Tree Gifting Culture: Why Planting a Tree is the Perfect Birthday Gift

We live in the world of excess material presents, gifts: gadgets, accessories, perfumes, hampers, but what do we actually offer when we congratulate somebody dear to us?

Something that dwindles or something that flourishes? Just imagine giving a life, not a thing, a tree that breathes, shelters and reminds you forever of your love.

It is this spirit that has seen the increasing trend of giving culture through the growing of trees as a present in India, with birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and even corporate anniversaries being celebrated by tree planting rather than the traditional presents.

The concept may appear straightforward, but the effects of it are quite strong: every tree gift turns into a heritage of kindness, the icon of sustainability, and the silent vow to the planet.

With green ideas of gift giving, a CSR tree gifting campaign organized by organizations such as Youth talent development society ( YTDS ) in India, there is a promising green change in the way we convey our love, gratitude, and even celebration.

This blog discusses the emergence of this culture, and why trees are the best gifts to give, and how one, or an organization can be part of this beautiful movement.

Why Trees Are the Best Gifts

Gifting a tree is not only giving the gift that will last you a lifetime, but also giving you hope, memory, and meaning. A tree is developed over time- so are relationships. Its trunk is the symbol of stability, its branches growth and its leaves renewal.

A Gift That Lasts Forever

Most presents, however, have a tendency to lose their shine but trees just continue to get stronger. The sapling planted on the 25th birthday of someone may be tall after a few decades, providing a shade and oxygen to the generations and reminding them. Trees are living gifts which create milestones that cannot be created by any material possession.

Symbolism of Growth and Love

Trees in most cultures are symbols of long life, power and wealth. When one gives a gift it says a sincere desire – “May your life be as fruitful as this tree. It is a poetic act, and one that goes beyond style and relates to emotion.

The Emotional Connection

Imagine going to a tree you have planted years ago in memory of a loved one – seeing it growing well, remembering that time when you gave it. The emotional attachment is not something that any perfume or gadget would be able to substitute. The environmental friendliness of the act contributes to the emotional value.

Environmental Relevance

As India is struggling with deforestation, air pollution, and climatic extremes, each planted tree helps in the healing process. Gifting of trees in India has not only turned symbolic but also a pressing need of environmental concern.

When you give a tree, you give a person a green tomorrow, as one of the volunteers of YTDS articulately testified.

The Rise of Tree Gifting in India

What started out as a niche idea within the green community, has now become a good-going eco-gifting trend in the whole of India. The past several years have experienced a tremendous growth in the number of individuals, startups, and corporations that began to introduce tree gifting as one of their celebration and sustainability initiatives.

From CSR to Celebrations

Gifting of trees was initially adopted in large organizations under their green CSR India projects. Companies started sponsoring the planting of trees in their place of clients and employees instead of using traditional corporate giveaways.

Each of the trees that were planted was accompanied by a digital certificate, usually including GPS coordinates, so that the recipients could monitor the growth of their tree online.

Startups Leading the Way

Eco-startups have been created that deal with gifting of trees. They provide online companies that provide an opportunity to gift a tree and do it in real time, add some messages, and share it in the social media. With the help of such startups, it becomes easy to combine emotional gifting and environmental responsibility.

NGOs Driving the Mission

The tree gifting has become popularized by such NGOs as Youth Talent Development Society (YTDS), SayTrees or Grow-Trees.com which provide platforms to individuals and companies alike. Their concept is straight forward; they plant, nurture and maintain trees in certain areas and give adopters some adoption certificates and regular updates.

City Citizens Moving into the Movement.

The urban citizens in cities such as Delhi, Bengaluru, and Pune are now discovering that celebrations can be made sustainable using gifting ideas. Whether it is birthdays, weddings, and so on, an increasing number of people have decided to plant trees in remembrance of the people they love rather than purchase actual gifts.

Tree gifting has ceased being a gesture of goodwill but is now a deliberate cultural change a combination of love and responsibility.

When to Gift a Tree: Celebrations That Deserve to Turn Green

One does not need a particular day to plant a tree, but it is even more personal when it comes to occasions to gift one. The following are some of the occasions in which green gifts will be in order:

Birthdays

Instead of traditional birthday bouquet or wrapping birthday gift use sapling. Think of giving your friend a year of oxygen or a growing-up life. Birthdays are not only individual occasions but also time to make a contribution to the environment.

Weddings and Anniversaries

There can be no better way to love than by planting something to grow with the time. Lovers are currently celebrating their wedding day by planting trees together- a gesture that signifies some common path that is based on development and peace. Some also give saplings as favors in return during weddings and therefore the guests are part of the green wedding.

