Every year when gift guide season rolls around, I feel a bit uneasy sliding into a sea of shopping posts. We’ve tried to slowly shift D*S away from buying new and toward DIY and vintage for a while now, but I know that gifts and products are a big part of this season and we have a few great posts lined up to help you find well-made, high-quality pieces to give to your friends, family and loved ones this year.
This year I wanted to start the holiday shopping season with a few ideas for anyone that is foregoing traditional product-based gifts and would like to focus on experience gifts, donations, handmade ideas or giving back in ways that don’t involve a trip to the store. I’d love to hear any suggestions or favorite ideas you might have. I’m always looking for new ways to give meaningful moments, objects or donations to people and causes that matter to our community. I hope these ideas will come in handy! xo, grace
*Photo above and below by India Hobson and Swallows & Damsons
No-Buy and Experience Gifts: One of my favorite ways to celebrate loved ones over the holiday season is to spend time creating a special experience-based gift. Like a homemade spa day with DIY bath salts or offering to babysit so hard-working parents can get a day or night off to relax and rejuvenate. These options cost very little and focus more on using your time and skills to share something special with a loved on. Here are some ideas below:
Subscription Gifts: If you’d like to find a gift idea that keeps on going (whether it’s a product or just an experience that continues), these are some of my favorite ways to keep the good feelings going month after month:
15 of our Favorite Gift subscriptions (for anyone who wants a product-based idea)
Fair trade and charitable gift box subscriptions (for products with a good cause attached)
Public Radio/TV Subscriptions (a great way to give the gift of inspiration and ideas to loved ones)
Local Museum and State Parks: Whether it’s a state pass to their hometown parks or a pack of tickets to support their local museums, these are gifts that keep giving for the whole family.
Netflix: Movies, history specials and entertainment for kids, a Netflix subscription is a fun way to give someone a gift that continues for months.
Audible: If your loved ones are podcast fans, an Audible subscription is a nice idea.
Movie Tickets: If your loved one has a great local art house or small indie theater, tickets that will last them throughout the year are a great way to support a local business and creativity at the same time.
Handmade Gifts: If you’d like to make something (whether it’s a craft project or cookies), these are great ways to give something for the holidays that you can make with your own two hands.
DIY tech gifts: Leather phone case, Glitter Phone case, travel tech organizer
Vintage Postcard Calendar Journal
Donating + Giving Back: Not everyone has the time or funds to donate to causes they care about, so donating on their behalf or finding a way to give back together is a great way to honor those in need this holiday season. Most of these groups offer recurring gift donations as an option, too. Here are some of my favorite causes and groups to support:
Food Pantries: Find your local pantry and make a date to volunteer with a loved one or donate together. You can even offer to come help your friend sort through their pantry to find things to donate and then combine them with some new items to donate and bring them in together. Make a day of it and stay to help prep food or serve if you can.
The ACLU: This group does so much to fight for all of our civil liberties and giving a donation in a loved ones name is a great way to honor equality and freedom.
Emily’s List and She Should Run: Know a strong woman in your life you’d like to honor? These groups both support women running for office at every level and could be a great way to show a woman you love that she inspires you.
It Gets Better: Should your LGBTQIA+ family and loved ones that you support their communities and their rights with a donation to groups like this one.
Kind: Groups like Kind provide pro-bono legal services to immigrant and refugee children facing deportation.
NAACP: Supporting civil and human rights for people of color is so important and a donation to a group like the NAACP is a wonderful way to donate on someone’s behalf for the holiday season.
from Design*Sponge http://www.designsponge.com/2016/11/2016-gift-guides-donations-supporting-causes-and-people-you-love.html
from Home Improvment http://notelocreesnitu.tumblr.com/post/153778450744
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