Present ideas – for people who have everything

Struggling to think of a present for someone who has everything? Here are some lovely ideas that are also green and sustainable.

First up, tickets (or a gift voucher) for a theatre, concert or an arts venue. After all, who doesn’t enjoy an evening out?

Alternatively, a year’s membership of a favourite organisation.

One lovely option for people in Dublin, is to become a friend of the National Gallery of Ireland.  It costs €65 (individual) /€80 (family), and includes a year long programme of talks and other events.

How about a plant from your garden?

Or the offer of an evening’s babysitting or to cook them dinner . . .

We all love getting and giving presents. But sometimes, it can be hard to find the perfect present.

I find that the simple, and green and sustainable solution, is to give people something ‘insubstantial’.

As an added bonus, these presents don’t need any packaging, and won’t add to the world’s growing clutter mountain. (And let’s face it, most of us  probably have enough stuff already, anyway.)

Give a gift voucher for a local arts venue, and you are supporting jobs and the local community, while encouraging people to support the arts too.

The list of insubstantial possibilities is as long as your imagination.

And if you like these ideas, you’ll find plenty more useful suggestions in Drive like a Woman, Shop like a Man — Greener is Cheaper.  This practical guide to sustainable living is packed with over 100 tips that will save you time, money and resources.  Just €8.99, in all good bookshops.  And some of the tips will save you literally hundreds of euros!

(c) Mary Mulvihill, 2009