My top tip is to really listen to the people you buy gifts for. I have a note app on my phone and I keep a running list of gift ideas all year round. It eliminates panic buying and can generate ideas that are outside the box.
For instance, last year I bought my fil an extra rugged, extra long phone charging cable because he kept breaking cheap and not-so-cheap ones. It’s still going strong because it’s long enough that he’s not straining it when he’s sitting in his favourite chair browsing on his phone. It’s not an eco gift per se but it’s solved a problem that was creating a lot of waste.
Over the years I’ve made note of things like his favourite childhood sweets, and the obscure brand of pen he likes to write with so it’s not hard to give him something small he appreciates.
A few years ago I made time to sit with several elderly relatives and set up Spotify and spent a couple of hours, finding songs that many of them hadn't heard in decades or ever expected to hear again. Some just needed a kickstart, but one was quite far gone with dementia and it was a lovely experience for both of us.
I think it’s very important that dc learn about the joy of giving too but we didn’t want to buy poundshop tat so we try and give things we can make/grow. One year the dc and I trapped strawberry shoots this time of year in small pots and closer to Christmas they decorated the pots and gave them as gifts. Another year we made spring planters with a mix of bulbs in various charity shopped containers with a token for help planting them in the garden later.
I think it’s important to be more sustainable but also important to guard against becoming a moralistic grinch. The need for midwinter cheer was starkly apparent last year! And as much as it’s shockingly commercialised it’s also driving the economy. Personally I’d rather shop consciously, giving support to local business, than stop giving gifts altogether.