Gift Giving with a Purpose

Recycling, handcrafting, buying locally and giving experiences as gifts are all easy and fun ways to have an environmentally friendly holiday.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

• Wrap gifts using recycled or salvaged material, like colorful cotton fabric or pages from old magazines.
• Reuse gift bags over and over. 
• Instead of buying a brand new book, search for one in good condition at a second hand bookstore.
• Looking for gifts for kids, visit a consignment shop to buy gently used toys.

Give Handmade Gifts & Buy Local

• Use your crafty skills to make gifts for friends and family. If you excel in the kitchen, try making preserves, cakes, pies, etc.
• If you’re not comfortable making gifts or simply don’t have time, buy products made locally. Buying gifts made by local artisans supports your local economy and well as avoiding carbon emissions caused by shipping.

Share and Experience

• Many gifts given each Christmas end up buried in a closet by January and eventually end up in the landfill, but an experience will last forever in someone’s memory. 
• Consider an afternoon of horseback riding, a massage or pedicure, tickets to a concert or play.  The Jester Park Equestrian Center offers gift cards that can be used towards any JPEC service like trail rides or wagon rides. 
• Give the gift of an outdoor experience. Cabins are available for rental 365 days a year at Jester and Thomas Mitchell Parks so when the weather is frightful, give your friends the gift of sitting by the fireplace in one of our cabins after playing in the snow. Gift certificates can be purchased in any dollar amount valid toward a cabin rental. Call our administration office at 515-323-5300 for more information. 
• Make a donation to a favorite ‘cause’ in the name of your friend or family member.

The holidays are a great time to put your environmentally friendly thoughts into practice, and the more we practice living green, the more it becomes a natural way of living.