Below is just a starting point and we hope that you will join the conversation via social media.

Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Flickr

• Recycle wrapping paper
• Reuse the front of Christmas cards from last year as gift tags for this year
• Use LED lights
• Bake your specialties and fill up recycled tins, baskets or trays
• Make recycled ornaments with your kids out of old newspapers or cans and pinecone, peanut butter and birdseed ornaments for outside trees.
• Make gifts from used items found at Goodwill stores
• Go thrift shopping and give a second life to sporting gear, décor and electronics
• Use an artificial Christmas tree or buy a small living tree that can be replanted
• Give a Goodwill gift card for tips to your newspaper carrier, dry cleaner, baby sitters and others who can stretch $10 farther than they might a $10 coffee card.
• Burn candles instead of lights for a few hours each evening
• Have a caroling party or play a family game and turn off the big screen
• Decorate with fewer lights—consider alternatives like popcorn strings
• If you buy gifts, purchase items with less packaging so there’s less to throw away
• Purchase decorations from your local Goodwill store, they’ll be like new to you
• Donate your children’s gently used toys, games, puzzles, etc. to Goodwill.
• If you buying flowers as a gift consider buying potted plants or bushes that can be planted in the spring
• When setting the table for dinner use cloth napkins instead of paper, and use reusable plates and silverware made by recycled products, or your own flatware
• Make room for your new electronics; donate your old electronics to Goodwill (we’re a state certified collector of electronics)
• Combine your shopping trips, it will save you time, gas, and it’s eco friendly. Or, shop online at shopgoodwill.com
• If you are going to celebrate the holidays away from home consider carpooling, or if you are having multiple guests suggest them to carpool
• If you have everything you would want, have your loved one donate what they would spend on you to Goodwill

Whether you donate to one of these fab causes in a loved ones name, give a gift that promotes fair trade or a device that is kind and gentle to our planet, you will feel first-rate about what you’ve given and friends and family will feel the same about receiving your generosity.

Fair trade is about providing better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. Send this great combination of Fair Trade coffee and chocolates for a delectable treat that is sure to delight your loved ones taste buds.

Available in two sizes: $29.99 includes Organic Fair Trade Coffee and a box of Organic Fair Trade bite-size dark chocolates in a handmade natural fiber decorative box. $39.99 includes all of the above plus a box of organic chocolate-covered coffee beans and a box of cocoa nibs with brazil nuts and coffee straight from the Amazon. www.ecoexpress.com

Power up wherever you go. Capable of charging or powering almost any device with a USB port, this compact gun-metal grey wonder from Better Energy Systems is lightweight and portable. Place the Solio in sunlight, spread its wings, and once the internal battery charges you can power or charge a variety of devices. Retails for $99.95. www.gifts.com

With Seacology’s new Save an Acre program, your donation of $40 will protect an acre of endangered island ecosystem. You choose whether to save rainforest or coral reef, and they will send your recipient a personalized card of acknowledgment with a beautiful color photograph and exclusive information about the site they helped save. Donations will support Seacology projects protecting the Sitio Lobo Rainforest on Mindanao Island in the Philippines and the Muri Reef on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. www.blog.seacology.org

The new H2O Multifunction Clock from Tango Group is the latest in ecological and environmental design. Incorporating the revolutionary and patented, H2O water powered battery, together with innovative use of conventional digital technology the H2O Multifunction Clock offers the user an environmental design solution for a product that is used in everyday life. Retails for $22.95 at www.amazon.com.

Give a meaningful symbolic gift that helps protect our oceans and coasts—keeping them healthy now and for future generations. The ocean contains 99 percent of the planet’s living space and supports nearly 50 percent of all species on Earth. Marine ecosystems provide us with medicine, food, oxygen and more, and your gift can have a positive impact on these endangered areas.

$50.00 will help local communities to ensure our shorelines remain vibrant, strong and healthy, $80 will rescue vulnerable endangered sea turtle eggs and $100 will build 10 square feet of oyster reefs in the Gulf of Mexico, which are critical for a healthy marine ecosystem. www.nature.org.