Gifts for a Minimalist (and Our Entire Planet)

I know how hard it can be to select gifts for a minimalist, especially when that minimalist cares about the health of our planet.

I can safely say that this is because we minimalists try so hard to consume less. We truly find joy in owning something only if we absolutely need it and love it.

As well, the “code red for humanity” climate announcement has many of us feeling strongly about only exchanging gifts that are sustainable.

While I’m truly happy just receiving free-range flowers and heartwarming notes, there are many additional and vital gifts for a minimalist—organic, vegan, biodegradable, recyclable, fair-trade, and zero-waste.

So I want to share a few of my favorite additional gift ideas—what can bring value to a minimalist's life, no matter where that minimalist might be living or traveling in this world.

I think these gifts are valuable for just about anyone else on earth, too.

Plant-Based Vegan Chef Classes

No matter where a minimalist is traveling or living, owning fewer items means having more time to cultivate new skills.

Add to that our climate situation, and we know the importance of embracing a plant-based vegan diet for the sake of our earth’s survival.

But how do we learn to cook hearty and delicious plant-based vegan food? Through an online professional cooking school that teaches home chef and professional chef skills:

I’ve witnessed the positive impact that a plant-based vegan diet has had on those considered most ill, as well as on those who thought their health was just fine.

The changes can be profound and I applaud everyone learning this skill.

This is also a zero-waste gift that keeps on giving.

Beautiful Portable Water Filter (and Purifier)

If I could share one message from the rooftops, it would be that I think every human deserves to be gifted Berkey’s smallest stainless portable water filter (and purifier). Even minimalists.

It’s called the Go Berkey.

I bought my beloved Berkey water filter (and purifier) years ago because we don't like tasting chlorine in every glass of tap water, nor do we want to drink the known questionables that can be found in water at home or around the world.

Meaning, we want to remove more than bacteria and viruses from our water, while keeping in all the good stuff.

We also like to own a water filter that looks beautiful on countertops, is made without unnecessary plastic, and can still nest into a backpack, a carry-on, or stash away into checked luggage.

In addition, I love that the Go Berkey can easily be used in a dorm, hostel, office, while camping, in an RV, on a boat, during outages, shortages, or pandemics.

When one filter does all of this, it’s a minimalist's dream.

To give you an idea of how important we find our Go Berkey, I will share just one story.

We spent months in Portugal. During this time, we heard endless visitors debate whether or not they thought the tap water in Portugal was safe.

But locals in Portugal refused to serve us their tap water, including our host, even though all of the plumbing had recently been replaced.

We also saw restaurants in Portugal only use bottled water (even when filling our cups in the privacy of their kitchens).

I stopped ordering beverages in restaurants altogether, once I realized all the plastic bottles involved.

Sweet grandmas would literally pass us on the cobblestones, under the searing heat, heavily weighed down by bags of bottled water.

Like a vast swath of people in North America, I wondered if people in Portugal considered bottled water better, or if they were not tuned in to how devastating plastic bottles are to the climate.

Then, after months in Portugal, we heard multiple concerns about Portugal’s water quality possibly being linked to Portugal’s bladder cancer rates. We were never able to verify what, exactly, might be true.

But just seeing all of these concerns play out before our eyes made us deeply grateful for our Go Berkey, which helps us feel protected from such ongoing issues.

Everyone else deserves to feel protected, too.

Sustainable Skincare (Gift Certificate)

The thought of gifting someone sustainable skincare might seem daunting, yet I think it’s beautiful as a gift certificate—especially for minimalists who deserve pampering.

For those of us who love minimalist beauty, have sensitive skin, haven’t previously had success finding local sustainable skincare that truly works, or who simply care about saving our dear planet, what a gift this is.

This is especially important when we know how hard it is to find skincare that is gluten-free, vegan, packaged ecologically in glass and paper, and can be received nationally or internationally.

For myself, OSEA’s sustainable skincare has solved these challenges, helping me like no other.

With my sensitive, combination, and dry skin wrapped into one, I should clarify that, initially, I assumed OSEA would be like all the other skincare products that never truly helped my skin. I didn’t believe OSEA would do a thing for me.

But after reading OSEA’s product descriptions and customer reviews—reviewing which products were meant for my skin and how they performed on others—I thought I’d try OSEA products worry-free, thanks to their 30-day return policy.

I would have never otherwise tried OSEA.

OSEA’s products have been so unbelievably helpful that I actually need to write an entire post about my experience with the specific OSEA products I’ve tried and continue to use (so this is coming).

Needless to say, I love that an OSEA gift certificate allows a minimalist to explore—and be pampered by—sustainable skincare.

Sustainable Clothing (Gift Certificate)

Minimalists know the life-changing impact of downsizing and minimizing what we consume, reusing what we already have, recycling and donating what we no longer need.

So, again, when a minimalist needs to purchase something new, we can be very particular about what we choose. This is especially true when it comes to clothing.

