Green Valentine Gifts


Rosa rugosa

I’m sure you’ve noticed that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Shops are full of gifts – chocolates, roses, cuddly toys and lingerie are all perennial favourites, but usually not very eco-friendly or ethical. There are lots of ways to show your love that don’t involve physical gifts, but if you want to offer a token of your affection then try these greener ideas.

Flowers
It’s not rose season here in the UK, so roses either have to be flown in or grown in heated greenhouses. The florists as Wiggly Wigglers create magnificient displays from seasonal English flowers and foliage – much of it grown on the Wiggly Wigglers farm itself. For lower Flower Miles this year, check out their Valentine bouquets.

Chocolate
If you want to be sure that your chocolate is as environmentally friendly and ethical as possible then you need to choose Fair Trade or organic. You should be able to pick some up at your usual supermarket, but you can also order a nice selection from online shops such as Wiggly Wigglers and
Ethical Superstore.

Cuddly animals
For animal lovers, why not adopt an animal? The WWF has a range of plush toys that finance conservation work. You could also sponsor an animal at your local zoo or safari park – mine is Cotswold Wildlife Park, and they also offer a range of soft toys that you could team up with an adoption and you can also arrange to be a zookeeper for a day (which I’ve just done and can thoroughly recommend as a gift for someone who is not nervous with animals) and special animal encounters at the park.

Lingerie
Ethical Superstore offer fair trade cotton underwear for men and women; for something a bit more fancy try Green Knickers or People Tree.

Gardening Valentines
If the love of your life is a gardener then their ideal Valentine’s Day gift might look slightly different. Instead of giving them a bunch of roses, why not give them a rose to plant in the garden? It’s still the season to plant bare root roses, or those grown in pots, and the resulting plant will bloom for many years. Or perhaps some chocolate plants would go down well.

Suttons have teamed up with Breakthrough Breast Cancer this year with a range of special pink gardening items. Each sale of their pink potato planters, rhubarb crowns, hanging basket plants and speedy veg seed collections comes complete with a donation to the breast cancer charity.

And over at Harrod Horticultural you can buy a heart-shaped trowel and have it engraved with a special message (but you have to order by 9th February to guarantee a timely delivery).

Plan ahead! There’s nothing romantic about buying the last card and box of chocolates in the shop because you forgot!

Posted 7 February 2010, 09:51.  

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