Gifted items.
Christmas is around the corner – well, a few more weeks left until then. This is the best time to think about your Christmas gifts (if you have not started yet) because you can avoid rush, low stocks and it gets you into a festive mood just like Christmas baking and decorating.
Following my Christmas Gift Guide for EVERYONE, in this post you’ll find some great, sustainable and ethical stocking fillers and small presents that are perfect for Secret Santa, work mates or anyone you can’t spend a fortune. Featuring items mainly from indie brands and small businesses. Shopping local and with online small businesses are important for me and for all of us. They play an important role in communities and they have a major economic impact. As for the green and ethical aspect, these are very important issues for me. I’d like to create awareness, because making conscious choices when deciding about a purchase is more possible than ever these days. We can do better, by making positive choices for people and planet. Money is a vote which you can use every time you go shopping. By using your spending power wisely you can help to create a better, healthier and greener world.
Denys & Fielding Sustainable Living
Denys & Fielding has stylish and sustainable products in their online shop: Deckchairs, colourful, contemporary homewares, garden furniture and gifts for gardeners that add a sense of joy and celebration to every day life. Playful prints combine with sturdy, solid wooden deckchair frames to create a range of fun loving, stylish but practical folding hardwood garden furniture that is ideal for the patio, conservatory or summer house. They are also available to hire.
The collection of indoor/outdoor candles (£16.50) make a great little gift. Natural, sustainable, beautiful – each candle is vegan friendly, using only natural ingredients and essential oils.
Sea Soul Blessings Cards and Books
Sea Soul Blessings makes simple easy-to-use tools that encourage you to nurture your connection to the sea and create daily rituals that move you forward step by step, towards greater calm and clarity. For every gift box, card set or books you buy from their web shop, they donate 10% from every sale directly to environmental causes: protecting the sea for generations to come.
There are two sets of Sea Soul Blessings postcards (£6.50) available. Pack one: Shine, Free, Believe, Fluid, Enough. Pack two: Love, Courageous, Joy, Heard, Begin. Each set includes five inspiring love-filled postcards sharing some of the sea wisdom of the Sea Soul Blessings card and book. Pop one in the post to someone you love to offer them some extra encouragement and a reminder of our shared connection to the sea.
Functional Food Company – Nono Bonbons
The Functional Food Company (box of bonbons start at £12) is a small company providing work for people with autism and special needs. At the same time they have beautiful, handmade, vegan chocolates that are free from top 14 allergens. Nono chocolate says No to Gluten! No to Nuts! No to Dairy! No to Egg! No again to Artificial Colouring, GMO & Preservatives! No Hidden Sugar! No Cholesterol.
They also proudly say No to Exclusion, Discrimination, Bullies… by offering a work opportunity for people with special needs like people with autism, single mums, carers and more.
Best Years Toys
Best Years Toys specialised in knitted dinosaurs since they opened the business 10 years ago. Now they sell a whole range of different toys, but one thing they have in common: ethical sourcing. They have knitted, crocheted and wooden toys as well as toys made using upcycled material as well. They are fun, engaging, loads of play value, tactile, bright, practical and handmade.
The Flipp Teddies (£14.99) are fair trade and handmade and the handmade natural rubber dinosaur bath toys (£10) are a wonderful alternative to plastic and are also suitable for teething.
Gourmet Blend Spices
Spices are always important but they are especially important when you cook vegan. These quality spices from Life of Spice are really lovely! If you decide to get some, they are currently running a promotion: 1 free tin with each collection ordered using the following code: LOS–NDBLG through The Life of Spice website. I’ve got the American Rub Collection – but it is perfect for veggies too and the Italian Collection which I now use all the time!
Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap Bar
Dr. Bronner’s All-One Hemp Citrus Pure Castile Bar Soap (£5.35) is fresh and bright smelling & an invigorating blend of organic orange, lemon and lime oils! It’s made with certified fair trade ingredients and organic hemp oil for a soft, smooth lather that won’t dry your skin. 100% biodegradable in a 100% post-consumer recycled wrapper.
Eco Razor Sharpener
The Present Finder has lots of great gifts. And this Eco Razor Sharpener (£12.99) is a perfect for any eco-conscious man as a stocking filler. With a sustainably sourced bamboo base this razor sharpener can extend the lifespan of your razors by up to 3 to 5 times. Ditch the single use plastic razors!
Sherpa Adventure Gear Accessories
Sherpa Adventure Gear is an ethical brand: for every product sold, they provide education and resources for children in Nepal – for the entirety of their education, elementary through college.
The Unisex Jhola Wristlet (£15) is not only pretty, handy to hold and keep safe your essentials like keys, phones and money but it’s ethically handmade by a Nepalese family business, made from traditional patterned fabric woven. the support the production of the Jhola range provides local economies in Nepal by increasing the number of fair trade opportunities and the use of azo-free dye in the production of artisanal goods.
The matching colours Unisex Multicoloured Roll On Bracelet (£10) is also a beautiful handcrafted item. (Both are available in other colours!) Made of glass beads. By buying and proudly wearing this beaded bracelet you are supporting a cooperative of women in the village of Tangot an hour from Kathmandu and promoting fair trade and ethical products.
TenTree Clothing
At tentree, they aim to empower everyone to plant trees with their purchases, while offering sustainably made products for everyone to enjoy. The name comes from Buy One, Plant Ten. 10 trees planted for every product bought. Register your token, choose your plantation, watch your trees grow and change the lives of the community. Tentree has planted 34,119,480 trees to date. How amazing is that? They use sustainable fibres and materials to manufacture their clothing lines and they are also ethically produced. They apply the same values of transparency, sustainability and respect for the people who make our clothes as when selecting and managing our planting projects.
tentree socks (from £9.99) are made of recycled polyester. (Fibre is made from 3 recycled plastic bottles.) they are comfy and warm!
Eco Warrior Soap Bars
Eco Warrior Soap (from £4)is a collection of six thoughtful, high impact, job specific bar soaps, each with its own distinct use and bespoke essential oil blend (no synthetic fragrances). From washing and exfoliating to shaving and even shampooing, Eco Warrior Soap has you covered – in biodegradable bar form. Groundbreaking. Compact. Fresh. Modern. Super effective. British made. No Plastics. Affordable. Vegan. Sustainable. Innovative. Bio-degradable. Recyclable.
Petits Rituels Wax Melts
Petits Rituels is a small business that sells deliciously fragranced 100% natural, enriching candles, wax melts and home fragrance. All of the products are handmade and designed to deliver a fabulous aromatherapy experience for the mind, body and spirit.
Petits Rituels soy wax melts (£10) scented with 100% essential oils and come in multiples of 2 in a beautiful handmade cotton bag with a satin ribbon. They smell divine, packaged beautifully and they last up to 10 hours for each melt.
2 comments
This is such a lovely gift guide. I love candles so that would be my choice.
Wow, there are some great ideas here that I’m going to have to look into more. I’m always on a mission to be more ethical with my purchases!