First there was GeoCaching, a high-tech treasure hunting game where players search for hidden containers using a GPS device and log the information using an online resource.

Now there is the Z Kit, an interactive gift which allows the giver and the receiver the ability to track its journey online.

Creator Melanie Corey-Ferrini launched the Z Kit and interactive Web site, www.givezkit.com , to make the act of giving a whole new, high-tech experience. Each Z Kit comes in a silver tin holding a set of cards listing different charities and causes under a particular theme. The themes include: Arts and Animals, Community and Health, Women and Children, and a Kit for Kids. Each tin highlights local charities, locally-based national charities, and global charities.

The person giving the Z Kit purchases the tin, then writes a donation amount on an attached tag. When the Z Kit is given, the person who received it is able to open the tin and chose a charity or cause to designate the allotted amount of donation money to.

The Z Kit information can then be documented online by entering a unique identification number into the Z Log found on the Web site. Each Z Kit has the ability to take on a virtual story, tracking its journey as it is re-gifted. New fillers are available for purchase and the same tin can then be given to a new person, creating an endless cycle of giving. Corey-Ferrini was inspired to create the Z Kit after listening and observing people’s enthusiasm

and passion for giving.

“Charitable giving has been something that is secondary to the seasonal gift giving process or something that is seen as not fun or interesting as a gift. I wanted to create a very unique and special package and memento – that would be considered just as unique and wonderful a surprise as any other gift that someone receives,” she explained. “I wanted to create something that could be passed along to others as a tradition and something that could pay forward and start a larger circle of giving.”

When designing the Z Kits, it was important for Corey-Ferrini and her team to design the products using sustainable and re-usable packaging from a local Northwest company.

“(The idea of) local embodies the communities we work, shop, live and play in. Local helps us learn about others around us and local causes help us learn about those causes that others have found passion and support in.”

The Z Kit tins launched two weeks ago and are available exclusively at Firework’s Gallery in Bellevue Square and at the University Village in Seattle. The Z Kits are $14.95 each. Refills for the Z Kit are $8.95.

Both are available in store or online, at www. givezkit.ning.com.