When It Comes To Gift-Giving Season

Americans throw away 25% more trash during the Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday period than any other time of year. That extra waste amounts to 25 million tons of garbage. While a lot of this trash is food waste and plastic packaging, a lot of it is also gift wrap, unwanted gifts, and party favors. According to Stanford University, if every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet. And if every American family wrapped just three presents in reused materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.

Here are some easy ways to make your holiday season a little more eco-friendly:

1. When it comes to gift wrapping, avoid using shiny paper and go for recyclable butcher’s paper or fabric wrapping. Any cards or wrapping paper that have a shiny plastic-coating or fancy adornments aren’t recyclable. For as long as I can remember, one of my best friends has wrapped her gifts in newspaper decorated with stamps. Her gifts are always incredibly personal and special, and the wrapping just makes it even more so.

2. And if you receive something that’s wrapped in paper, save it to re-use. Sure, this means being a little more delicate when unwrapping gifts, but it’s totally worth it when you think about the waste (and money!!) saved.

3. Steer clear of glitter paper, cards, and decorations. As a microplastic — aka the tiny plastics notorious for getting into waterways and the fish that live there — glitter just ain’t great. In fact, some scientists even go as far as saying it’s so damaging to the environment that it should be banned.

4. Gift things that are “usable” and sold in minimal packaging. Food, and some bath products and candles, can great make low-waste gifts that won’t end up cluttering someone’s home for years. A bottle of local hot sauce in a glass bottle or candle in recyclable glass container are both great gifts that will be super appreciated and (hopefully!) won’t end up in landfill.

5. When buying gift cards, opt to print at home when possible rather than buy plastic cards. And if you just want to give someone the gift of free money, go for cash or a check rather than a Visa gift card.

6. Give — and request — experiences rather than physical gifts. This follows the same principle as the above: When it doubt, go for gifts that are never going to end up gathering dust at the back of your bookshelf or — let’s face it — in the trash.

7. Set up a secret santa or other gifting tradition in your family if you’re looking for a way to keep gifts for kids to a (fun) minimum. One of my favorite minimalist-ish gift traditions is to gift kids (or anyone you find yourself accidentally buying way too much for) something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read. Four gifts is still a lot of gifts and the want/need gifts can be as big and splashy, or as small and practical as you want them to be.

8. Learn how to say you don’t want any more gifts. This is an especially tricky thing to navigate, especially when it comes to well-meaning family members. A good first thing to try is a simple explainer along the lines of, “This year I/we want to focus the holidays on family over gifts, so please don’t bring any presents, just yourselves and an *insert delicious thing that person makes* if you really want to gift us something.” If you live in a small space (*raises hand*) it’s also just genuinely helpful to remind people that given you don’t have much space, you’re trying to lower the amount of things you own, so you won’t be needing any gifts this year. If people truly insist, follow the usable gifts rule and ask for a bottle of wine/fancy-ass candle or a plant! Always ask for a plant.

I hope that you found something helpful today! Tomorrow, in the final installment of this guide, I’m going to be talking about shopping — both in-store and online. If you want to do more reading before then, here are a few posts that might inspire the next gift you give.

6 Easy Holiday Gifts You Can Give Everyone In Your Squad

14 Eco-Friendly Products For Parents Who Are Just A Little Crunchy

13 Products People Who Don't Eat Meat Or Dairy Actually Swear By

15 Stylish Houseplants That Actually Thrive In Low Light

Have you figured out how to make your holidays less about “stuff” and more about people and memories? Please share your secrets and tag me (@gyanyankovich) and Goodful (@goodful) on Instagram. The more advice we can all share with one another, the better.

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