Socially Conscious Gift Giving – in general

Socially Conscious Gift-Giving

Weddings

Planning to get married and want to add a creative, socially conscious element to the festivities? Trying to find a meaningful gift for a special person or couple? Making donations to worthy charities is the answer.
* JustGive’s Charity Wedding Registry allows soon-to-be-married couples to create a list of non-profits that they would like to help. Wedding guests can then choose to go online and make a donation to one of the organizations in lieu of a traditional gift. http://www.justgive.org
* The I Do Foundation charitable gift and donation registries help couples donate to charity in lieu of wedding favors. In addition, when honeymoon trips are booked through its site, 5 percent of the package cost is donated to the couple’s chosen charity.
http://www.idofoundation.org
* Married for Good offers smart suggestions for socially conscious weddings. http://www.marriedforgood.com
* Couples can donate favor money directly to charity in the name of each guest and indicate the donation on guest cards placed on the tables.
* Charities would all appreciate sharing in the bounty of cash given to couples as presents as well as during the money dances that are part of some weddings.

Helping people:

* Donate leftover food from receptions to a food bank.
* Donate leftover flowers to hospitals, nursing homes.
* Donate used bridesmaid dresses to a charity like Glass Slipper Project, which provides evening wear for disadvantaged high school girls to wear to their proms. http://www.glassslipperproject.org

Gifts for Children:

*Simple book about the child, written and illustrated by you!
*The makings for hand puppets — brown lunch bags, googly eyes, scissors, markers etc.

Homemade Gifts:

*Record interviews of parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles on audio or video tape; you can ask them to discuss their memories of the person you plan to give the tape to, or your family’s history, especially funny or meaningful anecdotes.
*Make your own cards and send them to relatives and good friends.
*Frame one of your best photographs. Buy a frame from a local business or artisan. Or make one yourself out of stiff paper or cardboard, decorated with colored paper, old wrapping paper, beads and/or natural products (like leaves, small pinecones, or seeds).
*Make your own calendar using cut-out pictures, photos, and/or drawings.
*Assemble a collection of favorite recipes. Gifts of Time:
*Special activities with a significant other–a candlelit dinner, massage, or outdoor activity.
*A monthly lunch date with an elderly relative or friend.
*A handwritten letter or card sent to a long-distance friend or relative once a month for a year.For more iteas on how to give the gift of time, read Good Gifting: Spend Time Instead of Money.

Family Gifts:

*A jigsaw puzzle for the whole family.
*Tickets to a favorite cultural or sporting event

Gifts for the Environment:

*Assemble a gift basket with compact fluorescent lightbulbs, forms for getting rid of junk mail, delicious recipes and a note about how the recipients can log on to http://www.turnthetide.org and see exactly how much of a positive impact they’re having on the environment.
*Buy a potted Christmas tree and replant after the holidays.
(You can also have a tree planted elsewhere in someone’s honor through American Forests.)
*Instead of new wrapping paper, reuse old paper the Sunday comics section, old maps, decorated brown grocery bags, or a colorful piece of material.Donations in the name of a Loved One:
*Alternative Gifts International offers a wide array of global gifts that can be given in the name of your friend or relative. Their partner organizations include 33 projects such as Fuel Efficient Stoves in El Salvador, Conquering Tuberculosis in North Korea, Literacy Training in Senegal, Land Mine Awareness in Vietnam or Organic Gardening in Belize. Contact Alternative Gifts at 1-800-842-2243, P.O Box 2267, Lucerne Valley, CA 92356. Free catalog from altgifts@sisp.net or http://www.altgifts.org.
*Give a donation to a local cause such as a soup kitchen, a shelter for battered women, a local environment group, etc. Call local churches, synagogues, and charitable organizations for ideas.
18: Give a friend a membership to a non-profit organization. JustGive.org allows you to donate online to thousands of charities. Give a gift membership to the Center of a New American Dream.

Regifting without Guilt

Have some nice item lying around that you bought on impulse but regretted purchasing the minute after it was too late to return it? Or maybe something you received as a gift yourself? Why not regift? Your white elephant is someone else’s treasure. If done in the right spirit, you can pass those items onto someone who will enjoy them more and save yourself the trouble of hitting the malls. It’s even more fun if you agree to regift as a group, encouraging everyone to repackage some nice but unloved item. Just be mindful of what potential giftees might really want, not just what you really want to get rid of! (Oh… gosh, thanks, Uncle George for the um… Betamax machine.)