Gifts for Men When

Gifts For Young Men - Gifts BW gifts | gifts Resources | Add URL Wine Gifts & Baskets From the casual wine drinker to the serious enthusiast, we have a gift that will make them smile. Our selection includes premium wine, gourmet baskets, distinctive champagne sets & the very finest California and Northwest wines. Gifts For Young Men Articles LDS Young Women and Men Find great resources for your LDS Young Women and Men including lesson ideas, visual aids, and games. Help other LDS Young Women and Men by sharing your ideas too....( Continue Reading ) Gifts for Men When buying gifts for men remember they love to feel pampered and soothed after a long day of working. Gifts for men can run the gamut of fun things catering to their adventurous boyish side to more pragmatic things to assist in their everyday life....( Continue Reading ) Frugal Gifts for Men Do you find it hard to come up with frugal gifts for men? Try these ideas....( Continue Reading ) Frugal Gifts for Men Do you find it hard to come up with frugal gifts for men? Try these ideas....( Continue Reading ) Scoutreach Program - Orlando, FL Scoutreach Program, Orlando, FL, from your Orlando Guide...( Continue Reading ) Gifts For Young Men Directory Links gift baskets williamsburg valentines gifts for guys 1st year anniversary gifts 25 anniversary gifts irish gifts storage baskets gifts for 13 year old boys unique business gifts breakfast gift baskets gifts and men gift baskets calgary valentines gifts for men top holiday gifts food gifts by mail thirtieth birthday gifts wholesale religious gifts personalized golf gifts gifts for grandma mothers day gifts to india 80th birthday gifts great gifts for grads gift baskets of minnesota dating anniversary gifts all good gifts lyrics oregon gift baskets homeade christmas gifts anniversay gifts wedding night gifts uk wildcat gifts gifts same day delivery disc golf baskets naughty valentines gifts navajo wedding baskets gifts for the groom wine country gift baskets gifts for grandpa christmas gifts for dads how to make easter baskets 1st year wedding anniversary gifts corporate gifts and merchandise supplier by the monterey new jersey gift baskets wedding registry gifts 16th birthday gifts cool mothers day gifts creative hawaiian gifts Popular Search Terms: Gifts BW © 2004 Gifts BW All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved. This site is not related to Brajeshwar or Brajeshwar.com in anyway, shape or form

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Holiday Gift Ideas from our Website Visitors More Time More Fun More Nature More Fairness Turn the Tide Kids & Commercialism Simplify the Holidays In Balance (newsletter) New Dream E-cards Multimedia Talk About It Conscious Consumer Institutional Purchasing Back to School I Buy Different (youth site) Less Can Mean More In Balance (newsletter) New Dream E-cards Talk About It Take Action Act Locally Green Cars Today Do Not Junk New Dream Book Club Action Forum Give/Get Advice In Balance (newsletter) New Dream E-cards New Dream Poll What's New Campaigns/Programs New Dream Store In Balance (newsletter) New Dream E-cards Partners Testimonials Staff Careers Privacy Policy My Turn the Tide My Actions My Friends My Events My Profile My Conversations New Dream Store Privacy Policy More of What Matters Getting More More Time Intro Take Back Your Time Time Day Poll Retreat Resources More Fun More Nature More Fairness Talk About It Turn the Tide Intro Preview the Steps Partner Groups FAQ Publications Listing Order Print Copies In Balance What Kids Want Sustainable Planet Tips for Parenting Good Times... Simplify the Holidays Responsible Purchasing New Dream Video More Fun, Less Stuff Kit Turn the Tide Workbook EPP Video Bumper Sticker Bicycle Sticker Easy Does It Simplify the Holidays Home Alternative Gift Fairs What They Are Where They Are Success Stories What They're Like Organize Your Own Brochure Holiday Tips Getting Started Gift Ideas Share a Gift Idea Gift Basket Holiday Stats Polls 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Simplifying Story Kids & Commercialism Home Brochures Art/Essay Contest Marketing Facts Tips Even More Tips What Kids Say Pressure Schools Endorsers Take Action Current Alert All Actions Action Updates Petitions Discuss Actions Multimedia Expand All | Collapse All Holiday Gift Ideas from our Website Visitors When we first launched the " Simplify the Holidays " campaign in 1998, we wanted to compile some good gift ideas. We think exchanging gifts is a fun part of the holiday season, but we didn't want to max out our credit cards and fill up the landfills with more plastic junk. We asked "What is the most creatively inexpensive or eco-friendly gift you have ever given or received?" Here are a few of the replies: l. Give your child(ren) a box of items that can be assembled into a homemade playhouse or tree house: scrap wood, cardboard, small hammer, non-toxic paint, rope, pulleys, shingles, canvas, anything that you can find in your garage or basement that might be put to good use for that long-awaited play house. Include a certificate promising that you will help them build the house. 2. Consider a box of dress-up clothes, assembled from old Dad and Mom clothing and from local thrift stores. Silk nightgowns, wild shoes, silly ties, an old but fancy dress, hats, - all of these packed in a pretty box can provide hours of fun and creative play. 3. Store-bought gifts are not all bad! Consider giving gifts that bring out your child's creativity, while not generating junk, packaging, and more plastic. Why not a kid's cookbook with healthy, yummy recipes; a craft kit with organic yarn or fabric; some durable tools for building things; sheet music for your young musicians; a magnifying glass for studying bugs, plants, and rocks; a set of seashells; a stamp book for learning about other countries; several kids of modeling clay or homemade playdough; or gardening tools, seeds, and a plot of soil for your child's indoor gardening area. -- Submitted by the Center for a New American Dream's own Executive Director, Betsy Taylor, Takoma Park, MD I don't have a gift idea, but would like to say that it's fun and easy to make beautiful decorations at home with things you can find in your own backyard if you have one. Instead of buying greens trucked in from New England or Oregon, I simply go out back, trim a few juniper, arborvitae and winterberry (Ilex verticillata) branches and make wreathes and table and mantle decorations on my own dried up grapevines. After December, I throw all these in the compost. The junipers and winterberries are native here (Southwest Ohio) and provide cover and food for local wildlife as well as holiday decorations. I use the same forms, vases and ribbons every year, save money and get to play Martha Stewart minus the gold spray paint. This type of decorating is what our ancestors did, and local historic districts that decorate for the holidays can be a great source of ideas. As long as no one rips plants out of the wild, it seems the most sustainable way to go, as well as being a lot classier and creative than the plastic and/or generic alternatives. (Even though plastic decorations often last for years, they all make it to the landfill at some point.) It's fun for kids to do too--a relaxing family activity. -- Jenny Willis, Cincinnati, OH When my sister's children were very young and my money was very tight, I wrote stories with the kids as the main characters. I had once sent for a personalized story for another niece, and was very disappointed when it arrived. I had provide all of the information that was requested on the order form and the result was a story that read like dictionary entries - all the information was there, but it lacked cohesiveness. I began with a story about a duck who arrived in their town looking for an elf with tonsillitis who was needed back at the North Pole for reindeer trials. My niece was preparing to have her tonsils removed and my sister is a nurse who works for a pediatrician (obviously just where an elf with a sore throat would go). After writing the story, I drew pictures and put the whole thing together. My niece is a senior in college and still has the very first book that I made for her. It doesn't take a degree in English or an artistic gift to do this - it only takes a little bit of creativity and the love for a child. -- C.A. O'Flaherty, Braintree, MA How about some greenhouse gas offset credits?! -- Fran Morrill, New York, NY My mother knit a stocking for each of the three children, as they came along. Each was a