If you can green it there, you can green it anywhere
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Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, or Flying Spaghetti Monster Day, you're bound to get bamboozled into giving at least a few gifts each holiday season. So, rather than indulging your inner consumer, why not get creative and stay green? Spreading holiday cheer to the Big Apple denizens on your list is the perfect place to start practicing your DIY eco-skills. After all, anyone can buy a video game but it takes real chutzpah to pull off a radical walking tour.
WATCH VIDEO: Gifts for the Outdoors Lover
You've got free music, free art, and all kinds of other free stuff. The city that never sleeps doesn't have to be the city that never greens. So whether you live in New York or not, you're just one click away from inspiring an entirely new form of urban celebration.
10 Low Impact, Big Apple Gift Ideas
1. Library card
Borrowing books is always greener than buying books and these days, libraries have become even more popular. Bring your NYC pal to the local library and sign them up (or do it online) and then enjoy the free books, the free Internet access, and the free events.
Say goodbye to disposable coffee cups and hello to your very own ceramic symbol of New York. Graham Hill, the man with the plan behind our sibling site, TreeHugger, is the mastermind of these ingenious mugs.
3. Membership to the American Museum of Natural History
For only $70, you can give one lucky Gotham resident unlimited complimentary general admission and special exhibition tickets for one, unlimited discounts on Space Show and IMAX for one, a one-year subscription to Rotunda, our members' newsletter, discounts on Museum shops & restaurant purchases and on Museum programs, opportunities to participate in special tours, programs and workshops for members only, and invitations to special exhibition previews.
4. A personal guided tour of Central Park
The most visited city park in the United States is 843 walkable and/or bike-friendly acres just waiting to be discovered. Even lifetime New Yorkers may not know all the hidden gems of Central Park.
Start off by getting radical. Use your new library card to get the book and head out in the footsteps of Emma Goldman, Langston Hughes, John Reed, and others. If you'd rather follow a pre-set program, you can easily find tours of places like Chinatown, Ellis Island, Times Square, and Harlem or opt for themed tours, e.g.:
- Gangs of New York Tour
- Gay & Lesbian History Tour
- We Built New York: A Labor History Tour
- Jewish Lower East Side
- Irish New York
- Immigrant New York
When all that walking works up an appetite, treat yourself and friends to New York's best vegan/organic restaurant: Angelica Kitchen. The food is beyond excellent and the vibe is mellow: no cell phones allowed. Gift certificates are available.
New York is a movie Mecca and no where is that more evident than at the venerable Film Forum in the West Village. You can purchase a gift membership online and for $75, you'll be giving a cinema lover one year of discounted classics.
More than a bookstore, Bluestockings is also a fair trade caf
This Lower East Side treasure preserves a six-story brick tenement building (at 97 Orchard Street) that was once home to an estimated 7,000 people, from over 20 nations, between 1863 and 1935.
Helping out at soup kitchens, delivering food to homebound individuals, finding homes for stray animals, or helping children learn how to read...that's just a tiny taste of the volunteer opportunities in Fun City. What better way to inspire holiday cheer than to opt out of the gift consumption cycle and instead, aim you compassion in the direction of those in need?
