I bet you’ve been overwhelmed by the eternal dilemma  of what to give to these people you like, but that you might not know very well. I am sure many of my gifts to people have ended up in some dark closet, just where some of the gifts given to me have ended up. I got all Grinchy and told Nick that we shouldn’t do presents this year because 1. it’s a waste of time and money, and 2. because we don’t even believe in Christmas. He, as a sweet and normal human being who likes holidays and gift-giving didn’t necessarily like my proposal. Since that conversation, I have eased on my Grinch ways and have come up with some solutions to my worries about all the unnecessary pollution and gift wrap waste caused by the tradition of giving people useless things around this time of year.

Geeky note

Giving is a two way equation: the success of a gift can be measured by the happiness it brings to people and by the happiness it brings you to give it. Depending on the dedication and time you put in, the percentage each variable represents can change, for me, I do put time and effort and I try to get nice things that I would like to get for myself, but I really want the recipient to like the gift, that is very important to me (granted, most of the time it’s hard to know if they didn’t like it. I would say my breakdown is 60%/40%, that means that I consider the happiness of the recipient more important than my satisfaction with the gift; this means I sometimes sacrifice good reasoning for pleasing others with what I think they would enjoy most, based on historical data.

Here is a chart that explains this reasoning:

The success rate of a gift

Here are my easy holiday gift ideas to reduce our carbon footprint without being a party pooper.

Give experiences

A massage, manicure, facial and other types of pampering are usually very appreciated. You do need some knowledge about the person’s habits to choose the right thing, but a visit to the spa where they can choose what to get would hardly be rejected. Similar options: paintball, theater tickets, a home cooked meal at their time of choice, singing a song, dancing a dance.

Give something you made

“Why are you giving me all these cookies” -said no one ever. Baking is not only a great way to eat better quality food, since you have complete control over what you put in it, but in times of cold weather and not a large budget, homemade pastries are the perfect sinful snack. Or in any other situation. I don’t want to give the wrong idea that I eat that all the time, but the act of baking is a workout on its own, and since it takes more effort it is also a deterrent to baking all the time. I have become quite the baker: pumpkin bread, brownies, quiches, cookies, cakes, I got it. And I enjoy it even if I am not the final consumer, so I am anticipating lots of baked goods for people this holiday season.

Something else you can make: a video, a necklace, a jar of pink salt reusing an old glass jar, a plant you grew in your own garden, eggs Benedict, homemade jam.

Give things to strangers

There are people working on Christmas and New Year’s Eve:  hospitals, police stations and other people decide or have to spend such holidays working. How about showing up with some cookies, just to show them that you appreciate it? We did need a hospital on New Year’s Eve once and until then, I hadn’t thought about this, but there are a handful of people sacrificing their family time to do very important jobs that you and I benefit from. We are still not sure how we’re going to do this, but I’m excited!

Write a thoughtful letter

Taking the time to remind all those people that have done things for you in the past, that gave you advice or helped you in any way, professionally or in your personal life can have a long term impact. This will make them  feel appreciated, even if they don’t remember it or was something relatively small. You might also have family that you don’t see very often or friends that you haven’t talked to in a while. Not a simple “Happy Holidays” card, but a “Hey, remember when you saved my a** in 9th grade?” could come a long way.

Give “just because” gifts every once in a while

In general, I think holidays and celebrations of random things like birthdays and anniversaries are overrated. I prefer random presents, unexpected tokens of appreciation during the whole year can have a bigger impact in the long run that one for the established gift-giving dates. This also gives you the advantage of getting something special because you had a good idea in the moment, not just because you have to, making it more fun and spontaneous. This also takes some of the pressure off, since the holiday gift becomes less important, and you can get away with giving everyone some taffy.

A note from the Author

Was this guide not specific enough? Well, it’s because you can think on your own and pick better presents than any blogger could suggest. All the gift guides for the holidays have one purpose only: SELL YOU STUFF. Which is ok, and if you add value it’s a great way to monetize a website, but right now I am focusing on the no shopping required gifts. Given some readers’ request, I will post a big list with specific products you might enjoy learning about and there might be some affiliate links too, but I wanted to post this one first to show that you don’t need a lot of money to be thoughtful with your gifts this holiday season.