With Christmas, Hanukkah, Yule, and many other holidays fast approaching, most everyone is holiday shopping by now. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, even your email are going to all be flooding your eyes with ad after ad trying to get your hard earned cash. So here’s a list of 16 sustainable things you could give as a gift this holiday season. You might not be crazy about all of these but they will definitely jumpstart your imagination.
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1. Stasher Bags
Stasher premium silicone food storage bags are excellent gifts. They’re great for all ages and all kinds of people, from the corporate commuter to the kindergarten little one. I have a full review of their bags here if you’d like to see what my experience is with them after a full year of use.
They can be used for packed lunches, meal prep, or other food storage. Or they can be used outside of the kitchen for things like packing toiletries when you travel, keeping your phone safe and dry in the rain, or even holding the tiny things that get lost in your purse.
Stasher is a great gift that helps people reduce their plastic consumption and exposes them to an impressive line of products they might begin to incorporate in their daily routines.
2. Shave Soap
Almost everyone shaves! People of all ages, regions, genders, shave any number of body parts. Shaving cream usually comes in aerosol cans which is pretty wasteful. Shave soap is a more traditional product that precedes the convenient invention of ready-to-go shaving cream. It just takes a little bit of lathering and you’re ready to shave.
Shave soap is also really easy to find online. Leaf has a shave soap bar, Etee has a bar, many eco-friendly brands are going to sell this kind of product. I’d recommend this for people that are both new and experienced in sustainability because shave soap still seems to be catching on in 2021.
3. Subscriptions
We live in the era of online streaming! It would be near impossible to find someone that doesn’t stream from Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, or some other streaming service. A great low waste gift would be to cover their subscription for 1 to 12 months, depending on your price range. It might not seem like much, but I promise you it’s a real gift.
Just head over to the streaming service’s website and look for e-gift certificates or e-gift cards. That will keep the pointless waste of a plastic card out of the gift-giving process here too.
4. Sustainable Hand Soap
I know, household cleaning supplies don’t sound all that fun. Generally they’re not. But, Blueland is different. Blueland’s hand soap makes an amazing gift for anyone with a sink! The scents are amazing (my favorite is Gingerbread), the dissolving process is fun for all ages, and it helps cut down on single-use soap dispensers. It couldn’t get better.
I have a full review on Blueland’s hand soap, if you want to check it out you can do so here. In that review I also mention how I’ve gifted these and recommend them to any and everyone. Definitely check their hand soap out if you know anyone that uses hand soap or is looking to start living more sustainably.
5. Eco-Friendly Cutlery
Sustainable cutlery is a great choice for anyone in your life that is already working to live more sustainably. You’ll definitely want to check and see if they have any specific preferences or already have some before you buy.
I also recommend non-metal items, like bamboo, just because metal items can sometimes be trickier to take on-the-go if you have to go through any kind of security checkpoint.
6. Movie Tickets
Who doesn’t love a good movie experience? The smell of buttery-hot popcorn wafting through the air, dim lights, huge movie posters along the walls. This is a vibe we’ve all been deprived of for the last 2 years. A couple movie tickets gives someone a night out, an escape from reality for a few hours, and possibly some laughs…or screams. That’s a great gift to give and it also works for almost any gift exchange scenario. For the most sustainable method, stick to e-gift cards.
7. Reusable straws
These are a cult classic for zero wasters. You have a bunch of options to choose from. There are metal, glass, silicone, bamboo, and plastic reusable straws. You can find them on Amazon, at Walmart or Target, or almost any other store you probably already go to.
I wouldn’t recommend buying these for someone that already has more than 3 or 4 though so a little kitchen snooping or careful inquisition might be in order. And if you do choose get someone reusable straws, I recommend gifting bamboo or glass straws. I recommend bamboo and glass because they can be more eco-friendly than metal. I have a whole post on whether or not metal straws are actually sustainable here.
All in all, straws are a great gift for almost any person you might be buying for. They would work well at a company gift exchange, as a stocking stuff, holiday game prize, or just about anything else. Just make sure that the receiver will actually use them, otherwise you’ll just be creating waste.
8. Reusable Bags
In my post about eco-friendly gift wrap, I mentioned that you could use reusable grocery bags as a form of gift wrapping. That’s true, and a great idea. You could also just simply give it as a gift on its own! I love this set of 4 collapsible bags by Chico, I think the colors are wonderful and they’re so easy to take on-the-go.
A benefit to these is that reusable bags aren’t exclusively for the grocery store. I toss things into mine all the time when I’m headed to a friends for movie night, going out of town briefly, or just need to carry something from place to place.
