You’re done with the major renovations for greening up your digs. But you’re not quite there yet.
When your goal is to maximize your dwelling’s green potential, the little details also count. Here then is our last minute Christmas gift guide featuring 10 green-themed gifts for your home. (If you’re feeling generous, they make nice gifts to friends and family too.)
Go ahead and put those final eco-friendly touches to every nook in your home.
Sugru, $18, pack of 8
Sugru: the DIY hack miracle
Sugru is like clay on steroids. This silicone rubber wonder is very moldable, adheres to almost anything (including glass!) and is tough and waterproof when it dries, making it the perfect DIY hack for home improvement. All things that need repairing, readjusting, and repurposing is just a strategically-shaped dab of Sugru away. The best part: mixing the default colors to produce new hues to suit your taste.
Vampire energy no more.
Say no to vampire energy with Belkin’s Conserve Smart, an energy-saving power strip that lets you control power to your home entertainment system, making sure everything is turned off when your TV turns off. This power strip also packs in a built-in surge protector for protecting your beloved gadgets from harmful electrical surges, extending their life and keeping them out of the landfill.
DIY Bird House Kit, $9.97 Home Depot
For our avian pals.
Apparently, not all birdhouses are created equal; there’s an appropriate and recommended bird house for every species, according to the National Audobon Society. But don’t let that stop you from assembling one. This DIY birdhouse kit from Home Depot is pretty much generic, but is endlessly customizable—you can paint it, put decals, or even a glow-in-dark perch. Your feathered friends will move in faster than you can say “avian condo”.
Amphiro a1 Self-powered Water & Energy Meter, $81
Amphiro a1: for conscientious showers.
At one point in our lives, we’re all guilty of losing track of time when in the shower because, hey, that’s what showers are for, right? Still, the *** urges us to mind our water usage (and for that matter, the energy used for heating it). Simply install—no battery/electricity required because your shower itself powers it—and start saving the polar bears, both on the device’s screen and the real ones out there.
Karlsson White Board and Black Marker, $63
Sometimes, all you need is a simple board and marker.
For those times you need to jot down a note, a list, a recipe, a telephone number, or simply sweet nothings to your partner, this minimalist white board and black marker is perfect combo for the kitchen. It’s not too old school like a scratchy blackboard and dusty chalk, but not too high-tech (and impersonal) either like a wall-mounted tablet. It’s just at the right spot Goldilocks would approve of. Did we mention the board comes with its own clock too?
Mix, blend, and puree in style.
Nothing says healthy than a smoothie of your own making. That’s what the Bistro Electric handheld blender is for, featuring a BPA-free plastic beaker, and three stainless steel attachments for all your mixing, blending, and pureeing needs. While you’re at it, check out free apps on your smartphone for hundreds of recipes for all the smoothies you’ll ever need. Or, experiment on your own. One rule to remember though: Always keep your concoctions fresh and juicy.
Bokashi One Indoor Composter Starter Set, $170
Composting made efficient even for the finicky.
Elegant and composting don’t often go together, but not with the Bokashi One. It takes the ick out of composting with its ingenious bucket that separates food waste from the liquid ooze, and a Bokashi mix of microorganisms that you occasionally add to the bin to speed up the decaying process while keeping odors at bay. The result is a low-maintenance, hygienic composter you won’t mind keeping indoors.
Discraft Ultra Star, 175 gram, $ $8
Get up and get moving.
In the world of flying discs (or Frisbee) there are actually two factions, Discraft and Wham-O, and both groups will passionately defend their disc of choice when playing. (Our choice is Discraft though.) But who cares? Your goal is to get yourself a nice Frisbee, get off the couch, tear yourself away from whatever electronic screen that has been eating your time, get your blood pumping with an actual sports, and have fun with friends and family. Happy tossing!
Energizer Recharge Smart for AA & AAA batteries, $16
Make your batteries smarter.
By now we should all have made the switch to rechargeable batteries—they go a long way, paying for themselves in a matter of years, and they don’t add waste to our landfills in the form of useless cells and empty blister packs. Energizer’s Recharge Smart is the perfect stocking filler, with 4 AA batteries already included. It’s also Energy Star certified, so you know Energizer cares. After this, you can now cross off batteries on your grocery list.
AeroGarden Hydroponic Herb Garden, $130
The AeroGarden is probably the Rolls Royce of herb garden kits, which features a “smart garden” technology for delivering ideal levels of nutrients, water, and even light cycles in the sleek black bio-dome. It also comes already pre-seeded, and is pretty low-maintenance—the product guide promises you’ll only need 5 minutes every month to take care of your garden. So now anytime the recipe calls for fresh herbs, you’ll never come up empty handed.
We hope you like our last minute Christmas gift guide. Give the gift of green for yourself this holiday season.
