By Kate Sheddan - Birthdays can be exciting, happy and sometimes daunting. They are all about celebrating life, accomplishments and years well spent. Birthdays are also one of the only popular celebrations that we can agree weren't made by big companies in order to promote purchasing.
However, in today's age, we have seen a huge shift in birthdays being less about just celebrating the special day with loved ones and more about gifts.
While sometimes those gifts can be very thoughtful and welcomed, a lot of the time we receive gifts we neither want nor need, that end up as dust collectors or in the back of our closets.
I’ll be the first to admit, a special and purposeful gift can make me feel particularly loved on my birthday, as it should!
However, I have also been the receiver of many strange, unnecessary and un-me presents that could have saved the giver time and effort had it been something with more purpose.
In all my 22 birthdays, I still can’t say I haven’t mastered the “I love it” face, when opening a present I instantly know will go to the re-gifting pile in my cupboard.
In all the fun and excitement of birthdays, we can forget about the effects they have on our planet, the place that plays a very crucial role in us being able to celebrate birthdays for years and centuries to come.
Gifting waste has a huge negative impact on the environment, even down to the wrapping paper. A whopping 365,321 kilometres of wrapping paper is thrown away each year due to its single use nature, that’s almost all the way to the moon!
So this birthday, why not celebrate a bit differently?
Whether it’s you with a birthday bash coming up or a loved one, we urge you to shake it up, and celebrate your birthday with others, in a way that protects our planet.
Celebrating with The Good Registry means you can ask family and friends to donate what they can to your favourite of our 65 charity partners, through your own birthday registry page. So rather than regular gifts, donating through The Good Registry saves them time and stress, whilst using your birthday to do good for the community and the planet too.
Or if you are looking for a simple, socially good & zero waste gift for someone else’s birthday, a Good Gift Card is the way to go. Giving them the joy of choosing any of our 65 charity partners to donate to. No packaging, no shipping, no waste, just good.
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