an eco-friendly product in their name.

10. Don’t cook for the whole army

Unless you’re expecting 30 people at your Christmas dinner table, try to cook mindfully thinking about the amount your family is actually going to consume.

Just imagine that the brussels sprouts wasted during Christmas could power a home for 3 years. If all Christmas food waste was recycled into energy, it could power the average medium-sized home for 57 years.

If you do cook too much, pack it in a tupperware and give it out to your friends and family on the spot, freeze it for later, or take it to a homeless shelter. Someone will appreciate it.

Bonus Tip: Minimize your carbon footprint

Online shopping is easy and convenient, I get it. But did you know that Amazon Prime uses much more diesel fuel to get to places faster? So, consider:

• Buying local as much as possible - even if it’s online, buy from brands that are closer to home to minimize CO2 emissions
• Bundle your orders - if it’s Amazon, it might be possible to group your order into one delivery
• Gift non-physical gifts as listed above including experiences, handmade goodies, or time together

Now, let’s get into the nitty gritty. Here are gift ideas for different kinds of people in your life, from a foodie, a nature lover, children, and beyond.

Chapter III: Eco-friendly gift ideas for foodies

I’m starting with a foodie, because I think it’s a fairly easy one. There’s so much you can gift to someone who loves cooking or is curious about it and wants to master his technique, or simply enjoys eating. Here are six ideas:

1. Dinner experience

There are a myriad of restaurants that do things differently and which provide not only food, but an entire experience that comes with tasting. You can gift:

• Dining experience such as Dinner in the Sky - definitely not for those suffering from vertigo
• Dinner at a restaurant outside of the city which offers beautiful views or unique surroundings
• Several-course meal package in a restaurant where they like experimenting with different food forms. For example, in Barcelona there's Nectari where chef Jordi prepares dishes such as crawfish risotto with wasabi, cicadas of the sea with spinach emulsion, or turbot in crust.
  

2. Cooking class

This can be a class where they learn how to make something from scratch. For example, a complex meal they have never prepared before. In Barcelona, we’ve got paella making classes and tons of other food and drink experiences offered on Airbnb such as wine tasting and Spanish tapas making.

If there are no decent cooking classes in your city, it can also be an online masterclass. Look for it in the Chapter VIII: 10 concrete and ready-to-go green gift ideas.

3. Specialized kitchen utensils

Survey their partners or friends to find out what they might need, be interested in, and don’t have yet.

• If they are into baking, you can get them a collection of wooden pastry brushes.
  
• If they’re into making things from scratch (like curry), get them a wooden mortar and pestle .
• If they love pasta, look into a ravioli stamp maker like this one.
• If they don’t have one yet, get them a citrus zester and a cheese grater. I’ve just gotten one and I don’t know how I lived without it.
• If they want to make more food from scratch to reduce plastic and eat healthier, a hand food processor might be a great idea.
• If they want to cook more healthy food, you can get a bamboo steamer like this one.

4. A cookbook

Are they interested in a specific type of cuisine which they’d like to explore? Or do they want to start a new diet (like keto) but lack ideas? Or maybe they need an inspiration for their weekly routine? Here are the top picks for 2019:

• Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over by Alison Roman.
• Green Kitchen at Home. Quick and Healthy Vegetarian Food by Frenkiel David.
• Asma's Indian Kitchen: Home-Cooked Food Brought to You by Darjeeling Express by Asma Khan.
• The Clean Plate: Eat, Reset, Heal by Gwyneth Paltrow.

5. Homemade treats + recipe

You can prepare something special like these raw vegan brownies (I’ve made them before and they are delicious!) or something that you’ve mastered (like a fig jam or apple sauce). But why stop there? You can also craft a handmade box that contains a handwritten recipe so that they can easily replicate it if they like it.

6. Multipurpose tupperware

Good quality stainless steel tupperware set could serve a few purposes: to store food in the fridge, be used for grocery shopping, or getting takeout. You can also get a really big one to be used as an organic waste container. They can just fill it up, then dump it into the organic bin, no bags involved!

Chapter IV: Eco-friendly gift ideas for travelers

When I was doing a Plastic Free July challenge this year, one of the biggest difficulties I’ve encountered was avoiding plastic while traveling. If your loved one is a digital nomad or travels frequently, here’s what you can get them:

1. Reusable bottle

This is an absolute essential when on the go. There are hundreds of companies making reusable bottles like Chilly’s so make sure you get one locally (for a lower carbon footprint) and read up on their supply chain and materials used in the bottle production.