solid color: Mine was red, then a green one for my younger brother, and a white one for the youngest. When the youngest one married a woman from Italy, my mother cleverly knit her a stocking in stripes of those colors to represent the Italian flag and her joining our family. My parents had always had fun doing the stockings even though we were grown up. Last year our father died, and we decided to modify our stocking tradition. Now my mother fills the stockings of the grandchildren, and my generation does a swap of clever stocking stuffers. We are usually heavy on office supplies, such as poster gum, pens, bookmarks, etc. We also put in photos, mottos, and small edible treats, incl. homemade ones. We save for this throughout the year, as we think of things. -- Name withheld Instead of simply giving your loved ones something, make them something. Or better yet, DO something challenging together: take a long bike ride and lunch, climb a mountain, or just go on a long walk. When people realize that it is not the remembrances and tokens of experiences that are great, but the experience itself that is great then "gift" ideas come filtering in. -- Ben Keep, North Haven, CT I have a great action. Get everyone to stop using Wrapping Paper and switch to cotton reusable bags (preferably cotton). Every year my mom makes bags for the gifts we give to others -- and the following year our friends and family use the bags to give their own gifts. We reuse the same bags in our own house year after year. This action would reduce the amount of wrapping thrown out by a billion or so tons (well you probably could find the real stats). My mom and I are thinking of starting an e-business to sell reusable organic holiday bags. Maybe by next year we will be online. -- Crystal Fortwangler This gift can be done for any occasion. I used it at Christmas for my wife. I thought of about 500 memories and wrote them down in 1-10 word snippets and then typed them up so they formed the words "I LOVE YOU" I arranged about 75 snippets of memories to form the capital letter I and then continued arranging memories to form L,O,V,E, and Y,O,U. When all the letters were arranged I printed out the banner and framed it with spare pieces of wood from around the house. Finally, I presented it to my wife on Christmas. -- Chris Klosterman, Toledo, OH Over the course of the next year, I will be "interviewing" my elderly parents on videotape about their childhood memories, how they met, what they can remember about their parents and grandparents. Then I'll videotape photographs and heirlooms of ancestors that have been passed down while my family members talk about the pictures and objects. I plan to do it for my in-laws as well as my own family. I hope to edit the tape over the summer and have copies made in time for Christmas next year. I'll give it to my siblings and to all of our children, who are very young. It will be a talking family tree for generations to come, all for just the cost of my time. And it will be a pleasure for me to make this gift as I will learn about my family history, as well. -- Martha, Saratoga Springs, NY The most enjoyed gift that I gave was bedtime stories. When I had to move 2000 miles away from my 7 granddaughters, whom I have spent a lot of time with, we missed each other terribly. So last year I sat down in front of the camcorder and read several of their favorite bedtime stories to them as if they were right in the room. These tapes have been passed back and forth between the households and now they want me to make more, so it will be down to the library for children's books and back in front of the camera. I feel almost like they are here as I read to them so I guess this is a gift for all of us. -- Shirley Marcy, Lethbridge, Alberta I love to send creative gifts. I am especially inspired by the internet. I create a website dedicated to my loved ones and include their special songs, and pictures that I have made and a list of their accomplishments. Some of the ones I have done are for birthdays, valentines day, Christmas, and spring. It's a very good way to show appreciation, love and to create a virtual brag "book" that highlights the persons talents, accomplishments that go unnoticed, especially to people that are far away. I love doing this! -- Wren Rose, Las Vegas, NV My children love to sing. And they are good too. They have been singing in our choir. We decided that for their grandparents ( who don't need a thing) we would have them record a tape of them singing some old familiar songs. The kids perform and the grandparents can enjoy it again and again. They also painted pottery for them. We had a fun day's activity and the kids made a gift to hang on the wall that is useful too -- a switch plate!! Music and art on a budget! Finally my son is learning Russian. His father studied Russian too. For Dad my son is making a calendar in Russian. They'll both be proud and Dad can use it! -- Name withheld Last year I gave my closest friends "prosperity bundles," borrowing from both Native American and New Age traditions. I collected interestingly-shaped twigs, bark, and wood and broke them into pieces about 15" long, then stacked and tied them into a fist-sized bundle with various wrappings: for some I selected gold cord, for others a beautiful variegated knitting wool, for others leftover ribbon of various kinds, or just plain twine. On my walks I also kept an eye out for other wonderful nature objects: interesting bits of shells or seed pods, feathers, etc. I put this all together and also used shells I had collected previously from the beach. Each bundle was a unique work of art, tailored to that person's personality. I had many compliments on this gift, which cost almost nothing to produce. (except my time, of course!) -- Maril Crabtree, Kansas City, MO Thank you for your wonderful web site! Here are a few of my gift ideas: this year I am painting some empty wine bottles (with special non-toxic paint that won't wash off), filling them with olive oil and topping them with an oil pour spout that can be found in gourmet cooking shops for less than $1. for people who use olive oil in their cooking, this is a gift they can use (and refill) all year. I am also going through lots of pictures I've accumulated over the past 10 years, and putting together a photo album for my parents (they either have everything they want, or can buy what they need, and I know having current pictures of my siblings and I will be meaningful to them). I am also making fleece hats for people. The fleece is relatively inexpensive, - I made some that past couple of years, and people tell me they constantly get compliments on them - their designs are more unusual than the ones you find in stores, and I can make about 4-5 of them for the price of one store-bought hat!!! -- C.R., Rhode Island Thanks for the booklet "Simplify the holidays". I don't have any trouble with my holiday spending as I make a lot of my children's, grandchildren's and great grandchildren's presents. Either knit, sew, woodwork or cooking. The thing that stood out most to me on your booklet was the lack of religious suggestions. Such as: give a bible. Take an elderly to the Christmas plays at church. Such as the hanging of the greens or choir cantatas. Take children to Sunday school give religious oriented books, story books and the like rather than power ranger stuff that really has no value. There are some very good bible games too. Introduce a young child to the local library. They have a nice story time. Garden books to a back yard gardener or a plant he or she doesn't have. Someone who can't see well bring them tapes of books for the local library everyother week. There are some real good ones out now. Well that is my ideas. -- Jean Jenner, Hemphill, TX Every year I try to give at least one thing that recycles something. Last year I baked very rich and sinful chocolate brownies. I then put them in beautiful tins that used to hold fancy chocolates my mother had received many Christmases ago, and were now gathering dust in her closet. My friends loved the brownies and the tins! I used waxed paper to keep the brownies from messing up the inside of the tin, but you could use something recycled, as long as it was clean and would not transfer bad flavors to the food. The tin can be used over and over again; I hope my friend gives it to someone else this year. -- Rachel Ward Get Sculptey clay and thumbtacks. Make some attractive push pins for your friend at the office. -- Juliet Famadico, Newark, California Last Christmas I made "healing baskets" for all the