A Great Big List of Other People’s Best Green Gift Guides

photo credit: kevindooley

Twilight Earth brings you the Best of the Best Green Gift Guides, by Jennifer Kaplan, author of Greening Your Small Business.

Jennifer Kaplan is the  author of “Greening Your Small Business” and a partner at Greenhance LLC.

As I have written about before, walking the green walk, isn’t always easy.  But, really there is no time harder than the holidays to do it. So where to start?

First, there are several good resources with excellent tips for greening the holidays:

• Green Holiday Tips from the Sierra Club; favorite tip: Recycle your Christmas tree.
• “The Gov says go green this holiday season”; in this case the “gov” is the Governor of Maryland. Favorite tip: Take public transportation or carpool to the mall.
• Have a Happy Green Holiday; from the folks at Family Fun, 9 eco-friendly holiday decorating ideas. Favorite tip: how to make a “Pop-Down To Christmas” bubble packaging countdown calendar.
• Planet Green’s Green Holidays articles. Favorite: 10 Tips for Energy Efficient Baking.
• 17 Ways To Green Your Holidays (written by yours truly). Favorite tip: Source locally by using local and sustainable produce, flowers, beverages, décor and rentals for holiday parties and meals.
• Pick the Greenest Christmas Tree this Holiday Season ‘Tis the season to be green! And not to worry, there are many ways to keep your branches lovely and eco-friendly when it comes to your ole tannenbaums.
• And from Current.Com, Top 10 Green Gifts (Naughty and Nice)

Next, if you are giving gifts this season, make them green:

The GreenGiftGuide.com from the folks at, get this, the California Department of Conservation. The gift I covet: A Hess Surfboard.

Gift Ideas for Dads from Natural Papa A Great list from Natural Papa founder Derek Markham.

The Etsy International: Cécile Guérard’s Top 10 List is not truly a holiday gift guide but it could be.  The gift I covet: A print of an original photograph digitally mixed with painting entitled, And the sea erases. Also, check out Etsy’s Editor’s Picks (I personally covet both the Stanley the Floontsy finger puppet and the Three Light Bare Bulb Vintage Minimalist Pendant fixture.)

Photo: Esty

The Treehugger Holiday Gift Guide 2009: Have a Slow Holiday. What I can’t live without: the Presso Manual Coffee Maker made from recycled aluminum.

The Environmental Defense Fund’s Green Gifts for the Holidays annual roundup.  What I want: One Fish, Two Fish, Crawfish, Bluefish: The Smithsonian Sustainable Seafood Cookbook by Carole C. Baldwin and Julie H. Mounts, illustrated by Charlotte Knox.  Gotta love the title!

CNET’s Green, Eco-Friendly Tech Holiday Gift Guide. What I covet: The Samsung Blue Earth cell phone for its eco-friendly design and spiffy solar panels.

EcoRazzi’s 2009 Green Gift Guide Extravaganza Craziness: Razzi-Style. What I crave: Double Chocolate Flavored Organic Vodka from 360.

My friend’s Matt Embry’s Green Upgrader’s 2009 Green Holiday Gift Guide.  What I want: The Re-Bicycle Bicycle Tire Belt.

Green Gift Ideas: Beauty Gift Sets is a great list of Eco-Friendly beauty products from GreenDaily.com

Beautiful Things: Eco Chick’s Holiday Green Gift Guide, 2009

Eco-Organic Stocking Stuffers from Organic Lifestyle Magazine is another great resource.

Finally, holiday cards…which ones are greenest…

Ideas for Green Holiday Cards and Letters has good resources for the greenest cards of all: E-cards.  I might send myself: Hilarious, tongue-in-cheek personalize-able, including the ability to upload photos, e-cards from Jib Jab.

The Conservatree Paper Selection Guide for cards.  A non-nonsense list of card suppliers and their environmental attributes.  My favorite: Greenfield Paper’s Grow-a-Note Holiday Cards.

6 Cool Green Holiday Card Options (originally posted by me).  My favorite: ReProduct Zero-Waste custom photo holiday cards and envelopes made from 100% recyclable synthetic ‘paper’ (virgin polypropylene), a treeless alternative.

And not a list but a favorite of mine (I used Paperless Post to send out invitations to a recent book party) Paperless Post: A Greener Way to Send an Invitation.

And then, no list would be complete without mentioning Care2.com’s extensive free e-cards.

…and last but not least (from my post from last year) 6 Good, Green Things To Do With Holiday Cards when your done with them.

If I missed anything, please share…happy holidays!

photo credit: kevindooley

Related posts:

1. 5 Great Articles on How to Green Your 4th of July
2. Planet Green Announces New Green Materials Guide
3. One Million Acts of Green: The Power of People Coming Together