Festivals

Diwali, Raksha Bandhan and other festivals that use trees as gifts replace the sweets and decorations, giving them meaning. Eco-friendly Diwali events organized by the NGOs such as YTDS promote lighting life and not lamps only. Equally, during the Raksha Bandhan, sisters are now given trees by their brothers as an assurance of their eternal protection.

Corporate Milestones

Businesses are toasting successes in the form of sales goals or anniversaries by planting trees on behalf of their employees or customers. These gestures increase brand image and at the same time, they satisfy the corporate sustainability objectives.

Memorials and Tributes

Gifting of trees may also be done in remembrance of the loved ones. One of the most effective means of making sure that the legacy of a person will be preserved and lived through is by planting a tree in their name, literally speaking.

Regardless of whether it is a personal or corporate event, these events demonstrate that any celebration can be eco-friendly provided that you decide to give something that will continue giving.

How to Gift a Tree in India?

It is not a complex thing in tree gifting. You can either plant a tree or plant one via an organization but here are the ways of doing so correctly.

Online Tree Gifting Platform

There are a number of reputable organizations through which you can donate a tree online. All you need to do is to choose the place (a forest restoration site, school ground, or a countryside), number of trees and customize the certificate. Others even enable you to follow the development of the tree through photos and GPS-positions.

Popular portals include:

• PlantaMillionTrees.org.in
• Grow-Trees.com
• SayTrees
• SankalpTaru
  

These sites have turned tree gifting in India to be as simple as gift ordering online but much better.

NGOs or Drives Offline Tree Gifting

You can also partner with the local NGOs or Resident Welfare associations and make arrangement to organize your tree gifting drive. Ask people to have their own saplings planted in an event. Instruct them to give nameplates or tags to make it personal.

DIY Gifting at Home

In minor celebrations, it is possible to plant a sapling in a pot or in the backyard and present it directly. Include a homemade tag or a note that says; This tree grows with our friendship.

Corporate Integration

Corporates have the option of cooperating with NGOs such as YTDS to conduct gifting campaigns at a large scale. As an illustration, each and every birthday of an employee can be associated with planting a tree or even clients could be given a digital certificate which could say, a tree has been planted in your name.

The combination of the digital technology, emotional appeal and environmental pledge renders tree gifting personal and effective.

Impact of Tree Gifting: Why It Matters for Society

The positive effects of gifting trees are much more than mere symbolism every tree planted will help to restore the environment and improve social wellbeing directly.

Environmental Impact

• Air purification: One mature tree will be able to absorb approximately 22 kg of CO2 annually.
  
• Production of oxygen: One tree can be grown up to be in full size and give sufficient oxygen to one person in one year.
  
• Conservation of soil and water: Trees help to stop soil erosion and help in enhancing water levels.
  
• Climatological control: Urban trees reduce the temperature around them by up to 4deg C.
  

When these impacts are multiplied by the number of thousands of gifted trees, they have an overall impact on changing local ecosystems.

Emotional and Social Impact

Gifting of trees brings about a feeling of continuity a living relationship between the giver and the receiver. It creates thankfulness and awareness. A lot of participants also indicate a higher level of emotional fulfillment than when giving traditional gifts.

There are better social bonding and civic pride in communities which practice gifting drives. According to one of the volunteers of YTDS, every tree we will plant will be a unity and care story.

Economic and Cultural Impact

There is also the tree gifting as it helps the economy of the local in the form of nursery development, rural plantation employment, and eco-tourism. Sustainable livelihoods have been given to hundreds of families in other parts of the country such as Maharashtra and Karnataka by tree adoption and gifting drives.

Larger than the physical, the cultural importance of planting trees is vast – it restores the long-lost Indian philosophy of coexistence with the nature.

FAQs on Tree Gifting in India

Reconnecting Gifting with Sustainability

During the hurried times of trends and excess, tree gifting teaches us a lesson of what genuine celebrating is and it is to give life and not junk. All of your gifts, all of your gifts, still produce more shade, air, fruit and beauty long after the event has taken place.

The tree gifting movement that has been spearheaded by various organizations in India such as the Youth Talent Development Society (YTDS) is not merely an environmental action. It is cultural renaissance – the rebirth of the old wisdom of tending nature with our deeds.

The following time you organize a birthday, wedding or festival surprise, leave the store bought gifts. Give something that lives, breathes and is important. Gift a tree.

Since, after all, there is no better way to say Happy Birthday, than to plant it?