As a society I think most of us agree: we have reached ‘peak stuff’. I tend towards minimalism so I feel it acutely in my household, particularly since I have two small children who seem to breed new random stuff each day. Which means that when one of my children’s birthdays hoves into view, amongst the plans & excitement I tend to have a looming sense of dread… all that plastic detritus coming my way. When my daughter recently turned eight, I just couldn’t do it again – no more. Instead we gave her eight experiences including things like horse-riding lessons, wakeboarding lessons, tickets to a concert, surf lessons, a trip to a fairground and a weekend of camping. She and I (!) were delighted.
It got me thinking – what else could be done to enable people to still show others they care, but without trashing the planet in the process? Personally I would be delighted if somebody gave me a gift voucher to a sustainable/ secondhand store… whether that be for a birthday, a leaving present, a baby shower gift or for Christmas. The Manifesto Woman Gift card was born.
It’s available in four denominations: £10, £25, £50 and £100.
You’ll get both an electronic and a paper version… the latter having space to write a personal message to the recipient.
There’s obviously much more to be done to halt the unnecessary giving of yet more stuff at every celebration, but hopefully giving the gift of sustainable shopping helps just a little bit. And there will be no shortage of delight from the recipient.
Manifesto Woman 