Gifts That Give More - Philanthropic, DIY & Green Gifts

1) Be sure your material gift will get used.

2) Give a consumable gift such as organic teas, fair trade coffee, or dried fruit that won't end up in the closet unused.

3) Share a piece of yourself by offering baby sitting services, a massage, or a winter's worth of snow shoveling.

4) Make a gift of a green service.

5) Make a gift of any service to reduce material consumption by giving a service of any kind.

6) Give a gift where it is needed on behalf of someone better off.

7) Creative gifts show you care - make it yourself!

8) Buy a local gift to save the environment from the emissions involved in shipping.

9) Buy high-quality goods that will have a long lifespan.

10) Think about your packaging -- use packaging that will not go to waste or consider recycled materials for gift wrap.

Click here to read full article on the Planet Green site.

Los Angeles-based humanitarian organization NextAid offers several holiday giving options that benefit African children in need.

Give the Gift of Funk : Funk Aid for Africa CD and T-Shirt



Funk Aid for Africa is a funky soul vitamin for your body, mind and spirit - seamlessly blended into a super tight and tasty collage of dubbed out dancehall, reggae, funk, and afro-beat by DJ OBaH. 100% of the proceeds of this amazing compilation are going to NextAid's environmental community center in South Africa. And it's actually REALLY good!! CD is $10 - T-shirt & CD $25. See funkaid.com for information, preview and purchase. Also available on iTunes and Amazon.



MUD Cares Palette Eye Shadow



MUD Cares Palette ($25.00) is a limited edition quad of lush eye shadows developed and created by Make-Up Designory (MUD) that have superstars DJ Rap, Colette, Samantha James and Eve Falcon glowing this season. Shades included are Spanish Gold, Cashmere, Dulce de Leche, and Moss. 100% of the proceeds go towards building homes for children in Africa who have been orphaned by AIDS in a poverty-stricken town located 25 miles southeast of Nairobi. Each of these eco-friendly homes will provide long-term shelter, food and medical needs for 16 local orphans. The project also funds the children's educational pursuits, from elementary school through secondary and university or trade school. Click here for the details on MUD's site.

NextAid's "Send a Child to School" (aka goGogetters) Program



A $75 donation to NextAid will assist in sending a child to school for a year. NextAid is working with a well-respected South African organization, loveLife, to be the beneficiary of NextAid's "Send a Child to School" (aka goGogetters) campaign. goGogetters is a loveLife program that supports the many grandmothers (gogos) who have been dedicating their senior years to the wellbeing of orphans and vulnerable children. This donation will ensure that a child is equipped with a school uniform, shoes and school supplies in the program - all critical to a child's education, especially as many children drop out of school due to embarrassment when they do not have these items. Check out the Facebook page for details or go straight to NextAid's donation page to make your gift.



About NextAid ...

Through music events and public education initiatives, NextAid raises awareness for and partners with community-based projects and grassroots organizations in Africa. NextAid adheres to a holistic and integrated approach in addressing the spectrum of challenges associated with establishing lasting change. http://www.nextaid.org See NextAid images from the field here.

Click Here To Go To The Hunger Site

A few of the items I bought this year ... absolutely stunning and reasonably priced.



Glossy Treasures Recycled Magazine Shopping Bag $16.00
Eco-friendly design brings wow to this gem of a shopping bag. Used magazines are cut into strips and sewn together with silvery tinsel, adding a little flash to your trips to the grocery store. With nylon lining and reinforced seams, it's surprisingly strong -- and much prettier than paper or plastic! Stunning in person -- the picture doesn't really capture this.



Bottle Cap Tote Basket from Africa $29.95
For the adventurous decorator who loves to break the rules. Add some serious pizzazz to your storage situation with this wire and bottle cap tote basket! Handmade in Zimbabwe from recycled bottle caps and scrap metal, it's perfect for holding magazines, mail, or anything else that needs some outrageous organization! Makes a novel gift for your less conventional friends and family! I bought two!



"Urban Chic" Recycled Metal Picture Frame $12.95
Frame your memories in the greenest way possible! Colorful sheet metal obtained from various commercial product packaging is reshaped into this funky and functional piece of home decor. Very eco-chic! Nice quality in person -- more expensive looking than it looks in the picture.

About The Hunger Site ...

The Hunger Site launched in June 1999 as the brainchild of a private citizen from Indiana, with the purpose of helping to alleviate world hunger by using the Internet in a creative way. A simple daily click of a button on www.thehungersite.com would give funding - paid for by the site's sponsors - to the United Nations World Food Programme.

In its first nine months, the site funded more than nine million pounds of food for the hungry - an astonishing feat. Eventually the site became too large for one man to manage, and in 2000 The Hunger Site was sold to GreaterGood.com, which today operates as the GreaterGood Network family of websites.

Since then, hundreds of millions of people from around the world have clicked and shopped to make a difference; in addition to 100 percent of sponsor advertising fees, a portion of every sale in the suite of GreaterGood Network stores goes to charity. On average, over 220,000 individuals visit The Hunger Site each day to support the work of their nonprofit partners, Mercy Corps, Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest), and Millennium Promise with simple, online actions.

Today, The Hunger Site continues its ambitious goal to harness the power of the Internet for good, uniting people around the world to form an online community devoted to the eradication of hunger. In February 2007, The Hunger Site reached a milestone; since it began, its supporters and sponsors funded a milestone value of more than 500,000,000 cups of food for the hungry.

Each tree sapling you give in the name of a friend or family member will be planted in NRDC's newly rejuvenated rainforest in Costa Rica -- where it will grow up to provide a safe haven for tropical wildlife and fight global warming.

For only $10, you can plant a rainforest tree in honor of a friend or family member. Each tree sapling you give will be planted in NRDC's newly rejuvenated rainforest in Costa Rica -- where it will grow up to provide a safe haven for tropical wildlife even as it works to slow global warming.

Click here for details.