by Tina Kelly –
“It came without ribbons, it came without tags, it came without packages, boxes or bags.” The Grinch was puzzled: stealing all of the town’s presents had done nothing to squash Whoville’s Christmas celebration. Can you imagine the holiday season without packages heaped beneath the tree?
If you haven’t already turned the page at the thought of an anti-gift article, let me provide some clarification. What I’m actually suggesting is a rethink on the traditional gifting of goods. Objects that bring joy for a moment, only to go unused, become clutter and land in the garbage bin, wasting resources used in their creation and transport. Maybe we reconsider the types of gifts we give and understand a gift’s environmental impact and the value to the receiver – is it useful; is it helpful; is it experiential? A few of my personal measures: can you eat it; do you have to dust it or does it include time with people important to me?
A quick Google search on the benefits of gifting experiences yields countless posts on the topic. Benefits repeatedly on the list are: boosts happiness levels more than objects; fosters social interactions and improves relationships due to the emotion evoked when an experience is consumed rather than when received.
I polled my community for their most memorable experiential gifts and responses came quickly – camping, kayaking, paddle boarding, afternoon tea, picnics, brewery and distillery tours, historical walking tour, ghost tour, ecotourism trip, meals out, classes and workshops, and tickets for museums, galleries or cultural centres.
Reflect on your skillset. Do you have an expertise that may benefit others? A longtime family friend gifts me annually with a day of sewing mentorship. I hone a skill, create a project (often with new and upcycled materials) and genuinely enjoy their company. Are you talented with a sewing machine, a camera, a paintbrush, a saw or other tools? Can you garden or cook? Maybe a little help in any of these areas is what someone would appreciate. Creating your own professional looking coupons or vouchers is easy with www.canva.com, a free web-based design program.
Eat it, don’t dust it. Consumables are among the items I appreciate receiving and like to give. Since baking and preserving are not my forte, I welcome a package of homemade snickerdoodles, piccalilli pickles or fruit preserves. Our region is blessed with incredible artisanal food purveyors and there are many local goodies to gift – hot sauces, dried mushrooms, tea blends, honey, beer, cider and cheese.
This year has had us evaluating our values and for many at the top is not a thing you can place on a shelf but experiences and time with friends and family. I gather from those in my community, time spent outside in nature also rose near the top of that list. Maybe this year’s gift choices reflect some of what we learned in 2020 and in the process we tread a little lighter on the natural world around us.
Other adjustments to your gift giving that can reduce your environmental impact:
- Shop local. Online ordering creates unnecessary waste and recent undercover footage showed returned goods were thrown in a landfill rather than being processed to be resold. Buy from producers and artists who incorporate local or recycled materials into their products.
- Avoid cards, tags, paper and gift bags with plastic packaging, glitter or metallic elements.
- Save large pieces of used wrapping paper to reuse for smaller packages next year.
- Use a personalized fabric bag or sack to refill for individuals you buy for every year.
Happy gifting!