special people in my life...my mother, daughter-in-law, stepson, brother, friends, etc. Each was a basket I had received over the years so it was reused. Into each basket went homemade jams, preserves, jelly, each jar decorated with a little piece of scrap fabric and ribbon, handmade beeswax candles, recycled writing paper, and pens. I called them Healing Baskets because everything that was inside them was made by myself when I was recovering from a nervous breakdown. Each basket was wrapped with a large linen square that could be used as a small tablecloth or table runner. Everything was used and appreciated and it helped me feel better as well. -- Andrea Brennan Plaus, Brantford, Ontario, Canada I got this from a fellow county employee, Ronnie Wilcox, in Boulder County, CO: Last year I did something different (and sort of creative) that I have never done before. During the school year my son brought home several pieces of artwork...not extremely professional, but nicely done pieces in watercolor. I had them matted and framed and sent to his grandmother and father who are out-of-state. ...as your tips said "a special gift matched to the person". -- Anne Kaufmann, Boulder County, CO This year I plan to give friends and family an early "ungift", a Gift Exemption Voucher from Adbusters, a Guide to Compassionate Living from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and a Vegetarian Starter Kit from The Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine. Another idea is to make a baking mix, put it in a pretty bag and attach the instructions with a string or ribbon. -- Maura McCormick Columbia,MD A very close friend of mine made me a cassette tape of music complete with a set of handwritten liner notes explaining why he had chosen the song, why it was important to him, or why it made him think of me. I have blue eyes and there were a number of songs that mention blue eyes. The music was great but the personal liner notes really made the present very special to me. It was a present that made me feel close to him and also appreciated. -- Karleen, Salt Lake City, UT The best gifts I ever gave my family for Christmas came the year I gave away my own possessions. I'm doing this again this year because my husband and I are building a house and haven't got a penny to spare. If anyone else out there is like me, they've got a lot of seldom or never used stuff that is in good condition. I am simply going to go through my stuff with my Christmas list and find a nice thing for each person. The one time I did this before, I found that the more special the thing had been to me, the more it meant to the person receiving it. In my family, people didn't care that the present was something I already had: they understood that was all I had to give. If other people do care about that sort of thing, just don't let on the secret. -- Cassandra, Vermont my favorite Christmas gift as a child was what we called a "sock monkey". it was a monkey made from men's brown and white work socks with a red toe. The socks were inexpensive and my mom made each of us one. We loved them to pieces and have nothing left! this year I am giving "y2k romance packages". the basket is contructed of 1/2 - 1" branches cut from my trees. I cut them to 10 " lengths, microwave them for 1 minute (to kill any little critters), then construct a square basket by tying the branches together with twine. I then fill this with shredded paper, pine cones gathered from our trees, and a book of matches. I top it off with 2 mugs (left over from the many we receive every Christmas) and 2 packages of hot cocoa mix. This gift is completely consumable except the mugs and gives a much deserved opportunity to relax. I have also given sketches to friends of their houses with a few Victorian touches like a garden path running to the front door instead of a driveway. a wonderful keepsake and very inexpensive but for the film to photograph the house. -- Jan Hopkins, Farmington, UT The best gift I ever gave was to my then 6 year old daughter. I bought an old camel back trunk at an auction for around $15.00 (a real steal!). Then I lined it with some red "velvet like" material. I then went through my closet, my mothers closet, my grandmothers closet and found my old formals, gaudy jewelry, purses, hats, high heel shoes, anything that would work for "dress up". The only other thing I spent money on was a tea set. I put all of it into the trunk and gave it to her from Santa. She still plays dress up with all of her friends (I even put some boys clothes in for her male cousins.) I even add to it for birthdays and each year at Christmas to keep it fun and new. -- Kristie, Ashland, MO My grandmother doesn't need much and she loves gifts that are homemade. We grow our own herbs and my grandmother loves our garden. For several years now we have given her herbs for Christmas. We give her enough to last the year and we make our own labels to paste on the baggies or small jars. She loves the herbs and uses them all year. Christmas is just about the time she needs more. This year we are giving several relatives our herbs. Also in past years we have made flavored vinegars with our herbs. Again we put them in a nice jar and paste on a label we have made. The best vinegar we ever made was with our cayenne peppers. Flavored vinegar is easy to make. Just place the herbs (or chilis) in a decorative jar, add the vinegar and seal with wax. -- Michele Clark, Albuquerque, NM When my parents, brother, sisters and significant others gather to exchange gifts, there are 7 or eight people to give to. This can be very stressful and expensive! This year, my husband and I are creating a holiday pictionary game that will involve winning prizes. Prizes will be in plain brown bags, and include small consumable gifts like a nice bar of soap, locally made candy, local beer . . . When it's your turn to choose a prize bag, you have the option of stealing someone else's already opened gift. This is like white elephant games that some folks do around the holidays. I expect that it will be fun and entertaining. All the gifts are available cheaply from our local Co-op grocery store, and they don't include cluttering STUFF. Idea # 2: Perhaps we'll try this next year with my husband's family, but this year we're making homemade biscotti and giving it along with bags of organic, shade-grown coffee. Biscotti recipes can be found on the internet, and since they're dry cookies, they have a long shelf life. -- JoAnne Peters Minneapolis, MN After a poll of friends about their children's favorite and most lasting toys, I've decided to buy my son a piece of *rope* this year. It was unanimously the most-enjoyed and creatively-used toy brought up. -- Tabitha M. Felix, Orlando, FL My friends are always amazed at how I always have gifts for every one and how I seem to have just the right gift. It's something I sorta learned from my mother who shops throughout the year when ever she saw something on sale. She always had a whole closet of gifts even for the unexpected birthday. Me, I have used her idea of shopping all year only I do it at Garage sales. It is a fun outing every Sat. Morning.... beats sleeping in. I get to feel like I'm recycling. I get to take my time (all year) to find just the right gift. I save $$$$ on gifts but also on my own personal needs. I get everything from laundry soap to Nike shirts. In our culture we have soooo much that we can never use it all. I buy every thing that I give as a gift new and I pay $1 where it would cost $20 in the store. X-mas arrives and I am stress free while everyone else is shopping I am baking and sewing. Have a thankful end of the year as we prepare for the new millennium where we may all be tested to share like we have never been tested before. -- Dhira DiBiase Waimanalo, HI For several years my husband & I were going through money problems, you know no money, anyhow we tried to find ways to spend as little as possible on Christmas. So one year I made these flannel bags (12 by 4 inches) filled with dried corn inside The idea being that you heat them up in a microwave for a couple of minutes and use them to soothe sore muscles or to keep your feet warm at night. I tell you that this was several years ago and I still have people asking me if and when I am going to make more bags every year. Or for birthdays, I also had a friend who used the bag for her infant granddaughter to keep the baby warm from going to the car from the house. Not much money and it's a gift that is reusable. Once the corn is burnt or doesn't heat as well { it may take several