EXPERIENCES AND NON-GIFTS

Consider gifting experiences, DIY gifts, or shopping secondhand. Read more about why buying used is best here.

EXPERIENCES

In my opinion, as someone who lives a very low waste lifestyle, the best types of gifts are experiences. It allows you to feel like you are giving someone something but doesn’t come with the burden of end-of-life disposal for the gift recipient.

Here are some ideas:

  • Restaurant Gift Card

  • Any experience gift card: museum entry, winery, national park entry fee, tickets to a concert or sports game.

  • Eventbrite gift card or tickets to virtual events.

  • Airbnb or Airbnb Experiences

  • CourseHorse, Skillshare, Coursera gift card

  • Duolingo, Babbel, or Rosetta Stone gift card

  • Audiobook subscription to Kindle, Nook, Audible.com, or Scribd

  • Audm subscription

  • Luminary subscription

  • Subscription to any other form of online entertainment like Spotify, Netflix, HBO Max, etc. Seriously, if someone paid for six months of Netflix for me, I would be thrilled!

  • Pay for one month of their gym or fitness studio membership

  • Or give the gift of local produce!

Precycle is a pioneering zero waste grocery store that offers over 700 products for same-day delivery, five days a week. Their focus is on local, healthy, and sustainable food. They are the only closed-loop grocery delivery service in NYC, delivering products in returnable containers that they collect for future reuse, eliminating wasteful single-use packaging.

Sign someone up for 10% off!

SECONDHAND GIFTS

There is a laundry list of online retailers devoted to reselling goods—and a lot of major brands are stepping up in this category as well like Patagonia, IKEA, and Eileen Fisher.

Some of my favorites are:

  • Poshmark - Sign up now with my code nic4024 to save $10 on your first order

  • Thred Up

  • Mercari

  • Ebay

  • Rebelstork

  • GoodBuy Gear

  • Facebook Marketplace

  • And check out my reel here.

THE BUY NOTHING PROJECT

Now I would be remiss if I didn’t feature the Buy Nothing Project here. This group has literally changed my life, and that’s not an exaggeration.

The Buy Nothing Project is a B-Corp, and a global gift economy. The movement encourages people to give away items they no longer need, rather than buying new ones. There’s an app you can use, but I prefer the Facebook group. You can only join one, and that’s very important and intentional since the point is to connect with your community and neighbors and encourage hyper local gifting!

Read more about how to join your local group here.