If you or your gift receiver are new to reusable bags, then I’d also recommend this article. It covers some tricks that will help you remember to bring your bags with you to the grocery store (if that’s what you’re using your bags for)!
9. Handmade Soap
Everyone needs soap right? Handmade soaps are a great way to support small businesses, buy locally, and consume less packaging. Handmade soaps almost always come in little or no packaging and you can usually find them at either a farmers market or your nearest Whole Foods.
If you’re into the DIY world, then you could also try making them yourself. And if you’re an online shopper then you’ll have no problem finding endless handmade soaps out there. However you go about it, handmade soaps are a nice way to support local and small businesses while giving sustainably.
10. Glass Food Storage
Personally, I love Snapware. But you could go with any quality Pyrex, Anchor, or other quality brand product. Glass food storage is so versatile in the kitchen making it ripe for reuse. You also have a variety of sizes and even colors to choose from. You could go with a brownie pan, 1-Cup containers, or containers perfectly sized for lunch boxes.
I have a review of Snapware, and I cover what I love after years and years of use. You can check it out here. No matter what you choose, quality glass food storage will be cherished for years to come.
11. Putt-Putt Golf
A personal favorite, just like with the movies, you could give someone a night out and some good laughs. I’m definitely biased here, but if someone gave me a gift certificate to a putt-putt game I would likely remember it forever.
12. Reusable Water Bottle
Another sustainability classic, you have tons of options to choose from when it comes to bottles. You could go for something like Nalgene or Camelbak. You could also level up and choose a brand like Klean Kanteen. Reusable water bottles will be most sustainable when they’re going to someone that needs one and/or will use it a bunch instead of single-use plastic bottles.
A bottle like Klean Kanteen also gives you the opportunity to add more gifts around the water bottle itself. Like different lids. They have twist and sip lids, chug style lids, and even straw lids. Those make for excellent accessories pushing a bottle’s versatility even further.
13. Bath Bombs
Bath bombs were trending not that long ago. And even though the rage has died down, they still remain a staple for self care in a lot of bathrooms. When done right, bath bombs can be a great gift for anyone, even the men in your life.
If you choose to buy a bath bomb as a gift, I’d recommend shopping from a local store if you can. If you can’t, then you can still purchase from eco-friendly shops online. You’ll want to make sure to avoid plastic packaging if at all possible though.
Your best bet for avoiding disposable packaging with these will be to shop locally at spa, bath, and self care oriented stores. The Lush brand invented bath bombs and they’re known for great products, no packaging, and great ingredients so I’d recommend checking them out in person if you’re lucky enough to have one near you.
14. Gym Membership
Tread with caution. You definitely don’t want to give a gym membership to just anyone, but that doesn’t means it’s not still an awesome gift. If you’re thinking about this gift idea, then you likely already have someone in mind.
You’ll want to give a gift membership similar to how you would give a subscription, through a gift certificate or gift card (hopefully available online). You’ll also want to give it to someone you know is an avid gym goer. And make sure you’re close with the person, so they don’t take it as an insult. Like you’re saying, “Here’s a membership to a gym, you could use it.” That would be the opposite of a good gift.
You’ll also want to make sure they can actually use the membership. This would only be tricky if they have a prepaid plan of some kind or a contract that doesn’t allow them to use a gift card. For this kind of gift, I would stick to people you know well and big name gyms or online subscriptions like Beach Body or Apple Fitness.
15. Skating Tickets
Ice skating is a traditional holiday activity. That’s especially true if you live somewhere that only has it around a few months out of the year (like me). I don’t know about you, but I’ve never gone ice skating and left sad (except for once when my mom ran over my sister’s finger on the rink…big yikes).
If ice skating really isn’t something you think they’d like, then you could also consider roller skating/roller blading. It’s similar but without the called and not as slippery. While roller skating doesn’t seem to be as hot as it once was, sadly, it could still make for a great gift experience if you have it in your area. And whether it’s on ice or not, you would likely be supporting local businesses.
16. Leaf Razor
And finally, one of the more expensive gifts you could give. The Leaf safety razors are great. I personally recommend the “Twig” because it is better for smaller areas but either of their razors is a great choice. They both cut like butter and are great for any gender.
The main component is reusable while the blades are replaceable. Even better is, the blades can be collected in a tin at home, and eventually sent off to be recycled. No plastic involved and truly no waste.
That wraps up 16 sustainable and eco-friendly gift ideas for this holiday season. Thanks for joining me today! If you liked this content and want to see more, please subscribe to my newsletter. You can do that here!
In case you didn’t catch my post about whether real or fake trees are more sustainable, you can check it out here.
Sustainably is supported by readers like you. When you buy through links on this site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links on our “Affiliate Marketing…” page.
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