2. Multi-purpose cup

Another essential, a collapsible cup (like the one above) is great for any kind of beverage like tea, coffee, or a smoothie. It can also be used as a container for ice-cream to go, peanuts, or any other snack solid or liquid.

3. Bamboo cutlery set

This one becomes really handy while hiking, or ordering takeaway on the go. There are plenty of eco-friendly bamboo sets like this one that come with a bamboo straw (plus a brush to clean it), and chopsticks, all packed in a cotton bag that can easily fit into any backpack.

4. Tupperware for transporting treats and for takeaway

Similar idea to a collapsible cup, but it can store more food. You can get a set of stainless steel containers like those above which don’t take a lot of space and are helpful for storing snacks or takeaway food.

5. Eco-friendly backpack

If they’re in the need of a new backpack, Hemper offers one made sustainably in Nepal by a community located in the neighborhood of Budhanilkantha in Kathmandu. You can learn more about their mission, materials used, and packaging here.

6. Produce bags

Those are super helpful when grocery shopping for fresh produce and they don’t take up a lot of space. Make sure you get the ones made from organic cotton like those to avoid synthetic, plastic-based materials which pollute our oceans.

Chapter V: Eco-friendly gift ideas for nature lovers

I’m a nature enthusiast myself and one of the things that makes me most happy is an outdoor experience. Best thing about it is that it’s a non-physical and also a waste-free gift (if you stay away from plastic water bottles).

Here are a few ideas:

1. Hiking adventure

You can create a handmade coupon for a hiking trip together. Just pick a date and place and plan the route in advance. You can use Wikiloc to find hiking trails near you. When packing for your excursion, don’t forget your reusable water bottle, homemade snacks or nuts, and an extra bag for any waste you might produce on the trail.

2. Paddle board class

Depending on where you’re located, you might be able to book a paddle board class like this one in Barcelona, a 1:1 ski training session, a kayak cruise, and any other activity that’s available near you.

3. Road trip

This is one of my favorites. I often scout beautiful locations near me in Catalunya and book a beautiful rural home on Airbnb for a night or two as a surprise. Then I make a coupon and pack it as a gift.

4. Yoga or meditation retreat

Many of us are overworked and dream of a weekend away, but never actually get to book it. Here’s where you come in. You can gift your loved one a yoga or meditation retreat where they are “forced” to focus only on their body and spirit for 48 hours or more. There are platforms like Book Yoga Retreats that help you find such getaways by location.

5. Horseback ride experience

This is a unique way of exploring new places and enjoying nature around you. In Barcelona, you can ride through medieval landscapes on horseback and book this experience through Airbnb. Depending on where you are, you can look for a Nature or Sports experience near you on that platform.

6. City tour

Recently I’ve gone on a free walking tour in Granada, Spain, and it was fantastic! The good thing is that you can book one in your hometown too. We often know very little about the place we live in. On those tours, your loved one can learn about local legends, little known facts, and stories they’ve never heard before. They will see their own city through a different lens. On Free Tour, you can book a tour in one of 120+ countries.

7. Plants

I think what makes gifting plants special is that they last for a long time (unless someone is excellent at killing plants) and they’ll always remind your loved ones of you. If you have a plant like Monstera (which grows like crazy), you can easily split it up into parts and replant it in a lovely pot like this one from Casa Atlantica or this one made of cork from Xianna. You can also attach handwritten plant care instructions, ideal for plant killers.

Chapter VI: Eco-friendly gift ideas for kids

For years I’ve been known in my brother’s house as the Speculoos auntie. Sometimes it was the first thing my niece and nephew would ask me when I stepped through the door. Getting kids foodstuffs is a great idea, but an even better one is to make them yourself (and ensure they’re healthy and nutritious).

Here are a few ideas for snacks and beyond:

1. Homemade yummy snacks

Those can include peppermint marshmallows, ginger snaps, or gummy bears in their favorite flavours.

2. Hot cocoa mix + a mug

You can buy a fair trade cocoa mix like this one from Ecolectia and transfer it into a jar with a homemade label. You can also get a mug with their favorite character on it.

