Monthly Archives: December 2007

Solar Powered Gift Ideas

Solar power has been improving and become more accessible of late. In fact, solar powered items can make great gifts.

Solar powered lights for the garden are of course quite popular. So much easier than wiring up outdoor lights. They can be decorative, light up a garden path, or even be used as security lights.

Or there are solar chargers for cell phones. I like the ones for rechargeable batteries too.

These little panels may not seem like much, but I see them as a way to get people used to solar power and learning that it can work well.

Have You Simplified Your Gift Giving?

Christmas for many families comes close to lacking any other meaning than “gimme, gimme”. People rush around looking for the perfect gift, buying gifts they hope will be appreciated.

green gift giving

I’ve been sharing a lot of green gift ideas recently, but this is perhaps the most important one:

Cut back

Look at what you give. Look at what you want. Is it all necessary?

I’ve been working on keeping my own requests practical. One of the big things I want is a good battery charger with a solid range of rechargeable batteries. Since we have not entirely avoided electronic toys and gadgets, this would make a lot of sense for my family.

Talk with the adults in the family. Do you all need to buy gifts for each other?

My sisters and I draw names. It allows for a decent budget for each person, rather than a bunch of cheaper gifts. It’s really nice to only have to shop for a very few people.

For the kids, beware of overhyped toys and really think about what will be loved for years. Too many toys have a lifespan of under 3 months. Seems like a waste of money and resources to me.

Gifts for kids are the most difficult area to cut back in many ways. Even if you avoid commercial television, they’re going to hear about things from their friends and have to deal with comparisons. It takes some extra effort, but choosing toys that encourage activity, education or creativity while following your child’s interests can help toys to last longer than the latest ‘hot’ toy.

It takes some work to really cut back during the holiday season. But when better to cut back than at the time of year that practically symbolizes overconsumption?

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Giving Reusable Bags

With the need to cut down on the use of plastic bags, one of my current favorite ideas is to give good looking reusable shopping bags as gifts. They’re very practical yet something many people don’t own yet. They can be plain or have a bit more style to them.

Most people will want several if they’re going to use them. One is just rarely enough, unless the person lives alone.

A potential benefit to this gift is that it can also help the recipient save a bit of money. Some stores take a few cents off your total per bag of your own that you use. It’s a small incentive, in addition to suddenly being free of those pesky plastic bags, but still an incentive.

If the person you give them to seems to doubt their ability to remember their bags, suggest they just stay in the trunk of the car. That way the bags do at least make it to the store. It takes time to build new habits. Some women even prefer the super compact ones that can be kept inside a purse.

There’s a lot more than just reusable shopping bags available, however. You can get reusable wraps for sandwiches and other reusable lunch supplies, drink bottles, gift bags and more. Just about anything that encourages people to reuse the container rather than use a disposable one every time is a good idea.

And as I’ve mentioned before, reusable bags can be great gift bags, especially if you’re doing a sort of environmental theme in a gift.

Homemade Cardboard Playhouse

The cardboard playhouse is a classic for kids. Who doesn’t have a mental picture of kids playing in an old refrigerator box?

cardboard playhouse

But you don’t have to wait for your next large appliance purchase to make a cardboard playhouse. Go talk to a manager at your local Home Depot or similar store, and ask about having a box saved for you. Every night the night crew opens up a lot of boxes, and some are great for making playhouses. All they’re going to do with it otherwise is crush it with other boxes and tie up for recycling. Stores are often cooperative with this kind of request.

We did this for my daughter, and the box lasted about 3 years. We got a double thickness cardboard box, and my husband cut out a door and some windows, with some packing tape to close up the top.

The cardboard playhouse has a lot of advantages over the plastic ones that are so popular:

  1. They’re not plastic!
    Yes, quite obvious from an environmental standpoint. Much better to use a box that has already been made than to buy some plastic in a box.
  2. Cost
    All these cost is some time. Looking at the hard plastic playhouses on Amazon, many run $150, $200 or more. Even the tent style ones are often over $50. They have a white cardboard playhouse in the $30 range for those who don’t want to cut out their own. But I’ve seen those in person, and you can get much more interesting doing it yourself, not to mention getting a larger playhouse that falls neatly into the ‘reuse’ category.
  3. Encourages creativity in more ways
    A plastic playhouse encourages creativity quite nicely, but a cardboard one has more room for creativity yet. Not only does it not look like any particular kind of house, but it can be colored on, painted, or whatever the kids want to do.

While these do take some effort (cutting through cardboard, especially if you get double thickness isn’t easy!), I think it is much worth it. The double thickness is strong enough that kids can climb on top of their playhouse if you’ve taped it up well at the flaps. If you have to move, it’s nicelycollapseable. It’s one of the best toys I can think to give to young children.

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