The holiday season is an opportunity to slow down, to appreciate the year we’ve just had, and to spend time with family, chosen family, and friends. As you start to plan your holiday dinners or create new traditions, you may feel stressed or overwhelmed about staying true to your budget during this time of the year.

One gift-giving tradition that doesn’t need to continue throughout this holiday season is overspending on gifts that your friends and family probably don’t need. Giving someone a gift should come from a place of generosity, not lack. Giving gifts shouldn’t reinforce scarcity, so there's no reason to break the bank or dip too deep into your savings to express your affection and appreciation for your loved ones.  Thankfully, there are sustainable and alternative gifting options that may be more energetically aligned with the spirit of giving.

We created an alternative gift guide to help put things into perspective, spark creativity, provide you with more sustainable alternatives, and be a voice that encourages you to be mindful this season.

Let’s take a closer look at some gift-giving alternatives for the holiday season.

Gift them an experience

Instead of giving a physical gift, consider gifting an experience. Experiences make us feel whole and connect us with those we love most. And they allow us to create a wonderful, cherished memory. 

Some of my favorite memories are experiences I’ve had with people - from accidentally eating habanero-speckled guacamole in Mexico City with my best friends to having a memorable late night at the beach with cousins who were visiting from out of town.  

If you have a larger budget for a friend or family member, you may want to look into buying them tickets to a concert, sports game, or any fun, festive experiences in your community. Maybe, you help fund a weekend getaway for them or cross something off their bucket list.

Even if you don’t have a larger budget, you can still gift tickets to an art exhibit, the local botanical garden, a national park, or an astrology reading for the cosmically inclined. 

Cook them a meal

Preparing a warm, nourishing meal for a loved one is a way to connect with a shared experience and express your appreciation and love through a generous act. When I look back on my childhood, I have many fond, warm memories involving my mom or other family members cooking me a meal. While cooking a meal might seem like a simple, small, kind gesture, it’s also a sustainable gift. It can be a way to share a new skill or dish you’ve mastered, or it can create a new tradition with a friend or family member. Anyone is sure to love and appreciate the time you put into making them a home-cooked meal. Connecting over a meal is a tradition every culture in the world understands and does. 

Focus on their wellbeing

I am writing this article in the two weeks of December, where we all frantically try to fit four weeks of work into (two and a half for some). The end of the year is stressful enough, not to mention the added stress of life during a pandemic. I’m sure someone on your gift list could use a gift that helps them relax, unwind, and find peace. Consider booking them a manicure at their favorite salon, a spa day, a massage, or a facial. If you don’t think they’d like any of that but would love to relax, you can book them a yoga or meditation class. You could even gift them a subscription to a meditation app like Waking Up or Headspace. 

Teach them a new skill

Sometimes, it’s nice to receive a gift you wouldn’t necessarily buy yourself. Maybe, you’re looking for an experience for your friend who wants to learn how to repair their bicycle or someone who is looking to improve their relationship with their finances! Or perhaps you have a friend who wants to learn about local bird and tree species from an outdoors person.

Regardless of the type of skill they need or want to pursue, consider booking them a class that can help them strengthen their skills and push their creativity to new limits. From pottery to improv to transcendental meditation classes, you can gift in-person lessons from local experts or find online courses from a reputable source. 

Make something

A homemade gift might bring kindergarten memories of you gluing pasta to a paper plate to gift your mom what is supposed to be a holiday wreath. A DIY doesn’t have to be janky, especially if you’ve been honing a new skill all year, like taking ceramics classes, woodworking, or even whittling! DIY gifts are the definition of gifting without guilt; they are a sustainable option and a chance to show off your craftsmanship. Maybe you want to use your pottery skills to make some one-of-a-kind mugs. Or perhaps you want to make your candles for your family members or put your knitting skills to the test. 

I’ve started hand drawing the cards that my wife and I include on our gifts, and it feels like an excellent opportunity to infuse each gift with something unique. I’ve received hand-made mugs and plates from friends, and I cherish each piece. No matter what route you choose, it feels pretty cool to get an original, one-of-a-kind gift from someone who is creatively inclined.

Support local businesses

Yes, Amazon is painfully convenient, but you don’t forget about the little guys. That perfect gift might be cheaper with a bigger retailer but imagine the impact you’ll make if you support small businesses with your purchases instead.

Supporting local businesses can be an easy way to give back to your community, keep money within your community and gift your loved ones with something they can cherish. We recommend looking up some local gift shops, boutiques in your neighborhood, or local markets that bring together a variety of local businesses. Stop by, check them out, and see if you find anything that your friends or family members would love. When you support small, it has a significant impact on folks in your community. Most of my friends work for themselves, and our bookkeeping agency supports dozens of small businesses, so we see firsthand how much supporting small businesses matters.

These are just a handful of ideas for ways to give a gift that either curb your consumption or positively impact your community. This gift guide isn’t meant to shame anyone who enjoys buying gifts for their loved ones. It’s also not meant to enforce feelings of lack or scarcity. On the contrary, I hope it’ll help you see that there are many ways to give gifts and that as long as the intention and energy behind it come from a place of worth and love for you and the recipient, you can’t go wrong.