3. Wooden educational kits

Kiwico offers subscription-based wooden kits for all ages. You choose the age range and get a new box every few weeks. Boxes contain things like wooden clocks, color-blocked candles, rubber band powered rockets, and more. All to be assembled at home.

4. Handmade memory games

You can easily make a memory game from photos. You could order squares like these ones from Social Print Studio and print each photo twice.

5. Art or craft supplies

You can get them supplies to make their own stuff including handmade jewelry, scrapbooks, photo albums, paintings, pottery, puppets, or unfinished wooden holiday ornaments.

6. Coupons for fun family activities

Those can be handmade and offer activities such as: 3D movie tickets, trampoline park entries, road trip to their favorite theme or water park, Disney on Ice or other holiday show tickets, or an interactive museum pass.

7. Stuffed animals made of recycled fabrics

This is a great idea for the smaller kiddos. Indy Plush, for instance, stuffs their animals with recycled plastic bottles. Olokuti produces theirs locally - they are made of 100% organic cotton and use non-toxic dyes.

8. Handmade puppets

You can make a bunch of different ones and set up a puppet show when you’re all together. Alternatively you can organize a paper puppet making workshop and create them together.

9. Personalized pillow cases

You can buy cotton pillow cases and use fabric scraps to sew their favorite movie or book characters on them.

10. Five extra ideas:

• Homemade bubble bath or bath salts
• Organize a treasure hunt
• Music or dance lessons
• Regift books you have with handmade bookmarks
• Eco-friendly products for new parents: cloth or bamboo diapers, recycled diaper bag, etc

Chapter VII: Eco-friendly gift ideas for beginners and all who want to reduce plastic

This is perhaps one of the most important chapters. Why? Because by gifting things that are environmentally friendly we help shape new habits in those who have not started with their plastic-free journey yet or might not know how to begin.

This is the longest list of all, and hopefully it helps source some ideas not only for beginners, but those who have already been trying to reduce plastic for a while:

1. Reusables: bottle, cup, cutlery, straws, tupperware, produce or tote bags

Those are great essentials to get started with. Look into a locally produced, plastic-free water bottle, collapsible cup, bamboo cutlery set and straws, and tupperware for takeaways or storing food. They are all listed with examples in Chapter IV: Eco-friendly gift ideas for travelers

2. Cora ball or a laundry mesh bag set

The Cora Ball offers an innovative solution to the microplastic pollution problem. It catches microfibers shedding off our clothes while they’re being washed and prevents them from entering our waterways. There’s also a washing bag from Guppyfriend which aims to reduce micro-waste in a similar way.

3. Beeswax wrap

This is an awesome alternative to the aluminum foil or saran wrap. You can get a set of those in different sizes. They are great for wrapping pieces of fruits and veggies, or simply for covering plates with leftovers. Make sure to investigate the provider, there’s a lot of green-washing going on in this area!

Guys from Beeswaxwraps make theirs using GOTS certified cotton (in super funky patterns), pine resin, organic jojoba oil and locally sourced UK beeswax.

4. Subscription to plastic-free products

Green Up Box offers curated sustainable goods delivered to you six times a year. It's meant to inspire, and empower you to create your new plastic-free life. There's the Morning Routine Box including bamboo toothbrush, biodegradable dental floss, and natural fiber bath mitt among other products. You've also got The Work Day Box, The Grocery Haul Box, The Clean & Purify Box and others.

5. Eco bathroom products: organic cotton pad set, bamboo toothbrush, solid shampoo and conditioner, and more

These were the first switches I’ve made in my bathroom. Imagine the amount of reduced plastic if you can get your friends or family to switch to just one of those products!

• I use solid shampoo and bar conditioner from Lush. Most recently I’ve also started using their bar body conditioner. You can also get their soap tins for traveling. I encourage you to look for your local alternatives though.
• Additionally, there are also soap pouches and holders for the bathroom which make great gift combos with the solid soap and shampoo.
• Bamboo toothbrush - it’s important to research a brand to make sure the entire toothbrush is biodegradable, not only it’s handle. I use the one from Natur Brush. You can also get a cute case to go with it.
• Natural toothpaste - scroll down to Chapter VIII: 10 concrete and ready-to-go green gift ideas, idea 9.
• Shhhower cups - those make a fun gift and they help save water, aaand are locally and ethically produced in the US.
  
