How to navigate zero waste gift-giving, from how to give nothing and how to ask for nothing to all the plastic free to zero waste gift ideas we could think of for all sorts of occasions and people!

If you’re someone who shows love through gifts, not giving anything can be stressful, if you have loved ones who show affection through presents, being asked to give nothing can be stressful, and if you’re expected to give a gift, finding something that is low or zero waste to give can be hard.

That’s why we’ve compiled the ultimate low to zero waste gift guide!

We’ve included gifts that’ll cost you nothing, gifts you can DIY, and gifts you can buy and gifts for different occasions and ages.

Before choosing a gift from this list, firstly consider the person you’re giving it to and whether it is something they will actually use and something that will add to their life and work for them and not end up as clutter or at the back of their cupboard. To make sure the resources that have gone into the gift are best used, it needs to be tailored to them and their lifestyle.

But first, we talk a bit about giving nothing and how this doesn’t mean you have to give nothing at all and how best to ask friends and family for no gifts.

1. Nothing!

If the gift-getter has specifically asked for nothing, respect their wishes and don’t get them anything. This can be hard for a lot of people due to norms and culture, but this doesn’t mean you have to ignore the person’s achievement or celebration.

You can still show your love and provide a sense of occasion through your presence and through acts of service. Simply spend time with the person and tell them how much you appreciate them through words and making time to spend time with them.

Acts of service can involve things like:

• making them a meal

• doing some gardening

• repairing or mending something of theirs or getting something of theirs repaired or mended

• spring cleaning the house

• helping them plan the event (you’ll find ideas for plastic-free decorations here)

• washing the dog, or

• helping them tick off something that’s been on their to-do list for ages.

Pretty much, it is just doing something for them that they’ll appreciate being done for them.

How to ask for nothing

Asking your friends and family to give you nothing can be tricky. You don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings and there are always people who'd like to give something.

So, let people know that gifts aren’t required and tell them why you would rather not get any presents, but also provide some specific suggestions that people who will give you a gift no matter what can use. For example suggest an experience rather than a physical gifts, a donation, second-hand items, or plastic-free practical gifts.

For example, on the event invite, write something like: "Hi everyone, I’m looking forward to enjoying a special day with you all. I would like to ask one special favour, if I can. You may or may not be familiar with my enthusiasm for all things eco-friendly, but I’d love your support in having a low waste event. If you are planning a gift, please consider something made of natural products like wood, bamboo, organic cotton, organic/natural ingredients, something reusable/non-disposable, something pre-loved, or not even an item at all but an experience. Your support will be much appreciated. I hope this is not too much to ask!"

Another option is to set up a gift registry on a site with sustainable products or a registry of experience gifts you would like using an experience gift voucher site - friends of ours did this for their wedding recently and they’re definitely going to have some fun this year using them all!

Or, just forward this blog post to them so they can choose a low to zero waste gift from our list! ;)

2. Their own piece of nature to care for: plants, flowers & seeds

Plants are great! We need to plant as many as possible. They give oxygen, draw in carbon dioxide, clean the air, provide food, encourage bees and other pollinators, and are beautiful. Feed your friends’ plant obsession by gifting them more plants or inspire someone to get growing by planting the seed with some easy to care for foliage!

While some people love plants as a gift, others hate them because it is something they have to look after, so think about which category the gift-getter falls in before getting them a plant. If they’re the hate them type, probably better to stick to flowers or choose another gift from this list.

You can find florists that don’t wrap plastic around their flowers, or ask them if you can get some flowers without it, or forage your own flowers from your garden or around the neighbourhood (within reason!).

Also consider where they will be able to house the plant and if they have the right conditions for it and how easy the plant is to look after and buy accordingly!

Gift options include:

• pot plant

• pot to plant something in

• plant you have propagated yourself or a cutting they can propagate themselves

• terrarium (bought or handmade)

• flowers wrapped in paper

• foraged flowers or flowers picked from your garden

• seeds or a seedbomb (DIY one or buy one (UK))

• seed pencil - a pencil you can plant when you’re done with it! You can get them on Etsy (worldwide)

• seed card - a card you can plant! Search plantable card on Etsy (worldwide)

• herbs or a herb garden like Biome’s UrbanGreens Grow Kit (AU), Reel Gardening’s Herb Windowsill Garden (South Africa), or Well.ca’s hydroponic herb planters (US/CAN)

• sprouting jar - you can get kits to make microgreens on Etsy too, as well as from Well.ca (US/CAN), Faithful to Nature (South Africa), and Biome (AU)

• food plant

• gardening kits and mini greenhouses for kids like these (UK)

• raised garden bed/planter

• grow your own natural dye garden kit like this one (US/CAN)

• bee-friendly plants or a Life Cykel Save the Bees Pollination Kit (AU) or a bee house (AU here, RSA here, UK here, or search bee hotel on Etsy), or

• compost from your composter or worm tea from your worm farm.

