Are you making your Christmas gift list? Do you wish you could give some more eco-friendly gifts?
Here are some ideas for eco-friendly gifts you can make. Three ideas you can make for the kids, and three ideas the kids and you can make for adults.
For the Kids…
We made this tree house for my big boy’s fourth birthday this year. We used off cuts of silver birch from a tree my brother had removed and put it all together with a couple of screws and a hot glue gun. This looks much more complicated to make than it is, it was actually lots of fun, and with inspiration from Childhood101 and Irresistible Ideas for Play I am sure your kids would LOVE to get this on Christmas morning.
A little easier than the tree house, we made this set of round, random shaped, wooden blocks from small pieces of gum tree that would have been fire wood. Sliced into rounds, the kids helped sand them smooth and we made a cloth bag to store them in. That was more than three years ago and I know that those blocks are still being played with today.
Box Projects.
There are so many things you can make for your kids from cardboard boxes! Christie from Childhood101 is the box project guru and she’s made everything from kitchens to cars!
For Adults…
When I first saw this post at Epheriell Designs I knew I wanted to do it. I’ve been quietly collecting second hand tea-cups ever since. So simple and yet so pretty, and if you already have succulents growing they are very easy to propagate. A great gift for aunts and grandmothers!
Home Made Edible Goodies.
A sweet home made treat is always a winner as a gift. Last year we made Rhubarb Fizz using rhubarb from our garden and recycled champagne bottles (you’ll need to buy new stoppers) which was a great success. Or you could make your favourite muffins or cup cakes and pop them in this cute packaging using a recycled egg carton.
Seed Packets
If you are a gardener how about collecting some seeds from your favourite plants and giving them as gifts. Tipnut lists lots of great printable seed packet templates in all kinds of designs, you’re sure to find the perfect one to print out, fill with seeds and give as a gift.
If making your own presents is not your thing, or if you run out of time (like I seem to do each year) then you can still give an eco friendly gift. Itty Bitty Greenie has a huge selection of eco friendly products that make perfect gifts. With a focus on ‘eco-fabulous finds for kids’ Itty Bitty Greenie has lots of lovely toys, clothes and accessories… and I know a few adults who wouldn’t mind one of their drink bottles or cool new Goodbyn Bynto lunch boxes!
Win an Itty Bitty Greenie gift voucher worth $100!
Entries to this competition are now closed. Winners will be notified ASAP.
Itty Bitty Greenie is giving Picklebums readers the chance to win a gift voucher to the value of $100 to be spent in their online store! Now that’s a lot of Christmas shopping!
To win pop on over to Itty Bitty Greenie and take a look at their range, then leave a comment on this post telling us what you would buy and why buying eco friendly gifts is important to you this Christmas. The lovely Donna from Itty Bitty Greenie will choose the most, creative, funny or interesting answer to win the gift voucher.
Terms & Conditions
You must be an Australian resident to enter and provide a valid email address.
Entries are limited to one per household.
Entries close 6pm AEST Saturday December 10th 2011.
The winner will be contacted by email and announced on this blog post on Monday December 12th 2011.
The winner must contact me within 4 days or the prize will be re-drawn.
The winner’s contact details will be passed on to Itty Bitty Greenie and the prize will be organised directly by them.
{Disclosure: Itty Bitty Greenie has been a paid side bar advertiser on Picklebums in the past. I was not compensated in any way for this post. The views expressed are purely my own. }
{Images: Box toys image used with permission from Childhood101. Teacup succulents image used with permission from Epheriell Designs. }
Great post, love the tree blocks. Have been wanting to make some of these for a couple of months but none of my trees are big enough- might have to steal a branch from my mum’s garden ;)
I would buy the Green Toys Tea set. Many people think of eco toys as being wooden toys or recycled materials, but I believe that if you buy toys that are well made, and built to last, it doesn’t matter what material it is made out of. ‘Eco’ to me means buying a few well chosen toys rather than heaps of toys that may only be suitable for a few months, and not buying in to this consumer mentality that has been drilled into us. This year we have bought our daughter one present from us, and one from santa.
It would be a toss up between the red Goodbyn Lunchbox and the Kids Konserve Waste-Free lunch kit, perfect for to send with my oldest next year as he heads off to kinder for the first time (*sob*).
It’s really important to us to buy eco at Christmas just as much as any time of the year, as part of teaching our children how to care for the earth.
My little boy needs the Sophie giraffe as he has to stop sucking on my toes…………:-)
I would love to buy Green Toys Fire Truck and Kids Konserve Stainless Steel Containers (Magenta).
Buying eco friendly gifts are important to us because this way we can teach our kids that buying eco friendly things is the best gift we can give to our environment.
Those Goodbyn lunchboxes are great! They do look a bit big for Miss 5 though (she has mentioned I overfeed her when I pack a lunch) so I had better get a bynto box too. Oh, and some Makedo products, because we’re going to have 6 weeks needing to be filled with fun activities very shortly!
I have to say I love their drink bottles and lunch boxes! I have struggled to find the ‘right’ ones that have a mix of compartments – I have a little girl who likes a variety of things to pick from for lunch, as opposed to one sandwich – and a drink bottle with the durability for little kids!
Well… Eco presents make me cozy on the inside of giving and tacky placky gives me more of an, “Oh gee thanks Nan” (‘What am I going to do with this?), smile.
I would get:
-a Dandelion Bear because it’s got a tickle-able tummy
-Some Jack and Jill toothpaste because we’ve eaten all of ours
and
-one of the Petal Print Pocket Nappies because they make ME want to wet myself
errr…that should read ‘ Eco presents make me cozy on the inside, wrapped up in the love of giving’ … but I s’pose you could get cozy inside giving, if giving were to blanket humanity
The Goodbyn Bynto Pink and blue would be my number one pick as it requires no packaging for lunches and the more we can conserve the better.
Every year at christmas my family has decided to make each other home made christmas cookies, jams, treats so that we can really appreciate what christmas is really about. Family, friends and Jesus.
Eco friendly, Itty Bitty Greenie
its products are not meanie.
My daughter suffers asthma,
so your products, the best by far
Little Innoscents Hair & Body Wash
all other brands I will squash!!!
Tito the Tiger Organic Bath Towel
Lovely ‘purr..fect’ way to wrap, dry and cuddle a child!!
Oooh, I love the Fruit & Vegetables play set. We love playing ‘shops’ at the moment, and ‘fruit shop’ is the favourite. These would go down a treat!
Eco friendly is always important to me, not just at Christmas. The obsession with more, more, MORE, kills me. Our kids are getting op shop presents. They won’t know the difference and I can assure you, they are definitely not missing out. Do you know how much you can get for the same price as shopping retail!? Amazing!