• Organic cotton pads - those replace single-use makeup remover pads. I have about a dozen of them and I use each one a few times before I throw them all into a mesh bag and wash them with my regular laundry.

6. Homemade everything

This one is for all the DIY enthusiasts. You can make:

• Bath salts like the ones above
• Body lotion
• Fabric softener
• Bonus for all above: add an ingredient list and “how to make it” instructions
• You can use mason jars or buy reusable elegant containers such as those from Botikarium
• Reusable “paper towels” you can make and decorate yourself
• Rice bags with essential oils for soothing muscles, clearing sinus and headaches

7. Natural cosmetics workshop

If they’re interested in making their own home products or cosmetics, you can sign them up for a class. In Barcelona, there’s a soap making one available on Airbnb experiences.

8. Books to raise awareness

Books help dive deeper into the topics of plastic pollution, or fast fashion, for those who would like to explore these topics and understand why it is important to drive change. Here are some top picks worth checking out:

• This is a Good Guide - for a Sustainable Lifestyle by Marieke Eyskoot
• The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good by Elizabeth L. Cline
• Wear No Evil: How to Change the World with Your Wardrobe by Great Eagan
• Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought it by Elizabeth Royte
• Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair With Trash by Edward Humes

9. TP

Yes, you guessed right, I mean toilet paper. Ok, it might not be the most popular choice but you can get one from Who gives a crap that builds toilets for people who need them most. That's a pretty awesome goal to support if you ask me.

10. Gifts that give more

RainForestSite offers gifts that support charitable organizations and concrete causes such as helping protect elephants in Kenya or plant trees. You can also find a local project close to you heart, and ask if they offer gift cards.

And here are ten specific ideas you're free to use:

Chapter VIII: 10 concrete and ready-to-go green gift ideas

1. Eco-filter for home

Single-use plastic bottles are one of the top ocean polluting items. In Spain alone, we use around 3,500 million of them every single year. For me, getting rid of the single use bottles is the easiest switch if you’re thinking of reducing plastic and it’s also a great direction to point your loved ones to. Tap water might be drinkable where you’re from, but it is not in Barcelona, so if you’re friend or loved one is still buying plastic water bottles, a filter for their home will save our planet from hundreds of them.

Ecofiltro is a ceramic filter made in Guatemala where it provides less privileged families with access to drinkable water. It’s a social enterprise with fair and generous policies towards its employees and it’s now available in Europe too. Plus it looks elegant and beautiful in any space.

P.S.: soon you will be able to refill your bottle on the go in Barcelona via Ecofiltro and Refill Aqua.

2. Game made of photos

This is a gift I gave my fiance for one of our anniversaries. I’ve ordered these square prints of our photos together and wrote a story which I divided into all the photos. He then had to find the correct order of the photos to put the story together. He loved it!

3. Wood carving workshop

There’s wood workshop in Barcelona where you can gift spoon carving or beer tote and cheese board making class. Your loved ones get a chance to work with their hands and learn woodworking. I’m sure you can find one in your city too! This is something I gifted last year and I created a little flyer to go with it (pictured above) at Piktochart using this template which I then printed on a thick matt paper.

4. Your diary featuring someone you love

Back in high school, my best friend wrote a diary for several months. It captured her every day of school which featured me as her desk-mate and someone who picked her up on the way to school every single day. She kept it a secret and gave it to me on my birthday. It was one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten. It portrayed our shared reality from her unique perspective.

Years later, I stole this idea from her as an artist and I did something similar - it was a journal of one month of my life featuring my boyfriend. He could then read it as a book. He keeps it in his chest of presents now.

This one needs some preparation in advance, but you can also limit it into a 2-week journal.

5. Plastic-free cleaning kit

Plastic is present in every single aspect of our lives, also in the home cleaning products. If your family member is still not on the stage of creating their own cleaning products but would like to reduce plastic in their home, you can gift them a plastic-free cleaning kit.

Guys at Blueland offer sets of glass bottles and tablets for different uses. You just need to place a tablet in the bottle and it dissolves within minutes creating a multi-surface cleaning detergent, or a hand-washing gel. Great thing about it is that you don’t have to buy new bottles ever again. You just reuse what you have and buy only the refills which are made of natural, non-toxic ingredients.

In the UK, there’s Splosh where you can also buy laundry detergent and softener among other products - all of which are refillable.

