8 Sustainable Holiday Gift Ideas You’ll Love To Give…and They’ll Love To Get!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…a time where we gather with friends and family, eat delicious food, and enjoy lots of festive cheer.

Unfortunately, the holiday season is also one of the most wasteful times of the year. In fact, Americans generate roughly 25% more trash during the holiday season than any other time of year!

One way to make the holidays a little more eco-friendly is to buy sustainable gifts for your loved ones. No matter who you’re shopping for, these sustainable holiday gift ideas will earn you big points with your loved ones and help care for the planet.

1. Sustainable Clothing and Footwear

If you have a fashionista on your gift list, you don’t have to resort to fast fashion to find styles they’ll love. Whether you’re looking for shoes, clothing, or outerwear, there are plenty of sustainable options on the market. Here are just a few to check out:

Allbirds: sustainable shoes and clothing for the whole family
Rothy’s: washable shoes and bags made with recycled materials
Solmate Socks: cozy socks made from recycled wool in North Carolina
Pact: clothing basics made sustainably with fair-trade organic cotton
Tentree: lifestyle and loungewear company that plants 10 trees for every item purchased
Patagonia: quality outerwear for everyone from a company making the environment their top priority

2. Reusable Smart Notebook

Save a few trees by buying your loved one a reusable smart notebook! If you know someone who loves to take handwritten notes—whether it’s homework, meeting notes, or the grocery list—they’ll love the reusable notebooks from Rocketbook.

With Rocketbook’s reusable notebooks, you can handwrite like you would in a paper notebook, then save your writing to the cloud. When you’re finished, simply wipe the pages clean with a wet cloth and start again. Using reusable notebooks can save a LOT of paper waste. Plus, the notebooks themselves are made of recyclable materials.

3. Eco-Friendly Drinkware

Eco-friendly drinkware like reusable straws, water bottles, and travel mugs make great gifts for anyone on your list. Pair them with the recipient’s favorite beverage and you’ve got yourself a gift anyone would be happy to receive! Here are a few options to try:

Food52 handmade colored glass straws
GIR traveler silicone straws
Hydro Flask stainless steel water bottles and travel mugs
Aquasana filtering stainless steel water bottle
KeepCup travel mugs

4. Reusable Shopping Bags and Food Storage

Unlike single-use bags, reusable shopping, produce, and food storage bags can be used hundreds of times. And there are bags on the market to suit any style: from cute to chic, there’s something for everyone. Check these out:

Ecobags’ line of reusable produce bags
Uncommon Goods veggie-saving reusable produce bags
Baggu shopping bags that pack up small so you can stash them in your car or purse
Stasher reusable silicone food storage bags
Pyrex reusable glass food storage containers

5. Zero-Waste Cookbooks

Shopping for the environmentally minded cook in your life? Grab them a zero-waste cookbook to spark their creativity and help them learn to cook more sustainably. (Bonus: they just might share the food they make with you!)

There are lots of choices out there, but here are a few to check out:

6. Sustainable Treats

Have someone who’s hard to shop for on your list? A distant relative you haven’t seen in a while, a new coworker, or your book club secret santa? Everyone loves a treat! Fill their stocking with sustainable treats like:

French Broad Chocolates: small-batch, directly sourced, bean-to-bar chocolates made in Asheville, NC.
Tony’s Chocolonely: delicious, slavery-free chocolate bars made with fully traceable cocoa beans.
Lake Champlain Chocolates: Vermont chocolate company focused on social and environmental sustainability (and their chocolate is pretty tasty too!).
Peace Coffee: delicious organic, fair trade coffee roasted right here in the Twin Cities!
Arbor Teas: loose-leaf tea in compostable packaging, made in a solar-powered facility.

7. Plant a Tree in Their Honor

Did you know you can have a tree planted in honor of your giftee? With One Tree Planted, you can plant one tree per dollar, and they’ll send a virtual card to the gift recipient. This is the perfect gift for your more sustainably-minded or minimalist friends who don’t want more belongings. And it just might be the most sustainable gift you can buy!

8. Refurbished Tech From Repowered

Does someone on your list need new tech? Instead of paying full price for a brand new device, consider saving money (and the planet!) by buying refurbished tech from Repowered.

At Repowered, you can get refurbished technology at an affordable price—making your tech-savvy loved one happy and keeping e-waste out of the landfill. It’s a total win-win! Plus, when you buy from Repowered, you help provide job training and practical experience for adults facing barriers to employment.

Even better, you can shop from the comfort of your home in our online store! And everything is 20% off through the end of the year, so the price is right. Click here to shop laptops, desktops, tablets, smartphones, and much, much more.

From all of us at Repowered, have a happy, healthy, and sustainable holiday!