Top 10 Green Santa Gifts
Secret Santa, Kris Kringle or whatever you want to call it, that annual holiday gift exchange can be, despite all good intentions, something you dread. This year, make it a little different: go green! Here are 10 ideas that will make you, your gift receiver, and the environment feel good, all for under $20.
1. Biodegradable Ylang Ylang Shampoo & Conditioner Set
Give Santa luscious green locks this year. Your Secret Santa can enjoy the luxurious suds of a naturally formulated shampoo and the deep moisture of a rich conditioner that is fully biodegradable and free from parabens, artificial fragrances and colors, all while the ylang ylang fragrance uplifts and excites the senses. Made in Canada; available at http://www.greencricket.ca/ for $19.99 a set.
2. Designer Reusable Bags
Plastic just isn’t cool anymore, but you can be a cool gifter with EnviroSax’s latest designer reusable bag series: La Boheme. At just $8.50 each, pick up a couple for your Secret Santa and she’ll be Bohemian chic and an eco-friendly shopper at the same time. Available at Kitchen Stuff Plus and other fine stores.
3. Deep Steep Gift Set
Containing a miniature honey bubble bath, body wash, polish, lotion, butter, and moisture stick, it’s the perfect gift of relaxation and spa travel kit for any escape. All products contain zero chemical preservatives, parabens, petroleum, or sodium lauryl sulfate, so Santa can indulge, guilt-free, in an in-home spa experience anytime. Available in lavender/chamomile and grapefruit/bergamot for $19.99 at Pistachio.
4. Secret Santa Gift Set & You Shall Go to the Ball Gift Set
Cute, strawberry scented and 100% vegan. If this describes your Secret Santa, then Lush’s Holiday Gift Sets is the gift for you. The Secret Santa Gift ($9.95) contains a cute Satsumo Santa Bath Bomb, shaped like Santa and smells like oranges, and a star-shaped piece of almond-scented Snowcake Soap. The You Shall Go to the Ball Gift Set ($15.95) contains the Fairy Tail Sugar Scrub to polish and exfoliate the skin and a Yummy Yummy Yummy Shower Gel with a scent as sweet as strawberries. Turn your Santa into the belle of the ball…or the office party!
Lush has even saved you the job of wrapping it up—both gift sets come ready to give. Available at Lush stores across Canada and online at www.lush.ca/.
5. The Love Bottle
A stylish alternative to all the stainless steel water bottles we've been seeing everywhere, the Love Bottle has a ceramic flip-top lid (à la Grolsch) and can also be used for storing flavoured oils, salad dressing, or serving wine. A 500mL bottle is $19.99; available at Grassroots stores or online at www.grassrootsstore.com/.
6. Rolled Newspaper Bead Earrings
Resourceful artisans of the Women’s Multipurpose Cooperative in Baguio City, Philippines, create these charming earrings from strips of carefully rolled recycled newsprint. Now that’s a truly newsworthy gift! Colours may vary; $12.00; available at Ten Thousand Villages across Canada or online at www.tenthousandvillages.ca/.
7. Plantable 2010 Calendar
Deck the halls with boughs of flowers! This fun, modern and stylish monthly calendar can be planted for beautiful wildflowers. Made with 100% post consumer waste – even the stand is eco-friendly, made from 100% recycled cardstock. $19.95; available at select stationary stores across Canada or online at www.botanicalpaperworks.com.
8. Oxfam Unwrapped
Ever wanted to give someone a live chicken or the gift of peace for Christmas? Now you can for just $20. Oxfam Canada works in 20 developing countries around the world and a donation through Oxfam Unwrapped helps men and women living in poverty gain self-sufficiency and control over their lives and future. This year, think bigger and give globally.
9. Evergreen
Truly give green this year and plant a tree or help to preserve the environment on behalf of Santa. Evergreen is a not-for-profit that helps make cities liveable by empowering Canadians to take a hands-on approach to their urban environments. But, if you can’t volunteer and plant a tree yourself, why not donate and have it done for you?
10. Children’s Wish
Instead of a material gift, you can help your Secret Santa make a child’s wish come true through the Children’s Wish Foundation. The Foundation helps grant wishes for children coping with high-risk, life threatening illnesses. The holidays are, after all, about kids.
Written by: Flora Cheung