from joana chan
another insight from jojo =] i added one website on the very bottom, but read away and take it to heart:
Here are some gift alternatives that will not only be kind to the environment and humanity, but probably also mean so much more to those that you present them to!
Give a Gift of Yourself or Your Time
* make homemade bread and deliver it every week for a month
* collect family recipes and compile in a wooden recipe box
* make one dinner a week for a month that you deliver
* offer baby-sitting time
* offer a monthly lunch date with an elderly relative or friend
* offer free lessons in an activity/craft in which you excel
* weed a friend's garden
* offer your talents, such as photography, financial planing, or hairstyling
* offer yourself as a willing cheerful worker for a day
* put together a photo album
* make a video of people the gift recipient loves
* offer to do a chore for a month that a family member dislikes
Give a Green Gift that Isn't a Thing
* give tickets to concerts
* give tickets to sporting events
* give a pair of weekend tickets to a ski area
* give a museum pass or membership
* give an experience (a day kayaking)
* provide a gift certificate for a lesson (tennis, swimming, drums, for example)
* provide a gift certificate for a dinner for two
* give a gift certificate to a used book store
* give a plant or a tree
* donate something in the name of a friend or relative, in a subject area of interest to them (such as for Literacy Training, or to protect the Rainforest)
Organizations you can donate to:
National Arbor Day Foundation plants trees in memory or celebration of people. They also have an extensive (& low-priced) tree-store! http://arborday.org/shop/ :D
"Adopt" a penguin, dugong, giraffe or any other animal for someone from the World Wildlife Foundation: https://secure.worldwildlife.org/forms/acdev/modules/MOD_acSpeciesDetail_r3.cfm?cqs=CTME100&sc=AWY0704WC900
Heifer International helps end hunger and poverty by donating livestock and tools to impoverished communities around the world. Choose from cows, rabbits, chickens, bees, and more, at www.heifer.org, or call 1-800-698-2511.
Protect an acre of rainforest through the World Land Trust (www.worldlandtrust.org) or
Protect-an-Acre at www.rainforestweb.org
Someone you know burn lots of CO2? Help start up wind farms and methane projects that offset tons of their CO2 with "cool" cards from NativeEnergy. (1 ton cards: $12!) http://www.nativeenergy.com/cardpage.htm
For those that would like to buy things (and I know that is):
Goods that go to a greater good. greatergood.com
Green gadgets and organic clothing and stuffs from http://www.gaiam.com/retail/gai_shophome.asp
For more ideas, check out:
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/11/22/giftguide/
http://www.ecohome.org/archive/holidayecology/index.html
And this one's from me:
https://www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.com/giftideas/