Minimalists often want to choose the fewest articles of clothing possible, clothing that can meet multiple needs, clothing made from truly sustainable materials, and clothing that will hold up well.

Those are big shoes to fill and it’s possible to fill them—through gift certificates that allow a minimalist to choose their very own sustainable clothing, only when they are in need of it.

For minimalists who insist on shopping second-hand—even when receiving gifts—this is a prime opportunity to buy them a gift certificate to their favorite second-hand clothing shop.

For minimalists who love to support small, local, eco artisans making stunning linen clothing, hemp clothing, organic clothing, linen bags, linen pouches, linen (travel) towels, organic face masks, and more, an Etsy gift certificate can be perfect.

A gift certificate to Pact allows a minimalist to shop for reliable organic cotton and hemp basics when they most need them.

A prAna gift certificate means a minimalist can shop for organic, hemp, and Tencel clothing at a fashion brand.

And a gift certificate to tentree allows a minimalist to shop for organic cotton, hemp, Tencel, and recycled clothing—plus recycled outerwear—while tentree plants ten trees per purchase.

Gift time is a special time for taking such care.

Online Foreign Language Lessons

Nearly everyone I know has dreamed of learning a foreign language, yet many assume it’s impossible or they believe they’re too old to learn a foreign language.

Their dream is dashed before they even have a chance to explore it. But it doesn’t have to be this way, especially since so many still long for this gift.

With minimalists often making time in their lives to cultivate such skills—and put them to use while traveling—this can be a seamless gift for a minimalist.

Benny Lewis, quite a fun character who spoke at TEDx Warsaw, shares how he became fluent in multiple languages in Fluent in 3 Months.

Benny also shares what he thinks makes Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish easy, and he offers a Fluent in 3 Months Challenge.

Listening to Benny’s story—taking note of his tips and tricks—can help propel one forward into actually realizing the dream of learning a foreign language.

With Babbel, one of the many online language platforms, one is supported in learning “through conversation … using spaced repetition … [for] long-term retention.”

Babbel currently teaches Danish, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.

Busuu, another highly regarded online language platform, creates lessons using the internationally known standard—the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

Busuu currently teaches Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.

And Rosetta Stone, one of the first language software programs I found years ago, currently teaches the largest selection of languages I’ve seen:

Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, Filipino, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.

Any of these online foreign language lessons can be a valuable gift for a minimalist (and a zero-waste gift for the planet).

A Travel Community

With minimalists having fewer physical constraints holding them back, the love of travel can easily take up residence in their lives.

Travel broadens our understanding of the world. Travel changes who we are.

So if a female minimalist loves to think about travel, discuss travel, or wants to work in travel, it’s possible to gift her a travel community—Wanderful—that supports this very passion.

An inclusive global travel community of women helping women, Wanderful is where women can learn about travel, create travel friendships, find travel jobs, and enjoy traveling in person (when it’s safe to do so).

Wanderful accomplishes this through daily discussions, experiences, and conferences—both online and in-person.

Wanderful also exists for those who have no intention of traveling, or who are anxious about traveling, yet who want to enjoy travel discussions and experiences from the safety of their own home—or at local chapter gatherings.

Importantly, there are climate-friendly (eco, vegan) members in the Wanderful travel community (pointing at myself) who help support responsible travel in the effort to help save our planet.

In addition, each purchased membership to Wanderful allows Wanderful to give away a free annual membership to someone in need of this very support.

A Worldwide Housesitting Membership

Minimalism can leave minimalists dreaming of more flexible and sustainable ways to live, unencumbered by the permanent things that accompany many through life.

Like an entire household.

And there’s a way to accomplish this—a way to live in homes and to enjoy pets, locally or nearly anywhere in the world—unencumbered.

By housesitting.

Some minimalists live like this full-time in their own hometown—literally moving from housesitting job to housesitting job, visiting friends and loved ones between sits.

Other minimalists live or travel like this around the world—booking housesitting jobs in locations where they want to experience local life—literally living like a local (without lodging expenses).

And if a minimalist is a homeowner or pet owner, they, too, can be gifted a housesitting membership—so a person of their choice can care for their minimalist home and beloved pets, for as long as desired.

Essentially free, loving what already exists in this full world.

A Vegan Travel Experience

With our climate crisis asking us to travel sustainably and eat plant-based vegan, minimalists are also typically aware that it’s vital to embrace vegan travel experiences.

Even those who are not vegan.

Meaning, once it’s safe to travel again, it will be climate time to choose sustainable vegan travel experiences.

So a minimalist (or anyone else) can receive a gift certificate toward a vegan restaurant crawl, festival, day trip, safari, retreat, resort, spa, culinary vacation, villa, B&B, hotel, vegan market, or more.

These are the experiences that allow one to explore hearty and delicious—and truly sustainable—food while connecting with compassionate others, local culture, nature, adventure, or relaxation.

These experiences help a minimalist—and all of us—minimize our footprint on this precious rotating earth, allowing our planet to better breathe and care for us, so we can continue to exist.

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