Holiday Gift List: How to Make It a Green Christmas

BreakingModern – The holiday season is upon us and it’s time to start shopping. Here are a few gift ideas for your friends and family who are concerned about the environment. Here’s how to make it a green Christmas.

Green Gadget Gifts

made by julie gifts caseFor the gadget lover in your life, there is a vast selection of gadget cases and accessory options available online either for purchase or with tutorials for you to create your own. Pinterest is a great place to research shopping and crafting ideas, explore reviews from other Pinners and add gifting notes. Here are a few of my favorites:

Made By Julie on Etsy offers unique, handmade cases and padded sleeves for tablets and many types of laptops, including the option for custom orders.

vindicated vinyl green giftsVindicated Vinyl on Etsy offers bags, gadget cases and other accessories handmade from salvaged record albums. Now there’s a place to send those LPs if you have a stack of them in your place.

crafts merchant green giftsCheck out these cool laptop sleeves and other gadget cases made from recycled cement bags and other reclaimed materials available from The Crafts Merchant.

 

Or grab a necktie and upcycle it into a gadget case with this handy tutorial.

necktie upcycle green gifts

CrashPlan: The Digital Green Gift

You could also gift a digital life with a subscription to CrashPlan. CrashPlan provides users with three methods of reliable backup so your files are safe and available at all times. Users can backup local drives, offsite drives and online to CrashPlan Central. The subscription provides unlimited storage, and “stepped-up” security, offering 448-bit encryption (128-bit for free users) including a private key option. Subscribers also have access to the mobile app, which provides access to your files from anywhere. Many other features are available for users with a paid subscription, including continuous backup frequency (free accounts back up once per day), optional seeded backup, retention of unlimited file versions and priority support.

CrashPlan subscriptions are available for one computer for $5.99 per month ($5.00 per month with one year subscription) and for 2-10 computers for $13.99 per month ($12.50 per month with one year subscription). Digital is awfully green, and you’re bound to know someone who needs a safe digital life.

Experience Gifts

make your own monster green giftsThinking about eco-friendly gift ideas for a family who likes to get out and have fun? Purchasing an experience can be a memorable gift that everyone will love. Consider a membership to a children’s museum or science museum, tickets to a theater performance or a session of lessons or classes. For the special kids in your life, consider a project like creating a make-your-own-monster project kit with printable designs — the gift is not only the monster project at the end, but the lasting memories created by participating in the project.

Charitable Gifts

For the environmentally conscious person on your list who cares about giving back, consider making a charitable contribution in their name. Not sure about their favorite charity? Consider a contribution to the Carbon Fund. Each donation is contributed to carbon offset projects — domestic and international projects that provide renewable energy, contribute to energy efficiency or contribute to reforestation. All projects are third-party validated to ensure that donations make a positive impact on the environment.

Literary Gifts

Have a voracious reader on your list? Consider a gift subscription to Audible. With more than 150,000 titles, Audible’s vast library includes many new releases and bestselling books. Help them keep these titles at their fingertips with the Audible app, which is available on multiple devices and platforms including Android on Google Play, Apple iOS and Windows Phone.

audible green gifts

Users can download their current book and the service will bookmark their current position. Start listening on a computer, continue the same book on a tablet and then transition easily to listening in a car via Bluetooth. You can choose from three gift membership options — three months for $45, six months for $90 or a year for $150. Gift memberships include 24/7 concierge setup, one book credit per month and a 30 percent discount on all other Audible titles.

Not interested in audiobooks? There are an increasing number of e-books available on multiple platforms and the download of a Kindle or Nook app makes it easy for any smartphone or tablet to easily double as an e-reader.

Whatever you decide, getting green gifts this year will certainly make an impact on the environment and your giftee.

For BMod, I’m  .

Screenshots: Becket Morgan

Featured/Header Image: diy matchbook notepads” by amy gizienski via Flickr Creative Commons

Becket Morgan

Author: Becket Morgan

Based in central Vermont, Becket Morgan covers apps and lifestyle tech for BreakingModern. Follow her at @becketmorgan on Twitter or +Becket Morgan on G+.

Share This Post On

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>