With Valentine’s Day just a few days away, this post pulls some gift ideas from One Shade Greener at Home to inspire your eco-friendly gift giving.
Following the format of the book, the suggestions are grouped into Light Green, Dark Green, and DIY Green categories.
Light Green
Light Green alternatives are better for the environment, but tend to come in traditional and/or non-recyclable packaging.
Cards: Consider a sustainable card from Paper Culture. They are a Certified B Corp and use 100% recycled paper.
Chocolate: Beyond Good. This brand can be found at many local retailers. While this is a dark green choice for chocolate bars, I included it here as light green because the baking chocolate comes in plastic containers.
Candles: Easy to find at many larger retailers are Mrs. Meyers Clean Day soy candles.
Perfume: DedCool. This brand is carbon-neutral, vegan, and cruelty-free. The fragrances can be layered to create
Dark Green
The Dark Green options below have both better ingredients and improved packaging.
Cards: There are a number of popular brands with eCard subscriptions (all are around $30/year). Here I wanted to feature a lesser known brand – Jacquie Lawson – she pairs artistic animations with music to create eCards you can personalize.
Chocolate: Theo. This brand is headquartered in Seattle and has a lot of transparency on the website. Baking chocolate comes in pouches vs. plastic containers.
Candles: Ranger Station. These soy-based candles come in whiskey glasses and have a cocktail recipe to use in the glass once the candle has been used up.
Perfume: Henry Rose. These are the first fragrances to be both EWG (Environmental Working Group) Verified and Cradle to Cradle certified. The bottles are made of 90% recycled glass and are 100% recyclable.
DIY Green
A classic Valentine’s Day gift for your sweetheart could be a set of chocolate covered strawberries. Making them yourself allows you to control the type of chocolate used and may even be less expensive than purchasing. This can also be a fun family activity if you have children at home.
All you need are strawberries and some chocolate. When it comes to the chocolate, I could write a whole post on what to look for and avoid. The primary things to look for are organic, fair trade, no palm oil, and not a lot of additives. While the preference would be for dark chocolate, in the DIY below we used a mix of dark and white chocolate.
To make the strawberries, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. We used a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water. Once the chocolate is melted, dip the strawberries and let them cool on waxed paper. The greener alternative for cooling would be to use a silicone mat if you have one.
Additional Ideas: If chocolate covered strawberries aren’t for you, some additional DIY ideas would be writing a poem, creating your own card, or making a collage of your photos together from the last year.
Summary
While the ideas above may not be what you were thinking for your gift, consider if there is a brand available or a DIY alternative that could make your selection One Shade Greener.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
NOTE: None of the brands mentioned are sponsors of One Shade Greener and we do not receive payment for referrals.