With Valentine’s/Galentine’s Day just around the corner, the rush to find cute, affordable gifts for your loved ones can be insanely stressful depending on how busy you are around this time of the quarter! If you are looking for sustainable gifts that everyone will be sure to enjoy, consider getting them a plant for a gift. While it’s unknown who said it first, it’s clear that for Gen Z, “plants are the new pets and pets are the new kids.” If you’re hoping to understand why there’s so much excitement surrounding buying plants for gifts, then here are the top three reasons why everyone should gift a plant this upcoming Valentine’s Day:
- HEalth Benefits of Keeping a plant in your room
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Just like how environmental protection laws and the salvaging of vegetation on Earth provide general improvement in air quality, the same benefits apply when you have a small plant in your room! Depending on the size of your dorm, a little plant could make the difference between a stuffy room or a peaceful oasis of fresh air. Even if it’s not that drastic of a difference, a little gifted plant can bring a lot more life and color to wherever you may be living. In addition, keeping a plant in your dorm or living area can also provide stress relief or lessen anxiety. Some of the best plants that produce these benefits include basil, jasmine and aloe vera!
- Customizable
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Not only are there natural health benefits to decorating your home with plants, but the variation in vegetation that you could choose from means that this gift is extremely customizable. If you have a friend who you know loves their daily yoga or meditation practice, then a graceful and bamboo-like plant called the Areca Palm might be perfect for them. Or if you know someone who loves to make crafts or finds deep sentimental value in things that they make, then maybe go on a cute pottery Galentine’s date to paint a pot for your plant gift! While a plant can be a manifestation of how you hope the plant will benefit your loved ones, it can also be symbolic of the characteristics that you admire them for. This could take the form of getting colorful flowers to highlight their kind-heartedness or getting a cute chrysanthemum in a pot that shares an inside joke.
- Taking this time solely for yourself
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Lastly, taking care of yourself looks incredibly different to everyone but deliberately investing time into taking care of a plant is an immense source of satisfaction from any plant owner! While the speed of the quarter can be hard to manage at times, gifting a plant means that you are gifting them a ritual that is purely for one’s own self-enjoyment that is not related to academics. If your friends or significant other feels as if this feels a bit too much like a time commitment that they’ll forget for sure, then look for plants like English ivy or a pothos! While we all try not to procrastinate, taking care of a little plant that brings you joy everyday is something that we can all spare a little time to do for ourselves.
Photo by Designecologist from Pexels
While there’s an endless amount of sweets and cute cards you can get for your friends this Galentine’s day, there’s no way that your loved ones won’t love a little cactus or jade plant. The possibilities of what you could get them are absolutely endless and this could begin their plant parent journey! The health benefits, the personalized sentiment behind the plant and the ritual it provides is a gift that serves as an amazing reminder of how much your loved one means to you. Happy Valentine’s and Galentine’s Day everyone!