years I am still working on one from 5 years ago} you can compost the corn. -- Joyce Brown, Thorsby, Alberta, Canada We wrap presents in 1:50,000 scale National Topographic Series Maps or backcountry hiking areas that are popular. Everybody loves maps and they make useful, reusable wrapping! Love the site - very helpful for our low-impact Xmas. -- Chris Hamilton, BC Parks, Cariboo District Last year my wife gave me one of the most touching and I think BEST Christmas presents I have ever received. On word cards on a metal ring she had written and drawn, in a colorful way, a set of gift certificates: "Good for a Massage", "Good for One Home Cooked Meal", "I will wash the Dishes - One Meal", "Good for a Walk in the Hills", "Good for One Camping Trip", "Good for One Day of Skiing", and "Good for a Hug". And best of all - they are reusable! -- Per Kielland-Lund, Madison, WI My only sister and I live across the country from one another. A few years ago, I bought a new calendar and in it I wrote family holidays and personal messages. I included some "memories" such as "remember when we were young and we would celebrate our own 'Christmas in July'?". Now, my sister makes a calendar for me, too! It is a wonderful way to think about each other every day and even though it takes time to put together, it costs very little. --Debra Myers, Midland, VA Story boards are great gifts too. My father was a high school basketball star from Vt. He always told us about how he played in the Boston Garden at the New England High School Basketball Championships, so when my husband was spending some time at the Boston Public Library he researched the Boston Globe to see if there were any articles written at the time. Sure enough he found some. I then called the VT State Library who for $7 sent me a few articles from a local paper. From that we made a story board of the event. It brought tears to his eyes and ahs from one of his old high school classmates. -- Kathy Corson, Exeter, NH This takes a little planning and a bit of research, but try this for holiday or birthday presents for your friends and relatives who admire flower gardens: Give a gift certificate for your perennials that are getting crowded and need dividing. You can dig the bulbs or tubers in the fall (daylilies, daffodils, lily of the valley, shasta daisies, some herbs, etc.,) if that’s what’s best to get the plants off to a good start in spring-they can overwinter planted in pots and kept lightly watered in the dark corner of a cold garage or basement (or root cellar, if you’ve got one). Or, if it’s best to dig the plants up in the spring (say, unwanted sprouts of shrubs like Rose of Sharon [althea]), give the person a gift certificate. (So that you don’t forget, make sure you mark your calendar for the next spring at a time that’s good for transplanting.) Put the plants or bulbs into pots you’ve saved from gifts or from your previously purchased plants (don’t you have a stash in your basement or garage?!) or pots that you’ve scrounged up at yard/garage sales for pennies. Wrap the pots in some foil (can be recycled in communities that collect it), add a bow if you’d like, and you’re all set. For extra credit, help your friend plant your gift, or enclose planting directions. Doesn’t cost much of anything, doesn’t pollute, and shares the beauty. -- Rosa, from The Bay State A gift that I've given my grandparents who are in a nursing home is a box of already stamped and addressed homemade postcards for all of their relatives. So when "cousin Joe" had a birthday my grandmother could simply find the card and send it. My grandparents didn't need anything more in their life and their handwriting was too shaky to read, so this gift made them feel like they could still send cards to their family. Recognizing other family member's birthdays is very important to my grandmother and it gives her a sense of independence. -- Name withheld For my mom for her birthday I gave her a collection of quotes about mothers that I collected from library books. I also had a list of some of the many reasons why I love her. She was so touched that she cried. To give her that gift was the most rewarding feeling I have ever felt from giving. I also made rosewater from soaking rose petals in water for about a month. Rosewater has a great many uses, including a refreshing face wash. --Kate Gould, OR Last year for Xmas, we made small pillows ( 5" x 5" ) out of scrap fabric and filled them with soothing herbs; lavender, rose, etc. Buying the herbs in bulk at the health food store cost only pennies. Our friends loved these gifts and we spent only a small amount of $$ and our time in making them. --Valerie Rowe, Sarasota, FL I once gave a friend a homemade coupon for her anniversary--for an evening's babysitting for her five sons, so she could have an evening out with her hubby. My cost??? About four hours of fun, reading to and playing with some great kids! She told me later it was her favorite gift. -- Jeanette, Huntington Beach, CA Last year I gave "Environmental Activist Starter Kits" as Christmas presents. The "kits" that I put together consisted of membership to non-profit organizations that send newsletters, such as Predator Project and Environmental Defense Fund, just to name two, along with recycled paper tablets and refillable Parker pens to be used for writing letters to newspapers and politicians. I tried to match the recipients with an organization that they may have some interest in. They seemed to be a hit, but quite honestly, I don't think that anyone wrote any letters to the editor or senators. But I like to think that they also got a little hidden gift with the kits -- Awareness. Other gifts that I have given include cloth grocery and cotton net produce bags, energy efficient light bulbs, and monetary donations to the local homeless center in the name of my friends and family. --Donna, York, PA After my mother-in-law died, my father-in-law did not eat properly. He often just had a bowl of cereal for dinner or snacked on candy or Cheetos in late afternoon and then skipped dinner because he wasn't hungry. He really liked homemade soups, so for Christmas, we packed up containers of soups, wrapped each container in a plastic bag, labeled it, and froze them. On Christmas morning we put them in a box and wrapped it. He loved the gift. He had oodles of "stuff" [my sister-in-law gave him a red flannel shirt each year for Christmas and when he died we found 3 unworn in the gift boxes in his closet!]. The soup was the perfect gift according to Dad. It solved the dinner problem for him and was "consumed" rather than taking up more space in the closet. Didn't cost much either! -- Lisa Anderson, Des Plaines, IL I have two younger brothers, ages 7 and 9, and I gave them an "adoption" of two animals, one a baby elephant and a killer whale. They received photos of the animals through the UK-based organisation "Call of the Wild", and were delighted by the presents! --Philippe Leupin, Athens, Greece One year, my sister was very inspired and wanted to do something really neat. With her husband and daughters, she went through the Christmas list and thought of 2 neat things about each person--things that made them special, things that we all liked about that person, something about his or her special talent. etc. She wrote these things on two pieces of ribbon, and attached them to a little fuzzy pom-pom (1" diameter). Then she put all these "warm fuzzies" in a bag. At our Christmas gathering, someone would reach into the bag, read aloud what was written on the ribbons, and then we would, as a group, decide who best fit the description and give it to that person. I still have my "warm fuzzy". It hangs on my tree as a Christmas ornament so I get to read it every year and it reminds me of the love that was expressed by all that year. It was and is a great gift! --Name withheld This Christmas I plan on making all of the gifts I give to my wife and children. I won't tell you about all of them, but I will tell about one. My wife and I went on a date a couple of weeks ago and ended up in an import shop here in Madison which imports goods from Africa. I am an African History graduate student, so, of course, I was interested. We entered and saw a store full of high-priced exotic items from half a world away. The thing is, I was amazed at how simple many of the items where: the consumer here paid for transport and to subsidize the store-owner's trips to Africa rather than for the items themselves or the skill of the craftsman. My wife and I were particularly impressed by the simple, yet