3. Experiences & adventures rather than things

Gift them an epic experience they’ve always wanted to do but wouldn’t spend the money on themselves, buy an experience you can do together, or simply plan an awesome day you can spend together!

Uncommon Experiences (US) has an excellent array of experiences to gift to choose from, you can purchase tickets to zero waste workshops from Biome (AU), or find a small local business near you offering classes, workshops, tours, or a day or evening out of some kind.

Ideas include:

• workshops like DIY beeswax wraps, soap making, cheese making, kombucha making, candle making, natural dying, visible mending or bread making

• go second hand shopping together

• a winery tour

• brunch, lunch, high tea, or dinner

• go on a hike, walk to a waterfall, or spend the day at the beach

• book a spa day, massage, facial, or mani pedi

• a hot air balloon ride

• an epic picnic

• go on a day trip together

• plan a weekend away

• surfing lessons

• go snorkelling or scuba diving

• take them to a sports game

• visit a museum or art gallery

• a mushroom foraging tour

• concert tickets

• theatre tickets, or

• a painting or pottery class.

4. Plastic free food or food-related gifts

Food makes a fantastic gift when it is a treat the gift-getter loves or it is something special they can use in their cooking. Be sure it is something they will/can eat (consider dietary requirements!) and something that won’t go off before they get around to eating it so it doesn’t go to waste.

It can be gotten zero waste buy getting it in a reused glass jar or produce bag and gifting it in a decorated reused jar or reused wrapping paper or scrap paper or newspaper.

Great food gifts are:

• special spice mixes

• a picnic basket of goodies (epic food hampers here (UK))

• a jar of chocolate balls

• a palm oil free chocolate bar (you can find our top picks here)

• cookie mix in a jar

• hot chocolate mix in a jar

• fancy loose leaf teas or ground coffees

• jams and preserves

• fruit or vegetables from your garden

• a veggie box subscription

• homemade cookies or cake or a homemade meal

• good quality, useful, second-hand kitchen appliances like a blender, dehydrator, stovetop coffee maker, etc.

• homemade hummus, pesto, sauce, kombucha, preserved something, cheese, nut milk, tofu, cider, beer etc (with instructions on how they can make their own in future!), or

• the tools or a kit to DIY one of the above themselves (if they’ll actually use it!) like:

  • a nut milk bag (AU here, RSA here)

  • cheese cloth (AU here, US/CAN here)

  • a scoby for kombucha

  • a sourdough starter to make sourdough

  • Greek yoghurt making kit (AU here)

  • cheese making kits (UK here, AU here), or

  • grow your own mushroom box (AU here, RSA here).

If you’re in Australia, you can use our Where to Shop Waste Free in Australia Map to find out where to get most of these zero waste.

5. Zero waste products

This category is not for everyone and zero waste products should not be forced on people who won’t end up using them, but they are great for people who are just starting to live a zero waste lifestyle and are making the initial swaps to help them reduce their waste. You also need to be careful giving zero waste tools to someone who is actively reducing their waste as it may be something they don’t need or already have.

So carefully consider if it will be useful and used before buying.

Options include:

• produce bags (US/CAN here, RSA here, AU here, UK here)

• bread bags (AU here, UK here or here, and US/CAN here)

• reusable coffee cup (our 5 favs)

• plastic-free water bottle (our 5 favs)

• knitted cup cosy for a jar (loads of options on Etsy)

• microfibre laundry or washing bag (AU here, UK here)

• reusable food container (find their perfect match)

• hankies (loads of options on Etsy or make them yourself)

• beeswax wraps (AU here, US/CAN here, RSA here, UK here)

• eco-friendly toothbrushes (we’ve listed the best options)

• fabric napkins (bought - again Etsy is good - or homemade)

• wooden or bamboo cutlery or spork (if they will need it when traveling) (UK here, RSA here, AU here, US/CAN here)

• chopsticks for their cutlery pack (easy to find at second-hand stores)

• a wooden scrubber (AU here and US/CAN here), loofah (AU here and US/CAN here), or crocheted cloth (like these on Etsy) for waste free cleaning and bathing

• unpaper towels (you’ll find these on Etsy too)

• a worm farm, Bokashi bin or composter (read this article to decide which is best for them and for where to buy one), or

• DIY natural cleaning kits like those sold by Biome (AU) (or make up your own).

