Holiday Gifts that Go Outside the Box

Assist Oiled Birds Donate to Oiled Wildlife Care Network, the organization cleaning birds in Marin after the recent oil spill. Make a donation to save birds now.

Local Gifts	Personal Gifts	Global Gifts
Enjoy a Park or Support Local Farms	Organic Eats or Ocean Adventures	Give the Most Precious Liquid

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Local Gifts

Organizations closer to home are lending a hand in protecting our environment and those living here. These are a few organizations making a difference locally.

Green Zebra Guide This resource is a coupon book and directory for environmentally friendly products, restaurants, services and recreational activities. Three booklets cover, respectively, the Peninsula, San Francisco, and Marin. NOTE: San Mateo County Outdoor Education, listed to the right, will receive a $10 contribution for each Green Zebra Guide you purchase using the RecycleWorks organization code: CLS100.	San Mateo County Outdoor Education This award-winning program, in San Mateo County's Jones Gulch redwoods, provides weeklong programs for fifth and sixth graders focusing on experiential and environmental education. Students explore the forest and beach ecosystems, work together as a community, and are exposed to a variety of new skills in the process.
San Mateo Parks and Recreation Foundation Give a gift to the Parks and Rec Foundation in someone's honor. The Foundation will send them a gift card and free parking passes (for $50 or more). And you'll feel great because you've supported a vital green part of our community! The Foundation is currently raising money to build a green interpretive center in Edgewood Park. You can purchase memberships too.	Sempervirens Fund The Sempervirens Fund uses private donations to acquire redwoods land for preservation in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Donate on someone's behalf this holiday season.
Phipps Ranch Spend a day in rural San Mateo County picking berries, petting farm animals and shopping for locally grown foods and gifts at the country store. After visiting Phipps Ranch you can stop off in nearby historic Pescadro for a tasty bite to eat.

Personal Gifts

A few green gift ideas.

Organic Delivery A subscription to Planet Organics™ will provide weekly or biweekly boxes of organic produce and groceries delivered to the home of your choice for as long as you wish. Add to this gift a RecycleWorks compost bin for handling leftover vegetable scraps and you've given a completely waste free and earth friendly gift!	Save the Bay Give a Water Adventure! Most Bay Area residents live within several miles of the shoreline, but only see the Bay from a bridge or freeway. Save the Bay sponsors kayak and canoe expeditions in the Bay for $35-$75. These trips give adventurers a direct connection to this great natural treasure. Take your kids or friends on a unique holiday outing!
Creative Gifts Additional gift ideas that are different, enjoyable, and prevent needless waste.	Green Gift Guide Help to "close the loop" by giving a gift made from recycled materials? The Green Gift Guide™ makes it easy. This website, developed by the California Department of Conservation, provides simple tips on everything from how to shop for creative, environmentally conscious gifts to "green living" tips for the holiday season and beyond.
Spread some (energy efficient) Light Brighten the holidays for an untechnical person by giving LED light strands to persons who might not be familiar with them. Perhaps offer to install them. The strands use very little electricity and give off no heat, increasing safety and saving energy. Also, consider a gift of compact flourescent bulbs.	Get Artsy! Be Crafty! Buy Used! Everyone loves a homemade gift and they are so fun to make. You can find all kinds of great reasonably-priced used supplies to make holiday decorations and other neat things at SCRAP. All items at SCRAP were donated and most likely would have otherwise ended up in the landfill.
The Fair Trade Federation Give a gift that was made by a company dedicated to providing fair wages and good employment opportunities to economically disadvantaged artisans and farmers worldwide. This website provides a list of retail stores and wholesalers that carry fair trade products.

Global Gifts

There are many organizations accepting donations to help those in need and to preserve our environment. These are just two organizations striving to improve lives in our world.

Save the Rain Save the Rain is an environmentally conscious non profit organization committed to ending the water crisis through Rain Catchment. Their mission is to educate the people in water starved areas to harvest, store, clean and use the rain as a sustainable water supply. Providing clean water saves lives.

Conservation International A United States-based, non profit organization operating in forty countries. Conservation International aims to conserve the Earth's living heritage and its global biodiversity, and to demonstrate that human societies are able to live harmoniously with nature.

Go green this holiday season

Waste free holidays
Get creative with gift non-wrapping, light up your holidays without turning on extra lights, and throw a low-impact high-entertainment party!

Charities

Resources for Finding Charities.

Charity Navigator Provides information on America's largest charities. It is an independent charity evaluator, working to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the financial data of charities.

To find out where and how to recycle your tree in San Mateo County, please see our tree recycling information sheet.