elegant beadwork on many of the items. My wife picked up one item and said "Wow, this looks pretty! Ohmigosh! That's it?" I went over to ascertain what could have elicited such a response (my wife is not very excitable, a rather well-tempered person). There was a beautiful (and rather expensive) bracelet made from nothing but safety pins, tiny plastic or glass beads, and some elastic. We left the store and when we got home I headed straight for my children's bedroom. There, I new, was a stash of thousands of those little tiny beads that my daughter had received as a Christmas present a year ago, yet which remained largely unused. We had bought her one set and a cousin bought her another even larger set, so we had been swamped by beads. Try as she might, my daughter just couldn't seem to use them all. Well, now I have a use for them. After spending $4 or so on some safety pins, I am now beading them up and using what we already have to make a present for my daughter. She has seen these bead bracelets before and loves them, but we simply could not afford them... until now. --Forrest Aguirre, Madison, WI Last year we made birdseed balls out of seed, suet and leftover ribbons (so they could hang outside). We gave them to my husband's grandmother, and my mother and stepfather, Very inexpensive, environmentally friendly, didn't clutter up their houses and something we were able to say we made ourselves. -- Pam Hayes-Bohanan, Bridgewater, MA topcat.bridgew.edu/~phayesboh I give classes on passive solar design to our future builders on Native American Reservations. --Name withheld Hand knitted hats! Fun to make, and I can knit while talking with friends, watching a movie, or listening to some favorite music. Picture frames made from the cardboard of old boxes and decorated with pictures from old magazines or natural objects like seeds, leaves and flowers. I pick things to decorate the frame that represent the person I'm giving the gift to, and then get a copy of a favorite picture and put it in there. Wrap in cloth and tie with string, or decorate and reuse a paper bag. I think one of the best gifts if you do buy something for someone is to get the friend something that will encourage a talent they have or further their education. Use Christmas as a motivating reason to explore a hobby that you've thought about (pottery, bookmaking, painting, knitting, sewing, photography) but haven't yet pursued. Share your creations as gifts come holiday time. --Heather Smith, Asheville, NC Composting worms (red wigglers) --Tenaj DaCosta, Earth My brother once gave me a strange contraption which was basically a round wooden base with several 8" dowels protruding up- and outward from it. I had to ask him what it was. "Why, it's a baggie recycler," he said! --Tom Bombaci, Jr., Grants, NM A few years ago my husband and I lived in an older home that we were improving. This included a new bathroom on the interior of the house and a new fence for the backyard. When our friend's birthday came up, we made him a great cold-frame (like a mini greenhouse) completely out of reused materials! The cold frame had four sides made out of the lumber from the old fence, 1x4s and 2x4s of beautifully weathered cedar. The "lid" of the cold frame was made of one of the sliding glass door panels from the old, dilapidated shower enclosure. The glass had a nice pattern to it and was tempered. We used some more of the weathered cedar to build a frame for the glass panel, added some hinges and a handle, and there it was! He has used it for two years now to start his young, tender plants in the early spring. We were very proud! --Diane Broad, Corvallis, Oregon The best Christmas present I ever got, and the most ecologically friendly one, was when my parents sponsored a black panther in my name at the Lincoln Park Zoo. The money went to the care of the animal, and to educational efforts about endangered species. -- Rebecca, Madison, WI Last year my husband was interested in a particular book but never found the time to pick up a copy for himself. Without thinking I went to the bookstore and purchased it for him. When I got home and looked at the book more carefully I realized it was not the type of book one needs to own. It was a book that would be enjoyable to read once then pass on. I returned the book to the bookstore and called my local library and ordered the book. I wrapped it and gave it to him for Christmas. I renewed it for him a few times so he had plenty of time to read it. He was delighted to have the book (if briefly!) and we were both glad to avoid adding clutter to our house and unneeded expense to our budget! --Nancy Spicer, Cambridge, MA The last couple of years, I have sent a copy of the new telephone directory to a former resident of our city who has reason to keep in touch byphone, or needs the address of, many folks here in town. The gift has been received with appreciation. --Mark Lunde, Clive, IA I was on a very tight budget two Christmas's ago during a divorce. I had little for my child and I to live on, never mind Christmas Gifts and those for others. My Daughter then 11 years old, would go over to the park across the street from us after school and collect all the pinecones she could. We took shoe boxes and cut them into different shapes, painted them like baskets and used material to go inside like a bread liner, then we covered a handle with the same material, and hot glued pine cones inside with some multi colored mini lights, spread between the pine cones, (extra's we had from years of decorating) we added some red berries again found among our decorations, and then sprayed the whole thing with clear glaze and added a bow to the side of the basket. Add some cinnamon sticks at different places and wrap with saran wrap till its time to give them, they smell great and last forever, can be hung from a porch or used as a centerpiece. --Name withheld The most friendly and ecofriendly gift I ever received was a herbal wreath from a physical therapist/herbologist. Besides being aesthetically beautiful, it was created from all wild flowers/herbs and vines she had cultivated herself in a field. I have enjoyed the scents, eaten the herbs in prepared dishes, employed the healing properties in teas, and saved the seeds for my own garden. When I had disseminated the herbs, I composted the vines and greenery..and also learned to grow herbs myself. Not only did I become a committed herbal gardener, but have passed this down to my children...and they have conveyed this gift to several of their friends. What some might view as a pretty knick-knack has become a legacy of enjoying/utilizing the fruits of the earth in my circle of family and friends. --Name withheld The best frugal gift I got was an unintentional one from my then approx.6 year old son (his is now 18). Well it was Christmas shopping season. I did a lot of shopping with my friend, she had one daughter at the time my two sons were about 61/2 and 3. I am naturally thrifty, some would say cheap. I was amazed at the amount of stuff my friend bought, I began to think that maybe I hadn't bought enough for my kids. Well cheapness won out and I stuck to my usually shopping habits. Well on Christmas day after the kids had opened their presents the 6 year old said: "I think Santa emptied his bag here!" I tell you I was pleased. --Beth, Massachusetts The most creatively frugal and eco-friendly gift that I have given is honey that I harvest from my own colonies. It basically costs nothing to make. It supports the lives of insects, honey bees, who simply can no longer exist in their natural state. There are practically no wild honeybees living outside of man-made hives because pesticides and bee parasites (caused by global commerce in bees) have killed them off. Bees help agriculture yields through their propagation. Honey is a fine, nutritious food. --Bruce, Philadelphia, PA I have a friend who understands my reluctance to consume anything unnecessarily. But Sharon also knows that I like small gifts especially if they are handmade since I am an artist as well as an environmental activist and like to support others. The last several years, Sharon has given me handmade soaps and handmade candles. Both "disappear", neither have been packaged nor wrapped with anything other than string or yarn and they were handmade in Minnesota near where we both live. Thoughtful, useful and without serious impact on the environment while supporting our local underground economy. I think they are really thoughtful and I have enjoyed using them. -- Sheila Bayle-Lissick, Minneapolis, MI My