If you haven’t already started thinking about what you’re going to buy for your family and friends this Christmas it’s time to start. So to make things a bit easier we thought we throw some ideas together for you.

At Pea Green Things we’ve got a good choice of eco-friendly Christmas gifts to choose from. Here are a few examples to give you some inspiration.

Gift ideas for children

Wood is semi-renewable resource. Providing we don’t use all the wood and save no seeds, we can renew the resource indefinately. If you buy wooden products make sure the wood is taken from a sustainable source.

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  Balance Bikes £54.99

  Free Delivery

  Our Balance Bikes are great for teaching your young ones essential balancing skills that will be a necessity for their development. They’re also great fun! Young children can safely learn to ride and start having fun straight away, without difficulty.

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  First Drum Kit £26.28

  It’s pretty small and it doesn’t make that much noise. So you can put it on your desk at work and become a drum master in no time at all. Yes a drum master. But really the First drum kit is a great gift for young children. It homes hand eye co-ordination, brings out rhythmic skills and it’s really fun.

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  Catamaran £14.67

  Build your own catamaran! A great 21 piece kit containing all items needed to build a racing catamaran, suitable for display or active service in ocean racing (at the nearest duck pond anyway).

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  Sail Windmill Was £78.29, now £70.46

  Sale

  Free Delivery

  Learn about traditional technology and have great fun too when you build this stunning sail windmill. Beautifully constructed it uses the same principles as those once used in the Mediterranean to pump water to the fields many moons ago.

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  Multi-construction Set £17.61

  This set is a great introduction to construction techniques and association of shapes for all the family to get involved. Pieces include colour bolts, screws, hammer, screwdriver and spanner.

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Gift ideas for men

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  Rhino Made From Oil Drum £23.48

  It used to be an oil drum. Now it’s a Rhino. It’s been hand painted and now it’s a high quality, attractive ornament that will get people talking. It also makes a really quircky Christmas present.

  We also have a wild boar made of old flipflops, a zebra made from old oil drums and more in the recycled ornamaments section.

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  Ethletic Rugby Ball £13.90

  Full size Pro Rugby ball that has been hand sewn in FSC certified rubber with outside grain. Manufactured in Pakistan by Fairtrade workers. Fairtrade and FSC labeled. Size 5.

  Fairtrade football also available.

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  Fairly Traded Leather Wallet £12.95

  What’s unusual about this product? The price. It’s a high quality fairly traded leather wallet with one amazingly small price tag, which makes this a great gift for a brother, father or son.

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  Recycled Tin Bi-plane £15.65

  A lot of work has gone into making this amazing piece of art. You can just about make out the logos on the old cans of drink used to make it. The propeller and wheels turn, and it has a hook for hanging up. For £15.65 this is an amzing gift at an incredible price for anyone who likes planes or recycled items of wonder.

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Gift ideas for women

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  Cashmelon Blanket/Shawl £9.78

  Whether you are looking for natural, eco-friendly gifts or just want to keep the cold chill out of the air, this is incredibly soft and warm. Made from a mix of different goat breeds wool from the soft underbelly hair (cashmelon is cashmeres close cousin).

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  Cream Coffee Chocolate Scarf £12.64

  This fabulous, soft fringed scarf can be worn as day or evening wear or slung round your shoulders as a decorative shawl. It is jacquard woven with a self-pattern of paisley motifs scattered across three bands of subtle colour ranging from cream through cappuccino to bitter chocolate.

  Also available in orange, while stocks last.

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  Snail Shape Iron Candle Holder £9.19

  Made from recycled waste iron this beautiful candle holder will make an ideal gift for anyone – even yourself! Coated with a shiney lacquer the snail glistens in the light adding to the design.

  Also available: Leaf Design Candle Holder

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  Magazine Paper Pots £14.67

  As featured on .

  These are made from recycled magazine paper. They were recently featured on Marie Claire in their top ten eco-friendly Christmas gift ideas. The production of the Paper Pots helps disadvantaged families in Vietnam.

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Once again employees at The Consortium have outdone themselves with whacky and fun ways of getting into work without using a car. This year the winners of our World Car Free Day competition were Phillipa and Nick, who came in to work in a trolley!!! It’s all above board though as it was one of own trolleys, not one pilfered from the local supermarket. Congratulations to Nick and Phillipa for helping reduce our impact on the environment, promoting a good cause and having a lot of fun along the way.

What can you do to spread sustainability awareness at your school or office? Why not try and come up some ideas for your classroom, year or even the whole school to help make your school and students or your business more environmentally friendly.

Until next time, be green!

Last Monday (yesterday) was World Car Free Day 2008.

A lot of people took part here at The Consortium. We had someone riding in on a horse and someone even came in a canoe — our office is next to a canal.

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It was announced last Friday (the 29th of February) evening that we had been awarded 1st prize for the Wiltshire Business of the Year Environmental Category.

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Electronic documents are simply regular documents (like an invoice) that are sent via email rather than being printed and posted. If you order online you might find it alot more manageable and a lot less hassle to receive your invoices and statements by email rather than by post. There’s really no need to have your invoices and statements printed and posted to you, when you can have them delivered and stored instantly via the internet. Less paper storage equals less work and less clutter.

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