By Aaron Lancaster
University of Georgia

Holiday gift giving seems to get more complicated each year. Many
go to great lengths to find special or unusual presents. But
responsible gift giving need not be costly or chaotic.

As a holiday present to you, your finances and the environment,
here’s a list of all-occasion gift ideas to help you have a
harmonious holiday season and peacefully welcome the new year.

Commit to the community. Enroll
that special person in a class or workshop for people who have
“always wanted to learn how to….”

Encourage friends and family to
continue learning with a museum, nature center, national park,
nonprofit organization or civic club membership.

Support local art and recreation
by giving tickets to theater, ballet, music, movie or sporting
events.

Choose gift certificates for
restaurants or services, including oil changes and tire balancing
to keep cars running efficiently.

Contribute in a loved one’s honor
to a local charity, such as a library, community group, local
environmental group, food bank, battered women’s shelter or
homeless shelter. Call local churches, synagogues and charitable
organizations for ideas.

Reconnect with family and friends.
Create certificates redeemable for help with chores or volunteer
work: babysitting, pet-sitting, raking, weeding, preparing meals
or larger chores such as cleaning out a garage or attic. Find
ready-to-print certificates on-line here: www.moea.state.mn.us/campaign/download/coupons.pdf.

Share your own talents by making
crafts or food or teaching family and friends a skill in which
you excel.

Make a weekly or monthly “date”
with someone to improve yourselves together (doing volunteer
work, hiking, taking a class) while you support your community.

Treat someone to a special
activity you both can share, such as a candlelight dinner, nature
hike or massage.

Send a handwritten letter or card
to a long-distance friend or relative once a month for a year.

Teach environmentalism through
action. Introduce someone to environmentally friendly products
such as compost bins, rechargeable batteries, compact fluorescent
light bulbs, low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators, reusable
containers, reusable commuter mugs for the car, cloth napkins and
napkin rings, canvas bags, or hand-powered flashlights or radios.

Plant herbs, bulbs, shrubs or
trees, which clean the air, beautify living spaces and last all
year.

Visit artist galleries and stores
for one-of-a-kind items made locally.

Select a Christmas tree with an
intact root ball and replant it after the holidays. Have a tree
planted elsewhere in someone’s honor through American Forests,
the Arbor Day Foundation or your city arborist.

Wrap gifts in the Sunday comics
section, old maps, decorated brown grocery bags, pre-used gift
wrap (still intact), a colorful piece of material or a reusable
canvas tote bag instead of new wrapping paper.

(Aaron Lancaster is a Bibb County Extension agent with the
University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences.)