6. Donations

Make a donation to their favourite charity or a cause they care about. Facebook even has an option to ask your friends to donate to a charity on your birthday.

You can also adopt an endangered animal on someone’s behalf through institutions like the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) or give them a Kiva gift card. Kiva crowdfunds loans “to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive”. It does an amazing job of uplifting communities worldwide and when you get your loan back, you get to loan it to someone else. The gift that keeps on giving!

7. A gift that keeps on giving: memberships & subscriptions

Pay for a subscription to something they already have and use or get them a subscription to something you know they want or a membership for somewhere they love going, for instance:

• a membership for a local museum, art gallery or theatre company

• a local wildlife sanctuary or zoos membership

• a gym membership

• a movie cinema membership

• a subscription to a food box

• a membership for their fav sports club

• a music service subscription like Spotify

• an audio book subscription like Audible

• an online magazine subscription, or

• a veggie box subscription like Ceres in Melbourne, AU and Imperfect Produce in the US.

8. Natural, low waste beauty products

More of a beauty product that a person uses is always needed! You can DIY one for them or buy a product they use in glass or tin. You can also get unpackaged soap bars from a lot of places.

Ideas include:

• DIYed coffee scrub, body lotion, bath bomb, lip balm/scrub, hair mask, or face mask

• unpackaged natural soap bars

• reusable cotton or crocheted face wipes (loads of options on Etsy)

• a wooden hairbrush (AU here, UK here, US/CAN here)

• DIY zero waste beauty kits like those sold by Biome (AU) (or make up your own)

• natural makeup (this is our fav AU brand, refillable organic UK makeup here, and this is a highly recommended Canadian brand), or

• DIY skincare ingredients they can use or you can use to make something together (AU here).

9. Sustainable baby shower gifts

We share a list of ideas for eco-friendly presents for new parents in a separate blog post here: Sustainable Baby Shower Gift Ideas.

10. Eco-friendly gifts for children

Steer clear of plastic toys and toys that require batteries. Instead go for something made of natural products like wood, bamboo, organic cotton, organic/natural ingredients, something reusable/non-disposable, something pre-loved, or an experience.

Some great options are:

• subscription to a toy library

• good quality second-hand clothing or toys

• wooden toys like these (US/CAN), these (worldwide), these (RSA), these (UK) or these (AU)

• second-hand books

• handmade clothing or toys

• hand make a busy board like one of these

• activity and educational toys like a:

  • sunprint kit (AU)

  • solar-powered toys (UK here)

  • gardening kits and mini greenhouses for kids like these (RSA) and these (UK)

• trampolining experience, sports lessons or swimming lessons, art or music lessons, water park experience, movie experience voucher, or other experience, or

• zoo or museum membership.

11. Other zero waste gift ideas

A few more low to zero waste gift ideas that don’t fit in any of the above categories:

• thrift store finds like board games, photo frames

• second-hand clothing

• candles

• ethically made, eco-friendly fabric clothing (if they don't have a capsule wardrobe) like bamboo socks (UK) or other slow fashion pieces - UK fairtrade fashion here, South African eco-friendly fashion here, and Biome now sells Australian slow fashion

• something handmade like a knitted scarf, hat, jumper or blanket

• a second-hand book or Biome has a great range of sustainability focused books (AU), while those in the UK can find books on reducing waste and other eco issues here (you’ll find heaps of book recommendations in our All the Best Books on Sustainability, the Environment and Activism blog post)

• a refillable bamboo pen (AU)

• knitted laptop sleeve made from material that would have gone to waste

• chore cards/wish cards, or

• a gift card or voucher for an eco store like Biome (AU), Faithful to Nature (South Africa) &Keep (UK), Ethical Superstore (UK) or Well.ca (US/CAN)

If you really can’t choose just ask them what they want or need or to give you a list you can choose something off of so it is still a surprise. Or get them a gift card or voucher for an eco store so they can choose their own gift and buy what they need.

Anything we’ve missed? Add your go-to low or zero waste gift ideas in the comments below!here

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