Top 5 Holiday Gifts to Inspire & Connect
By: Jennifer Pierce
Tags: Minimalism, Holiday Gifts, Connectivity, Sustainability, Inspiration

For those searching for meaningful gifts, this article is for you.

Each of these suggestions supports small businesses with a backstory or mission that aligns with the ethos of Adapt, Engage, Inspire: to build more meaningful connections. All are relatively inexpensive and align with a sustainable and minimalist gift-giving approach.

Photo from Vertellis.com

Communicating with co-workers and family has never been more challenging than in 2020. Vertellis (which means tell me more in Dutch) is a simple tool that helps teams, families and friends connect on a deeper level by posing thought-provoking questions. Some examples:

Thinking about the past 12 months, at what moment did you laugh the hardest? Looking ahead to next year, what will be on the pictures you take?

I first played Vertellis in the fall of 2019 with a large group of multi-generational family and friends. Although we didn’t keep score and altered some of the rules of the game (it’s designed to allow flexibility to fit your audience and setting), it was a huge hit. My cousin even called it the most “real” conversation she’d ever had with our family. From that initial success I tried Vertellis with a smaller group of friends, and again at a team meeting with work colleagues. It also worked great in those settings. The tagline sums it up well: Less small talk, more genuine conversations.

Photo from StoryWorth.com

For those who have it all…except a written legacy. Each week your gift recipient receives an emailed question and responds with a personal story. At the end of 52 weeks the personal stories are compiled into a bound, hardcover book. The books can be up to 450 pages long, so plenty of room to write for those who lived long and hard! The recipient’s documented legacy can then be passed down to future generations.

So far I have given four StoryWorth gifts: my mom, dad, mother-in-law and my husband’s 79-year-old, former nun, widowed aunt who has lived a very full life. I jokingly call it the gift of a one year homework assignment. And for those who don’t do email…or don’t do homework… the gift giver also receives the questions and can send in the verbal responses from the recipient.

What a great way to spend quality time with a loved one: documenting their memories. Although I haven’t seen the finished product yet, I love the concept and the customer service has been phenomenal (thank you Taylor!)

3. Positive News. £20/year for digital magazine. £30 for print.

Photo from Positive.news

How many times have you heard someone say, “I hate the news — it’s so depressing.”? This UK-based co-op decided to do something about it: they only report news that makes you feel good. Owned by readers and journalists, Positive News calls itself ”the first media organization…dedicated to quality, independent reporting about what’s going right.”

Earlier this year I began subscribing to the free weekly email, and it has become part of my Saturday morning routine to read all the positive news stories from around the world. As a result, I feel a little more hopeful for humanity.

4. The New Paper $8/month. Free 7-day free trial.

thenewpaper.co

Two journalists co-founded The New Paper in 2018 with a mission to overcome sensationalism in media by making straightforward, factual news easy to consume. Five days a week, subscribers receive a short email highlighting a few of the biggest worldwide news stories. Each story is concise — about 50 words — and purely fact-based without opinions or bias.

I started my subscription in September, shortly after watching ‘The Social Dilemma’ and amid the US Presidential Election cycle. Suffice it to say, the timing was perfect! Highly recommend for those who are avoiding social media or taking a hiatus from mainstream news.

Photo from ReVased.com

‘Feel good one stem at a time.’

For those looking for a sustainably sourced gift that brightens the room, ReVased flower delivery is the answer.

Two sisters started ReVased in 2019 after realizing that wedding & special occasion flowers were discarded immediately after the event. They started “upcycling” the flowers: selling a portion and donating the rest to local charities.

After the pandemic upended the event industry, the sisters began sourcing flowers directly from sustainable farmers, eliminating middlemen and lowering waste and emissions. To continue with the mission to give back, for every purchase made ReVased donates a delivery to a nursing home, hospital or front line worker.

Great subscription service or one-off gift to anyone who loves flowers.

And for those in the UK, check out Freddie’s Flowers — a top notch, sustainable and magnificent flower delivery service. (£25/order)