SF Dept. of Environment: Alternative Gifts for the Holidays

With crisp nights and glittering lights, the holiday season is finally upon us. Whether figuring out what to buy Uncle Seymour or finding time to shop after yoga class, gift giving can be a stressful part of our holiday experience. Plus, since every commodity uses natural resources, all that stuff we buy can have an ecological price tag that goes far beyond the cash register.

Choose a different approach this year and discover how meaningful your holidays can be. Too often we are so busy buying presents for people who, in turn, are busy buying gifts for us, that we're all too busy to actually enjoy the spirit of the season! Simply put, by buying less stuff and creating more experiences, we can enjoy an abundance of the good things in life. Here are some suggestions guaranteed to bring more joy and meaning to your holidays.

Make it, Do Not Buy it
Making gifts is a wonderful ritual that can be done with family or friends. Whether you are whipping up candied nuts, dipping beeswax candles, writing personalized poems or creating cards from old magazines, homemade gifts are wholesome, simple and can be more meaningful than a gift purchased in haste.

Give an Experience
From spa treatments to sporting events, giving an experience conserves natural resources and offers an opportunity for luxury and fun. Think about offering gift certificates for a massage, horseback riding, dance classes, free babysitting, movie passes or tickets to the ballet, theater or baseball game.

Buy Earth-Friendly Products
Many local stores offer eco-friendly gifts. Buy handmade body products made with all natural ingredients, look for clothing made from organic cotton or hemp and offer your friends organic wines or fair trade organic chocolates that take into account the environment and working conditions of cocoa production overseas. You can also buy a gift certificate to a local nursery specializing in Bay Area native plants.

Use Less Packaging
Gift wrapping can be as much an event as the gift itself. Rather than spending money and resources on layers of boxes, wrapping paper and ribbons, wrap gifts with simplicity and style using old maps, comic pages or vintage scarves and fabrics readily found in local thrift stores.

Make a Donation for the Earth
There are many worthwhile environmental groups that need financial support. Whether they are fighting to save the planet's last old-growth forests or working with indigenous groups to help them protect their ancestral lands, making a donation in honor of someone is a meaningful way to honor them.

Compost your Holiday Tree
Trees will be collected during regular recycling days, after 6 a.m., from Jan. 5 through Jan. 9 and will be turned into compost and mulch.