cousin Adrienne has started a GREAT trend. Whenever she gives a gift, she uses old clothes or scarves rather than wrapping paper. She goes to a second hand store and picks out the most outrageous prints on dresses, pants, etc. and then cuts them up to fit the size of the gift. This is eco-friendly in three ways -- the clothes probably would have been thrown out (ugly clothes make great wrapping paper), she avoids using wrapping paper herself and then encourages her recipients to use them to wrap future gifts. Imagine how much wrapping paper would be saved if we all did this! -- Karlynn, Cambridge, MA I used to purchase all my gifts from the Peace Institute or the Physicians for Social Responsibility (they were located in the same building in Portland, OR). As far as I know neither group has a store anymore. They always had reasonably priced, nice cards, calendars, t-shirts and ornaments, which at least I knew was benefiting great causes. There seem to be a few good diversity-type stores which have reasonable gifts from all over the world. I don't know if other than promoting diversity, if they are benefiting any socially responsible groups. --Name withheld This is not my idea but I ran across it on the Internet and thought it was so cute: Anyone who owns a personal computer has probably received dozens of those AOL promotional disks and CD's (you know, the ones where you can 100 free hours for trying their service). One very clever woman made Christmas ornaments from the CD's and a really neat desk clock from the diskettes. The web address is: www.neosoft.com/nikki/ --Ellen Stoune My good friend's son recently graduated from culinary school. For Christmas he and his son gave us a complete gourmet dinner prepared in OUR home. They treated us like king & Queen for an evening! -- Jim Prado, Connecticut I like to give gifts of aid to third world countries in the name of a friend or relative. I think these are currently offered by Alternative Gift Markets, Inc., the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and Church World Services. To me this is truly special gift that will be remembered, and truly honors the person in whose name it's given. You really realize that you have a special relationship with someone who will understand and appreciate this type of gift. Along these lines are gifts that save rainforest; I think Nature Conservancy (Adopt an Acre Program)and the National Arbor Day Foundation have programs that do this. Also, a gift membership to an environmental organization is nice. --Name Withheld The most creatively frugal gift I’ve ever was from my very creative and frugal adult daughter, who bought a large wooden cooking spoon and attached a little scroll to it which listed "101 uses for a wooden spoon." It has hung on my wall for several years as a reminder of what an original thinker she is! Total cost: about $3. She also one year gave a used book to each family member that captured who that person was. On the inside cover of each book she wrote a tribute, detailing why she thought that book was the "essence" of the person. All of us in the family still treasure those books. Total cost: about $1-2 per book. -- Maril Naples, Florida Last year a good friend was turning 65 just before the holidays. I knew she would say she has everything so a group of friends and I did something a little different. We did random acts of kindness to honor her on her special day. This included planting trees in Israel, sponsoring an up and coming actor at a local theater, and donating books to a day-care just to name a few ideas. Each person wrote what they did in a letter and all the notes were gathered in a beautiful velvet covered box and presented to her. Many of the acts of kindness carried well beyond her birthday and we called it the gift that keeps on giving! -- Linda Bradbeer, Toronto, Canada Last year I went on a Spring Break hiking trip in the Escalante, in Utah. I had never been there before and was amazed by the desert flora I saw there. A friend of mine at college, however, was from there and was planning on moving to California after graduation. I decided to make him a piece of Utah he could bring along. I filled a Nalgene bottle (a water bottle for hikers) with small pine cones, juniper twigs, pebbles, berries, and these funny little paper seed balls that grow on bushes there. Back at school, I bent a thin green branch into a circle and suspended the natural objects from it with invisible thread. It was a lovely mobile. This could be done with objects from any ecosystem. -- Susannah Stevens " 58% of Americans say they would be willing to give up one day of pay per week in exchange for one day off per week to spend more time with family and friends. " New Dream Poll See a great list of gift ideas from New Dream staff See a even more gift ideas from web visitors like you Help organize an Alternative Gift Fair in your area Look for environmentally and socially responsible gifts on Conscious Consumers The Chatter Years ago I built a solor divice that made energy by using magnifying glass... - Page Tools Printable Page Send this page to a friend

Great gifts for little

Listmania! Great gifts for little boys Your Store See All 31 Product Categories   Your Account | Cart | Wish List | Help Improve Your Recommendations | Your Amazon Home | Your Profile | Learn More Search Amazon.com Books Popular Music Music Downloads Classical Music DVD VHS Apparel Yellow Pages Restaurants Movie Showtimes Toys Baby Computers Video Games Electronics Camera & Photo Software Tools & Hardware Office Products Magazines Sports & Outdoors Outdoor Living Kitchen Jewelry & Watches Beauty Gourmet Food Beta Musical Instruments Health/Personal Care Travel Cell Phones & Service Outlet Auctions zShops Everything Else Scientific Supplies Medical Supplies Indust. Supplies Automotive Home Furnishings Lifestyle Pet Toys Arts & Hobbies Web Search Listmania! Great gifts for little boys by heartscry4 , Mom of little boys E-mail this list to a friend 1. Grow to Pro Basketball by Fisher-Price (Toy) Average Customer Review: Offered by: Toys"R"Us Buy new : $29.99 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours heartscry4's comments: fun indoors or out 2. Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends - Platinum Collection (Best of Thomas/James/Percy) DVD (DVD) Average Customer Review: List Price: $29.98 Buy new : $22.49 You Save : $7.49(25%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Used & new from $17.28 heartscry4's comments: Boys love trains and these videos have great lessons! 3. Thomas & Friends Conductor's Figure 8 Set with Track Pack by Learning Curve (Toy) Average Customer Review: Offered by: Imaginarium Buy new : $39.99 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours heartscry4's comments: Great starter track for little hands 4. Thomas & Friends Percy the Small Engine by Learning Curve (Toy) Average Customer Review: Offered by: Imaginarium Buy new : $9.99 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours heartscry4's comments: My son's first favorite engine 5. Spider-Man Sleeping Bag (Toy) Average Customer Review: Offered by: Babies"R"Us Buy new : $24.99 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours heartscry4's comments: He won't want to sleep in his bed if he has this... nice for little company 6. Lincoln Log Conestoga Homestead by K'NEX (Toy) Average Customer Review: Offered by: Toys"R"Us Buy new : $19.99 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours heartscry4's comments: Great building fun 7. Spider-Man LeapPad Gift Set by LeapFrog (Toy) Availability: This item is currently not available. Customers also shopped for these similar items . heartscry4's comments: Spider Man is always a favorite, and leap pad is great 8. 3 Pack: 7" Mini Fun Gripper Football, 5.5" Basketball and 6" Soccer Ball by Saturnian 1 (Toy) Offered by: Imaginarium Buy new : $24.99 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours heartscry4's comments: Great for catch 9. VeggieTales - Sumo Of The Opera DVD (DVD) List Price: $14.98 Buy new : $13.48 You Save : $1.50(10%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Used & new from $6.88 heartscry4's comments: Veggie Tales are some of our favorites! 