Leah Payne

I almost feel guilty admitting this, but I love giving gifts. I love choosing them, wrapping them, and giving them. I always have. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve started to realize that it’s just far too much stuff.

Even looking past the idea of waste and resources, I don’t have anywhere to store gifts. My place is very small! Most people I know don’t want to receive unneeded things either. While the intention can be wonderful, often the item itself isn’t needed or wanted.

When it comes to kids, I honestly believe that too many gifts can backfire–proving overwhelming and teaching materialism.

In recent years, my family and I have started to give experience or low-waste gifts instead, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I often give a theatre and restaurant gift card for a “date night” to my parents and in-laws. For my mom’s birthday, we did a fancy afternoon tea service. And for the past few years, my sister has gifted me a night of a gourmet home-cooked meal. I also love supporting local attractions, companies, and organizations with these choices.

My son still receives some material gifts, simply because he needs more things: age-appropriate toys and books as he grows, clothing, and so on. But we keep it quite minimal.

The great thing is that you can still make an experience or low-waste gift exciting to give. Turn it into a scavenger hunt, add a personal note or poem, or give a low-waste option along with it (such as some baked goods with a family recipe collection). I still love gift giving, but I feel like I do it in a better way.

Here’s my grand list of gift ideas. Hopefully you’ll find it inspiring too!

Experiences

1. Classes: cooking, pottery, jewellery making, beekeeping, swimming lessons, yoga, calligraphy, sword fighting, bartending
2. Theatre event: a comedy show, concert, opera, play, ballet, or other dance performance
3. Escape room
4. Restaurant — or fancy home-cooked meal
5. Winery or brewery tour
6. Coffee shop
7. A local outdoorsy activity: skiing, kayaking, zip lining, hiking, whale watching…
8. Psychic or tarot card reading
9. Bowling
10. Aquarium
11. Museum
12. Art gallery
13. Spa or sauna visit
14. A local farm/food tour
15. Gym membership
16. Indoor rock climbing
17. Local walking tour: heritage houses, historical tours, ghost tours…
18. Afternoon tea
19. Sporting events
20. A meditation course
21. Professional organizer or home cleaning service
22. Picnic
23. Day at the beach
24. Ice skating
25. Movie theatre
26. Mini golf
27. Pub crawl
28. Festival/convention/conference/lecture tickets
29. Circus/trapeze school
30. Amusement park tickets
31. Photo shoot
32. Cat cafe
33. Sensory deprivation/float tank/salt cave
34. Online magazine or newspaper subscription
35. e-book, audio book, or online courses subscription
36. Streaming or online music subscription
37. Weekend away
38. Cash for whatever they’re saving for (wedding, trip, school…)
39. Hotel stay
40. Volunteering day

And some of my favourite low-waste/zero waste gifts

1. Flower or vegetable seeds; gardening supplies
2. A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box subscription
3. Weekly flowers from a local sustainable florist
4. Locally made artisan products: candles, soap and body care, bulk teas, artisan foods, clothing, toys, knitting, the list goes on…
5. Baked goods or other DIYs
6. Books
7. Board games
8. Personalized coupons
9. Personalized playlist
10. Collection of favourite family recipes
11. Family tree
12. Recreation of a childhood photo
13. Song
14. Poem
15. Commissioned personalized artwork (for example, cartoon family portrait or family crest)
16. Plants; succulent planter
17. Camping/hiking gear
18. Family photo book or scrapbook
19. Gifts for zero waste living: reusable straws, cloth bulk bags, plastic-free scrub brushes, solid shampoo and conditioner, wool dryer balls, food wraps, bamboo toothbrush, etc
20. Donation to a cause

Where to shop

Great gifts can be found all over, but these are some great places to start:

1. Online (such as Etsy)
2. Farmer’s markets, night markets, craft fairs
3. Local boutiques and florists
4. Bulk/refill stores
5. Natural health retailers

A little note

I should mention that I’ve heard from a few people that some of the industries that go along with these gifts, such as the movie industry, can be quite high-waste and polluting, even if the gift itself isn’t. This is a very fair point, and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Do you give experience gifts, or Zero Waste/low waste gifts?