Perhaps this next idea isn't so much a socially responsible idea as it is a money saver. My coworkers are wonderful gift givers and they really bring the holiday spirit to the office. Unfortunately, I'm not great with gifts. Nate and I haven't given gifts to each other for a birthday or Christmas in years. I know it seems sad, but we both often buy what we want when we want it, and therefore don't see the need to buy more stuff on top of the stuff we just bought.
This year though, I had a fun idea, compliments of The Motherload. I made flavored hot cocoa mix as my gift. All I did is substitute flavored cream for the regular cream in the "gourmet hot cocoa" recipe. It turned out okay, but I think I'd use real cocoa instead of the chocolate drink mix to give it a bit more cocoa flavor.
The eco benefits of this would be reduced packaging, since I bought everything in bulk and packaged it myself. In addition, I could've bought all organic ingredients, but since this was a budget-based project, I had to pass on organics this time.
