With Christmas fast approaching, many of us are getting excited for the beautiful light displays, delicious hearty food and time spent with our family. But many people are also worrying about finding the perfect gift. Well, worry not. Our team at Organic Merchant have put together some of our favourite gift ideas that are connected to nature, sustainable and eco-friendly.
Home Composting Kits
We absolutely love Seed & Sprout and everything they stand for. Their home composting kit is on our list. This gift set has everything you need to get you started on your kitchen composting journey. It includes a steel compost bin in matt white with a reusable, washable charcoal filter, bin liners, dish bar and loofahs to be able to clean it out as well as a gorgeous cotton gift bag to hold everything in it so no need for wrapping paper. It’s $125 AUD and worth every penny.
For the complete composting experience check out Subpod. Subpod began with a simple idea: make composting a part of everyday life. They’ve created a compact solution for your home garden where your food scraps feed your compost which in turn feeds the garden around it as the compost is built into the garden bed itself. No smell, no pests, and super simple to assemble. We recently purchased and installed the Subpod In Garden Compost System and love it!
Stainless Steel Water Bottles
For lovers of cold brew tea or iced teas, stainless steel water or glass bottles are a great alternative to plastic water bottles as they are durable and a 100% recyclable. Seed & Sprout have a minimalistic insulated glass tea flask that we love when drinking our own range of teas. Their flask holds 450ml of liquid and features a bamboo lid with a stainless steel tea infuser fitted on the inside – perfect for loose leaf tea. They are $39. If you’re looking for a similar solution that’s cheaper then Target has a fantastic glass tea flask at the moment for $9. For the ultimate tea flask you can’t go passed the Sipp™ Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Bottle with Tea Infuser by Thermos. It’s vacuum insulation technology keeps your tea hot for hours. It retails for $54.95.
Natural Soap Bars
Natural soap bars are not only gentler on the skin but also use less plastic and take up less space in the shower. Natural soap bars make a wonderful present as they smell amazing and come in beautiful colours. They can be used as stocking stuffers or can be made into a gift set along with other eco-friendly toiletries like bamboo toothbrushes. Our pick for Christmas is the Green + Kind Eco Beauty Box Antioxidant Rich which includes a facial cleansing bar, bamboo toothbrush, holder and stand, a green tea konjac sponge. We also love their Lemon Myrtle Body Bar. Another gorgeous gift pack would have to be from The Australian Natural Soap Company. Their All Australian Gift Pack includes A selection of five delightful and uplifting soaps that showcase some of Australia’s best oils. All products are plastic free and 3% of every purchase is donated to the Orangutan Project.
Plants
This year has definitely been the year for indoor plants at team OM. We love nature and planting is such a powerful act that represents life, hope, growth and continuity as well as giving back to our precious mother earth. To share the love of plants this Christmas one of our gift ideas is to choose an a potted indoor plant and have it delivered directly to your loved one from our friends at Leaf Supply. Leaf Supply are seriously passionate about plants, believing life is better surrounded by nature. Each month the team hand-select three lush indoor plants ideal for gifting or adding to your own indoor jungle. While they are Sydney-based fear not because they have a range of beautiful botanical wares that ship Australia wide. Another option that delivers nationwide are the cutest gift packs of six succlents from the team at Little Succers – a great choice for someone that is just starting out on their plant journey and needs something that is low maintenance!!
Wooden Toys
Finding gifts for children that are eco-friendly can be difficult when we are bombarded with so many plastic choices. We love the wooden range of toys by Danish company Astrup as well as the uber cool Wishbone recycled balance bikes. When buying wooden toys, we recommend checking if they are made of sustainable wood, which means no living trees were cut down to make the product.
Recycled / Cork Yoga Mats
Did you know a regular yoga mat is often made with PVC – a cheap and nasty carcinogen – which when exposed through skin contact and inhalation, can pose serious health risks? We recommend looking for mats made from natural tree rubber or recycled plastic bottles that are free from silicone, toxic glue and phthalates. Our pick are yoga mats made by a company in the Mornington Peninsula called Anjali Generation. Their mats are made from cork and jute.
Books
Who doesn’t love a good book? This year you can combine the idea of getting something sustainable and good for the environment while also satisfying your love for books. Here are a few of our top books for Christmas:
- The Zero Waste Cookbook (100 Recipes for Cooking Without Waste) by Giovanna Torrico
- 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste by Kathryn Kellogg
- Low Tox Life by Alexx Stuart
- The Natural Home: Tips, ideas & recipes for a sustainable life by Wendyl Nissen
- Plantopedia: The Definitive Guide to House Plants by Lauren Camilleri
Giving Experiences
Gifts don’t have to be physical and it’s often the time we spend with our family and friends that we remember more. Some experiences that we recommend gifting this year include giving your loved one a day off from cooking or planning a surprise picnic for them. For kids, try making a treasure hunt for them and hiding clues around your backyard. Experiences outside make wonderful presents and have a lot of health benefits too.
Gift Cards
The Australian Institute estimates that $980 million worth of Christmas presents go to waste and likely end up in our landfills each year. Gift cards can be great gift for our loved ones when we are unsure of what to get them. They prevent unwanted presents being thrown out and can often be emailed so they don’t produce any waste.
Eco Friendly Gift Wrapping
In addition to sustainable and eco-friendly presents, gift wrapping can also be environmentally friendly. An alternative to buying the usual wrapping paper, which can contain plastics (metallic designs) is investing in fabric wraps. They come in beautiful designs and can be reused again and again. Another alternative is going through what you already have such as boxes, jars and off cut fabrics or ribbons from previous packaging and reusing them this Christmas.
Organic Merchant Gift Range
Protecting and nurturing the planet and our bodies is paramount to Organic Merchant. Each tea blend is free from additives, has no preservatives, no artificial colours or flavours, are chemical free, non-GMO, cruelty free, sugar free, gluten free and vegan friendly.
Tea is available in either reusable glass jars or paper packaging made and constructed from post-consumer recycled stock and printed with eco-ink. Sealed in plastic-free, home compostable plant based cello-bags, once the tea is finished the bags can be placed directly in the worm farm or with green wastes.
Why not choose a Tea Gift Set for your loved one this Christmas and no that they are not only drinking an organic product with a wide range of health benefits but they are benefitting the environment as well.
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