10. SpongeBob SquarePants 40" Bigens Ball by Toys "R" Us (Toy) Average Customer Review: Availability: This item is currently not available. heartscry4's comments: A big ball is simple fun 11. Tree House Pop Up Play Tent by Stack Resources, LLC (Toy) Offered by: Toys"R"Us List Price: $39.99 Buy new : $24.99 You Save : $15.00 (38%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours heartscry4's comments: throw in a flash light and this is hours of pleasure 12. Bulls Eye Ball by Hasbro (Toy) Average Customer Review: Offered by: Toys"R"Us Buy new : $20.99 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours heartscry4's comments: Recently put on my 5 year old's Christmas list 13. Disney Pixar DVD Three-Pack (Toy Story/A Bug's Life/Toy Story 2) DVD ~ Disney 3pak (DVD) Average Customer Review: Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Used & new from $58.95 heartscry4's comments: New Classics for kids 14. Spider-Man 2: 3-Wheel Scooter by Sport Fun (Toy) Offered by: Toys"R"Us List Price: $29.99 Buy new : $24.99 You Save : $5.00 (17%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours heartscry4's comments: I never know where I'll find my son's scooter...he rides it all over the house! 15. Candy Land by Milton Bradley (Toy) Average Customer Review: Offered by: Toys"R"Us List Price: $9.99 Buy new : $7.99 You Save : $2.00 (20%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours heartscry4's comments: This should be every child's first game 16. Avon Groovy Scooby-Doo Watch with Keychain Availability: Currently unavailable heartscry4's comments: great for learning to tell time Create your own list! See the Best Lists Top 100 Listmania lists Search Listmania lists More about heartscry4 Related Listmania! Add your list Featured: Thomas & Friends! : A list by Imaginarium.com/Amazon.com, Toy Authority Joey's Thomas Wooden Railway Toys : A list by cyfan85, Joey's Mom / Railway Builder my 3yr.olds wish list : A list by Benjamin F. Wall, Dad Extraordinaire A little boy's Favorite Green Things : A list by WorldTraveller, Has or wish to have Add your list Related So You'd Like to... Create a guide COMPLETE your VeggieTales Collection! : A guide by Jason Hurd, Veggie Lover... with two kids who also love their Veggies. have the best preschool board games... : A guide by KNSudha, Toyaholic Mom :-) know how to play with your 3-year-old daughter : A guide by Mark Christenson, her parent Re-live being a child of the 80's : A guide by J. Wingard, Child of the 80's Increase your collection of Great Board Games : A guide by mkinseth, I love to play board games! have a DVD collection V : A guide by cjovignot, Entrepreneur Be a Character Animator : A guide by kylebalda, Former Pixar and ILM Animator help your elementary school age child in OT : A guide by MotamedFamily.com, mom2a preschooler in OT and Sensory Integration Create a guide Where's My Stuff? • Track your recent orders . • View or change your orders in Your Account . Shipping & Returns • See our shipping rates & policies . • Return an item (here's our Returns Policy ). Need Help? • Forgot your password? Click here . • Redeem or buy a gift certificate. • Visit our Help department . 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wedding gifts , favors

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Christmas gifts. That means

buynothingchristmas - Alternatives home alternatives resources stories questions media about contact us To help you celebrate your Buy Nothing Christmas. Many of the following ideas were borrowed from Bill McKibben's Hundred Dollar Holiday and from the Center for a New American Dream . You are welcome to give us your gift ideas . Well, our buy-nothing circle spread just a little wider this Christmas, and I'd like to share a few highlights. They include some "transition" gift ideas too, for those who can't handle BNC just yet: - One friend saved us a lot of money by simply handing us some RAM for our PC. He knew we needed it and he had extra. It was great! - Two family members got creative and made by hand an "action figure" of my husband and a marionette of me! Of course, this wouldn't work if the individuals didn't happen to be so artistically talented, but what unique and personal gifts! - Another friend who makes pottery simply gave us a lovely bowl more special than anything we could have bought. - Parents bought us necessities that we would have had to buy anyway. - We made writing paper with hand-drawn silly little doodles and hand-folded envelopes for some friends. - For most of those who weren't ready to move to a buy-nothing Christmas, we bought organic herbal teas and fair-trade coffees... they don't add to the clutter because they're enjoyed and gone, and they support sustainable businesses! Small steps ... but in the right direction. - Sara Parks Ricker Brilliant website and ideas. You get my full support. As an another idea, try www.oxfamunwrapped.com . It allows you to send a gift to the 3rd World and depending on your budget you can buy chickens, blankets, radios, right up to a travelling theatre! Our 10 year old son has 'traded in' some store gift vouchers to buy a goat. We have sent friends and families christmas 'gifts'from this site. Best wishes - Chris, Nottingham, UK At our house, we try to make all Christmas gifts. That means that December is a flurry of activity as our children make salt dough ornamments and then paint them to give to teachers and other adult friends. Last year, one boy made playdough, and one made a crayon ball to give to the other. For our friends, we've painted white candles with Christian symbols; these have become tradition. For our extended families, we made books with old pictures and memories. Our children especially love hand-made gifts; in this age where everything is plastic, they relish the idea of love in a sweater. - Molly I have been going down to my local recycling centre to see what's on offer. To my surprise, I found 10 glass coffee containers. Which are now glassed painted and filled with goodies for kids. - Sophia I am putting together a booklet of favorite family recipes, I will give From a recent news story : Giving More by Giving Less It takes only a bit of creative thinking to come up with alternatives to excessive consumerism. Some ideas: * Students at Trinity Western University [Langley, BC, Canada] set up a free store, bringing things they didn't need and trading with each other. * One family does a "make or bake" among siblings, exchanging names and producing one homemade gift each. * Some families now include sponsoring a child overseas or providing a goat or chickens for a micro-enterprise as a means of teaching their children to reach out to others. Or they help out at a soup kitchen or deliver Christmas hampers together. * Time is often a bigger gift than money. Creating coupons that offer free babysitting or housecleaning, a neck massage or a special treat can mean more than a stocking stuffer. * Offer to teach someone a skill you have. * Write a poem, tell a story, draw a picture or take a photograph and present it in a creative way. * Give fairly traded coffee, tea or chocolate, get beautiful items at garage sales or buy gifts from shops that support artisans in poorer countries. * Make your own cards from recycled paper. * Avoid commercial wrapping paper, ribbons, bows and tape, which are not recyclable, and opt for gift bags, tea towels or nice boxes, which are eco-friendly. From an article by Debra Fieguth in Faith Today , Nov/Dec 2004. everyone a copy. A couple of years ago I did a calendar for the family with everyone's photos and birthdays. That was a big hit. - Karin Last year we had a cookie exchange instead of a big party for work. Everyone brought cookies or treats - whatever their specialty was (one person made tree ornaments instead). We RSVP'd so we knew how many cookies to make, one for each person because we had so many people. We all went home with piles of cookies and treats. It was great, and so much fun. - Annika Sangster What about bumper stickers? I'd love to puchase some of these posters in bumper sticker format. Available? - schrills Editors response: Hmm... I'm already feeling like we have too much stuff on our website. Would we sell the bumper stickers on the Buy Nothing Christmas website? Maybe start off with a colour printout of your favourite poster, laminate it and then glue it on your bumper. I know, sounds dumb, and like a lot of work. But the more time you spend creating your own world, your own messages, the more alive you become. I can help with re-formatting graphics or text for printouts. Let me know how it goes. If you have some success with bumper stickers, let me know and I'll try to spread the word. Best, Aiden. I'm going to give my art this Christmas. It gave me the motivation to finish the production of a demo CD. The first copies will go to my family and friends. —Gabriel Give Linux for Christmas! It's free and it works like