6. A t-shirt that saves endangered forests

Fast fashion comes with an incredible cost for our planet and local communities that produce it. Microplastics from fabrics such as rayon or polyester end up in our oceans and find their way to our food chain. Not to mention the conditions endured by those who make our garments.

Instead of buying another discounted piece of clothing from an Inditex brand, why not to invest in a garment that will not only last longer but one that is produced sustainably with care for those who make it and the planet?

One idea is this beautiful Trees Please tee from Tamga Designs. All Tamga pieces are created using eco-friendly fabrics and low impact dies. The Trees Please t-shirt is even more special because for every tee sold, Tamga donates $10 to the Sumatran Orangutan Society to help re-plant the Sumatran rainforest.

7. Yoga class subscription

Here’s what’s great about non-physical gifts: they have a low (or none) carbon footprint and they create memories that are often far more precious than any product.

If you’re loved one’s New Year resolution is to be more mindful and fit, why not give them a one-month subscription to a yoga studio near them? In Barcelona, there’s Grow Estudio where they offer all kinds of yoga classes and mindfulness sessions, also for the beginners.

8. Homemade brown sugar and coconut oil body scrub

If you’re into DIY gifts or you want to learn something new, you can try this homemade body scrub made from coconut oil and brown sugar. You could also use avocado oil, jojoba oil, grapeseed oil, or any other neutral-smelling oil.

You can then store it in a nice glass jar and decorate it with a handmade or printed label. Additionally, you can add handwritten instructions for your friend to make the scrub themselves after it’s finished.

9. A Kickstarter campaign

If your loved one likes giving back to the community and you know they’d be happy about supporting a good cause, you could donate in their name to a crowdfunding campaign which supports an environmental cause.

NOICE is my latest find. It’s a botanical, zero waste toothpaste that comes in glass bottles and offers refills. When you pledge $20 or more to their Kickstarter campaign, you will receive a 3-month refill pack. Plus they’ve done an excellent job with their campaign video. Who can resist a French naked guy called Clement? ;)

10. Online cooking master class

Last but not least, if you’re looking for a gift for a foodie and you have a decent budget, you could get them an online master class like this one with Thomas Keller where your loved one can learn the secrets of blanching, glazing, braising, roasting, confiting, and pasta making.

That's it for the ideas! Now, here’s a little gift from me that might help you convince your family to be more mindful this Christmas:

Bonus Chapter: Letter to your friends and family

What if you’re the one who has been trying to reduce plastic waste from your life and need to explain it to your family? This one can be tricky because some people simply don’t accept your I don’t need any clothes or body lotions or Please no plastic requests and still keep gifting you whatever they like.

There’s a remedy to that though.

I think it: a. requires some extra patience, b. a clear communication plan. And here’s where I can help.

If confrontation is not your forte, you can send an email or a message to your family and friends:

1. Explaining your goals clearly - “why am I doing this?”
2. Proposing a new approach - “how can you help me on this journey?”

If you’re not so good at putting your thoughts into paper, here’s a draft which you can shamelessly copy-paste or as I like to say it - steal like an artist:

Hey [friend, family member]!

Ready for the holiday season? I can't wait for us to spend some 
quality time together at last!

About that, I'd like to make a suggestion for this Christmas 
and I hope you like it :)

As you know I've been trying to be more mindful about the environment 
lately and to reduce plastic from a few areas of my life. I've realized 
how wasteful holiday season can be (from packaging to unwanted presents 
going to landfills) and I'd like to propose for us to do things a little 
differently this year! 

So, here are a couple of ideas we could try out:

- Let's organize a Secret Santa so that each person only gives one gift. 
This way it's going to be even more thoughtful. We can create a wish 
list spreadsheet where everyone writes down what they need or want. 
- Let's establish a rule that gifts need to be either handmade or 
non-physical. It could be consumables, experiences or digital gifts. 
Here are some ideas: [link to this guide] to get us started.
- Let's agree that all the packaging needs to be recycled. 

I've already got started on my wishlist [link to your spreadsheet] 
and made it editable so that you can add your ideas. 

Let's make this Christmas a bit more friendly for our planet. 
What do you say?

Lots of hugs,
Marta

And here it is - your ultimate guide to eco-friendly gift giving!

I hope it was useful but most of all I hope that all the little steps we make collectively help reduce waste this holiday season. That’s my wish for this Christmas.

Happy Holidays from Refill Aqua!