Research by Deloitte found that Americans spend more than $1 Trillion dollars on gifts and other celebratory purchases over the Christmas season. Around the world, retailers look to the holidays for a massive bump in sales and they’re rarely disappointed. While gift-giving can be a selfless and joyful act that makes the holidays feel more memorable, that sharp spike in spending comes with consequences. Aside from the financial impact of extreme consumerism, there’s the toll that fast fashion and planned obsolescence takes on our environment.
Spending less doesn’t have to mean the end of gift giving. With Simbi, if you already have something to trade (a treadmill you will never use again, for instance) you can easily trade it for something that you intend to give. In a community like ours, you don’t even need to find a double coincidence of wants where you and the person you’re trading with both want what the other has to give. You can trade your item for in-app tokens called simbi credits, find the item you want and then trade your credits for that.
There are thousands of members active on Simbi as of Q3 2021. With the upcoming holiday season in mind, we’ve picked 10 great gift options from the products and services they offer so you can gift more responsibly this Christmas or all through the year:
- Original commissioned art and illustrations from a talented self-taught artist
- Personalized wood-burned artwork that precisely recreates your favourite photos
- Beginner belly-dance lessons from a seasoned dancer and thoughtful teacher
- Lessons in Highland Broadsword Basics from an Advanced practitioner of this ancient art
- Virtual cooking lessons with a lifelong foodie and former personal chef
- In person and online guitar lessons with an experienced and multi-talented guitarist
- Sanskrit Language lessons from a knowledgeable, fully fluent and certified teacher
- In person or distance Reiki from a Level III Reiki Master
- Past life regression with a retired Social Worker trained in clinical hypnosis
- 14k Gold earrings handmade to order by a skilled crafter and designer
Those ten are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to offers available on Simbi! The perfect gift may even be a combination of different deals customized by Simbi Members with your loved one’s personality and preferences in mind. Talking it out isn’t just permitted, it’s encouraged, since more communication helps set everyone’s expectations so that everyone ends up satisfied!
Of course, some things just aren’t practical for crafting or bartering secondhand. Anything you might find in an Apple store or absolutely need to purchase brand new would fall under that category. Where a platform like Simbi shines is in its ability to bring together unique experiences, handmade creative crafts and other rare finds that can often be harder to buy. To the right person, that’s exactly what makes them priceless.
Blog post written by Monique Clement, volunteer Simbi freelance writer.
Monique is a professional copywriter, amateur poet and occasional artist from Trinidad and Tobago. She enjoys learning new things, reading voraciously and trying out interesting services from the Simbi community. Check out her Simbi offerings here.
