5 Tips For Eco-Friendly Gift Giving This Holiday Season

If I think back to one of the main reasons why I founded The Kind Curator Co. in the first place, it was because of childhood memories and the endless amount of excessive and wasteful packaging that I would see during the holidays.

We used to receive a lot of monstrous gift baskets filled with more treats, candy, fruit cake than any human would ever need. I mean as a kid, I was laughing. BEST GIFTS EVER!

Oh and let’s not forget all of the non-recyclable, plastic packaging, *sighh*.

Here we are, at the end of 2020 (I am sure you are thinking, "please let it end!") and stepping into the holiday shopping season. This year will certainly be different than all of the years previous, that’s for sure.

This year, we are looking for more ways to shop local, more ways to support BIPOC and women owned businesses and more ways to support businesses that are also doing good things for the environment and using eco-friendly practices. 

Photo Credit: Glitter Guide

I decided to put together a few tips to help you create a more eco-friendly holiday & gift giving season

1. Don’t panic buy, don’t over buy. Take your time 

Try and simply buy what you need, buy what others need or that you know would be useful to them. The best way is to stop and first think about it, before anxiously hitting that buy button on Black Friday when you see the word SALE! Less excessive buying = less waste + more money saved?

2. Gift better

It’s pretty simple really. Look for gifts that add value to someone’s life (or yours). Gifts that are useful, are made with better materials and ingredients, small-batch and perhaps that give back in some way (eg. a charitable cause)

3. A big one (well in my opinion) is gift wrapping. Here are some tips:

• Reuse and repurpose packaging - boxes, tissue paper, bags, ribbon. Keep what you can and keep using them so they have a longer life and stay out of the trash. Of course, recycle when possible.
  
  
• Reusable fabric wrapping aka FUROSHIKI - the Japanese way of wrapping gifts. I am becoming obsessed with this way of gift wrapping. First off, it looks beautiful! If you are on a budget, you can use old fabric (even sheets, pillow cases) that you have lying around. If you don’t have anything usable, you can find some pieces at places like Value Village for a few bucks and upcycle those old, but cute AF sheets into some ga-ga gorgeous wrapping!
  
  If you don’t really have the time to start sourcing fabric, there are some great small businesses selling these beautiful, ready to go wraps such as Bellantoni Designs from Vancouver and many of the zero waste stores carry them as well such as Bare Market & The Re Place in Toronto. Then if you want to add a little more festiveness, add a few delicate pieces of greenery, a pinecone and voila! You can find these items outside (yes, you can step outside for some air) pretty easily here in Canada HAH!

• Look for gifts that come with less packaging and/ or more eco-friendly packaging - As much as possible, look for products that come in recyclable or  compostable packaging and in glass. Steer away from things like cellophane wrap (that clear stuff that comes on rolls - I used to love it...so no judgement!), it can only go into the trash. If you do receive some, perhaps you can reuse and repurpose.

4. Shop locally made, Canadian products

We have SO many amazing Canadian businesses that are doing great things, right here on Canadian soil. Whether ordering from them online or stepping into a shop - let’s get out and support those great businesses that are here. We want them to stay here don’t we? When you shop small, legit we do a happy dance or drink wine or something celebratory anyway!

5. Buy from businesses that are doing things ethically & sustainably 

For example, if you are looking for some comfy, cozy joggers for bae - look for a Canadian company that is manufacturing here in Canada, paying their employees/ seamstresses a living wage, have safe working conditions for their employees and are using sustainable fabrics. The fast fashion industry is a BIG one - yes, you can find joggers for real, real cheap. But really, at what cost? Some food for thought.

Check out these great Canadian businesses in the fashion industry:

Province of Canada (Toronto made sweatsuits+), Encircled, Bellantoni Designs  (our up-cycled hair scrunchies are from here!), Local Laundry. 

To make holiday shopping easier this year, there are so many amazing Canadian bloggers and influencers that have put together wonderful gift guides - be sure to keep an eye out for those!

If you think our curated gift boxes could be an option for some of your gift giving needs, you can find them all here. Plenty of customizable, personalization options to create a very useful, value added gift.

We hope these ideas and tips are helpful this holiday season - if you have some ways that you are keeping things more sustainable, eco-friendly this year, we would love to hear!

Drop us a comment below, we would love to connect!