Last week’s post on Conscious Gifting grounds us into our strength and sovereignty to choose the who, where, what, why, and how we want to give.

With that foundation, we can consider more criteria. Let’s commit to supporting small, local, and family-owned businesses—especially those that are supporting our Earth with environmentally friendly and sustainable offerings.

Long Distance Gift Challenge – Lead Locally

While it’s convenient to send a Starbucks, Trader Joes, or Amazon card to your loved ones living far away, can you challenge yourself to go one step further?

Here’s a story how one of our friends did that for us…

After our home was hit by a mudslide and we were displaced, a friend, who lives two states away, took the time to search back through our OneGreenSmoothie (our passion project) Instagram posts to find the local, vegan restaurants and coffee shops we had supported. She contacted several and sent us gift cards for those places.

Not only was this one of the most personal, memorable, and helpful gifts we’ve ever received, it opened my eyes to ways of helping those far away when we can’t be there in person. This same principal can be applied for holiday gifting to loved ones who live far away.

It definitely took more time and hassle for our friend, and when I asked her about it, she said it was “fun!” That’s the energy we want to cultivate when giving gifts. We want to feel JOY supporting businesses that do right by our local and larger community.

Money is Energy—How do You Choose to Use Yours?

When we buy something from Amazon or Walmart, most, if not all, our money leaves the community—perhaps even the country. However, studies show that for every dollar spent on a local business, 45 cents stays within that community—a win win for everyone!

Luckily, certificates to local restaurants, bakeries, or coffee shops are always appreciated by young and old alike.

Memberships to the local botanical garden, museum, independent gym, or yoga studio make great gifts year-round!

A clairvoyant reading can be given to anyone in the world! wink, wink :-)

Many more people are suffering financially this year than normal and could use cash rather than a tangible item that is going to sit in a drawer or gather dust on a shelf.

Or an even greater gift for the financially strapped is a mutual agreement to forgo gifts all together taking the pressure off both parties and our planet! Have a deep, heart-felt conversation instead.

Either way, let’s take the Conscious Gifting challenge by taking a moment to get clear on our intentions and priorities, even for those living long distantly!

PS Whatever you do, please don’t ever buy balloons. They are single-use plastic, suffocate sea life, and can maim or kill animals on land and birds in the air.

Tune in next time for other creative conscious gift ideas for everyone on your list!