Green Gift Giving

written by Shanna of Sweet Slings, llc

As Easter nears it's a great opportunity to consider better alternatives to the plastic baskets, plastic grass, and plastic eggs that fill the box store shelves. Sand pails and dump trucks frequent our house this time of year.  But Easter is just the beginning of a greener gift giving perspective. The joy of giving a gift is rewarding unto itself. The pleasure in thoughtfully pairing and presenting that gift in a loving way makes it doubly so.

The Perfect Pairing

The trash day after Christmas always brings thoughts of empathy for our local waste collector as he drives the streets lined piles of boxes and bulging bags full of wrapping paper. With some forethought and planning, we can reduce our gift giving waste simply by the effort we put into it.

Try packaging a gift within a gift. You could fill a market bag like this one from Gillyweeds with lemon soaps from Daisycakes Soaps.

Or fill these Joyful Earth snack bags with a special treat from Fair Trade Family

Stuff a Wool Coffee Cup cozy from Joyful Earth with a bag of Sakura Bliss Tea from Love Abounds for the  perfect teacher appreciation gift.

The Perfect Packaging

Cloth is a fabulous alternative to wrapping paper. Wrap a baby shower gift in this luxurious velour blanket from My Beautiful Girl.

Treat Baskets like these from Fair Trade Family are a great alternative to the plastic birthday party bags, or sew up simple drawstring bags from fabric scraps.

A fat quarter of fabric (18"x22") and a piece of ribbon is a great substitute for traditional wrapping paper and is a great alternative for those oddly shaped presents.  You can cut the edges with pinking shears for a cute zig zag effect, or simply fold the raw edges under for quick no-sew wrapping.  Remnant bins are fantastic sources of inexpensive fabric options!

Reusing comic strips or having the kids paint or color sheets of crafting paper are still more thoughtful wrapping solutions.  Whatever alternative you decide to use, consider the packaging as much a gift as the gift itself.