a charm! These days, distributions include not only the operation system that runs your computer, but applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, picture and sound editing, etc. And give a hand installing it. It's not that it's too difficult, but some people's tech-savvyness is rather limited. —Gilles Pelletier We have just launched a new scheme in the UK called Wedding List Giving Ltd. It allows the prospective bride and groom to choose a charity and ask guests to donate towards the "gifts of their choice." Hannah Crouch [Editor's note: the site includes charities like the Alzheimers Society, Amnesty International, Cancer Research UK, Children's Express, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Oxfam, Tearfund and others.] Just try make a spiritual gift, not material, not an object. I prefer doing something - singing a song, writing a poem - for a person. Plus a little beatiful card, because most people want to "have something in the hands," it's just a habit. —Matania, Russia Great site, lovely idea. Some friends of mine have a jumble exchange; it works like this. Everyone brings clothes, books, ornaments or toys that they don't really use any more. It all gets laid out on tables or a tarpaulin in the garden (or in the house if you have room). Everyone picks out what they want (no money changes hands). At the end there's a "grand holding up" where everyone is shown what is left. If no-one wants it, it goes to a charity shop (thrift store). Usually there are three or four big bags left over to go to the charity shop. Another idea is to write out some nice poetry in calligraphy style and frame it. To avoid buying the frame, you could make it out of driftwood or broken china mosaic, or pebbles. —Yvonne Aburrow We bought wax and made homemade candles. My husband carved stamps, we made our own paper and made greeting cards on recycled paper. Most of all, we vow to get the Christmas spending craziness under control and pay attention to our families and each other instead of the mall! If you still want to give a gift, there are so many more worthy causes than supporting the manufacture of plastic toys. I work for a nonprofit organization that supports grassroots groups working to live sustainably, preserve biodiversity, and gain a voice in their future. See www.greengrants.org . Other groups doing similar work include www.globalfundforwomen.org , www.globalfundforchildren.org . For more information on global giving in general, see www.gwob.org —Erika Carlson For your husband: Go to your favourite market or second hand shop and get a nice frame. With your most creative writing, write your wedding vows. — Maud Ray I usually make fudge (it helps to find a really good recipe) and put it in tins. I also buy old frames for cards, etc., I think the person would enjoy. I don't buy for anyone that is not either my child or parents/inlaws. And other than for the kids, I refuse to pay a lot. The cheaper it is the more personal it is sometimes. — Shelley, Prince Edward Island, Canada For me, environment and peace issues are interrelated, inseparable even. Some gift purchases help the environment and peace: Give people CFL bulbs to save energy. Give Fair Trade coffee, tea and chocolate made in people-friendly and earth-friendly ways. Buy recycled paper for people. If possible pay someone to buy clean electricity which is still more expensive than dirty electricity. And one of our special concerns: Purchase a Peace Bond from the Nonviolent Peaceforce which even now has peace teams in Sri Lanka. "Upon Maturity the Bearer will See a Large International Team Trained for Nonviolent Conflict Intervention Around the World". Go to NonviolentPeaceforce.org to learn more. Keep up the good work. — A. Palmer, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania Perhaps an alternative to department stores is Ten Thousand Villages which provides vital, fair income to Third World artisans by marketing their handicrafts and telling their stories in North America. This alternative emphasizes the fair distribution of wealth while still in a consumerism context. — Shalom, Carl Make a sweater from yarn found at goodwill/used clothing store. — Kristina Giggz Look through your (and your kids') old clothes, cut out squares of fabrics they will remember, and make a little wall hanging or pillow or stuffed toy or whatever. Pick a nice quote or scripture verse and write it up in calligraphy or a nice handwriting. — Gwenyth When i was little my parents always recorded a tape of me singing christmas caroles and/or reading stories for my grandparents and other family that lived far away. When i got older i started to make little comics for my friends, that were about us and things we had done. always with an added twist and some inside humour. This is totally fun to do- even if you're drawings are crappy. i think that this year i will write stories for my friends and family telling them why i love them! — T.B. Make pillows or stuffed animals. Cut out soft pieces of felt and hot glue them on to the pillow to personalize them with messages or make cute faces. — Kaitlin Give something you don't use any more. A sweater that you only wore once; a set of drinking glasses you forgot you owned. Clean them up and give them as gifts. I have found all sorts of things in my apartment that I have no need for, but know someone who would appreciate and enjoy it! — Jessica When someone asks what I want for Christmas I tell them, "Peace on Earth. Goodwill for all". If they explore the idea further (usually with, "No, really. What do you want?") I tell them to pick a charity and give to them whatever they would have spent on me. It makes me feel good that someone who really needs it is getting something. And ... It always fits! — Bill Budenholzer Babysitting coupons for the new parents. Grow your own veggies, can or freeze them and give them away at Christmas/Solstice. Spend more time with your family and friends...when you're dead you won't be able to. Decide as a family to work less hours, spend less and have more time together. Shovel the sidewalk for your neighbour. Plant trees. — Lee Make a small drawing of your select person's living room or other room in their house and give it to them. — Julian van Mossel-Forrester I have been giving more gifts that consist of certificates of gift from the Heifer Project . This year the only exception is my 9 year old granddaughter. — Paul Shankland I am making several batches of biscuits ("cookies" your side of the pond!) and boxes from some lovely dark red recycled card. — Alice Crawford Plant plants, now, to give for Christmas. Herbs, in particular. This is one way to always be present in your loved one's days for a while to come. — jeela Buy a used book and in the inside cover explain why you chose the book for that person. Make tree ornaments out of old CDs. Purchase gifts at a fair-trade shop, garage sale or thrift shop. Make hand-made soap or candles. If you are skilled in a particular area, offer a lesson or class. Make a birdseed ball. Make a soothing, herb pillow filled with lavender, rose, etc. Collect quotes that make you think of someone. Stamp and address postcards for family members. For the elderly people in your life, research newspaper and magazine articles from their youth and present in a creative fashion. Make a calendar with pictures of family members and/or scenery. Wrap gifts in newspaper, maps, scarves or interesting clothing. Fill an old trunk or suitcase with fun clothing, hats and gaudy jewelry for your children to play dress-up. Make a puppet from a sock. Give away a valued possession. Frame a piece of your artwork. Fill a basket with home-made goodies. Bake your favourite holiday treat and pack in a recycled tin. Paint an empty wine bottle with non-toxic paint and fill with olive oil. Top with an oil pour spout that can be found at a gourmet cooking shop. Videotape and interview your elderly parents about childhood memories, how they met, etc., and give to siblings or children. Compile a list of memories and arrange them in a creative fashion. Do something exciting and challenging together (e.g., long walk, bike ride, hike, art course). Knit a stocking, hat, socks, etc. Write and illustrate a book for the young people in your life. Collect meaningful photos for the gift recipient, make colour photocopies and create a collage. Create a menu of various culinary delights (e.g., Tantalizing Thai, Mexican Fiesta, etc.) and have the gift recipient choose one of the options. Create coupons for a massage, spring cleaning, child-minding, manicure, etc.