Even though it totally felt like Christmas snuck up on me this year, making conscious decisions about what to gift family and friends was still at the top of my gift-choosing criteria. I love finding gifts that are special but also give back to my local community or globally to causes I care about. From supporting small businesses to shopping with big businesses that support global initiatives, I appreciate a great handmade, sustainable or unique gift that helps serve a higher purpose. Other than the obvious food, I think Whole Foods has always been a fun place to shop for stocking stuffers and easy to mail gifts. Their selection of gifts that give back is extensive – here are some favorites from this year:
PBS KIDS Wooden PlanToys® – Whole Foods Market partnered with PBS KIDS on children’s holiday toys, with 100 percent of PBS KIDS’ sales supporting educational programming for children. Whole Foods Market will also donate a percentage of proceeds to the Whole Kids Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving children’s nutrition and wellness. Toys are made with rubber trees felled past their prime and dried in a chemical-free kiln to strengthen the wood, creating PlanWood™. PlanToys® are assembled using certified formaldehyde-free E-zero glue instead of conventional toxic wood glue. Soy ink and recycled paper color the toys – materials that are more readily biodegradable and efficiently recycled than standard chemical ink. All PlanToys® at Whole Foods Market are less than $30 – the adorable bathtub explorer is only $14.99.
Alaffia Soft and Gentle Bubble Bath ($4.99) – Alaffia product purchases mean that you’re directly helping to support women in Togo when the shea butter is sourced, plus Alaffia will be donating one percent of all sales of this holiday product to the Whole Kids Foundation. When given with a bath toy – it makes a perfect little package!
Crafted Peru Holiday Gourd Ornaments ($9.99) – Crafted Peru is owned and operated by a Peruvian artisans. Its holiday gourd ornaments (in the above picture, the sheep and Santa) aim to reconnect the modern age to the creativity and expression of the Incas, the native people of Peru. These gourd carvings are one of the oldest, most traditional forms of art and are handmade. All revenue from the ornaments will be redirected back to the artisans and their community in Peru.
The Mineral Fusion Eye Shadow Palette ($29.99) is a festive makeup kit that also makes a great gift – and you’ll want one for yourself, too! The high-quality standards that apply to the food in a Whole Foods store also apply to the Whole Body department, too. Vendor partners are encouraged to use plant-based and naturally-derived ingredients, pure essential oil fragrances, gentle preservatives and non-petroleum ingredients. Also from the beauty department, Weleda Skin Food Crème ($18.99) is just this side of amazing – you will never leave home without it and whoever is lucky enough to receive it will love it!
The Blessing Basket Project Scarf ($39.99) – Employing artisans from rural and developing countries, The Blessing Basket Project allows for artisans to earn significantly higher than fair trade wages making beautiful bags and scarves. Made by nine Artisans from Indonesia, each one is hand crafted Indonesian Batik. Often these artisans become entrepreneurs and use the capital to create several small businesses, producing independent streams of income for more stable financial security. Every Blessing Basket product you buy enables the organization to help sustainably end poverty one entrepreneur at a time.
Synergy Organic Cotton Infinity Scarf ($19.99 – $27.99) – Made in Nepal with organic cotton, a portion of sales from these soft, comfy and stylish infinity scarves goes towards earthquake relief in Nepal.
Whole Foods sent samples of all the items you see above (though some of the descriptions of items are from the Whole Foods website, all thoughts and opinions are original and my own) to try, test, enjoy and gift! One lucky reader will get a goodie box in the mail with one of each item we listed. Keep them for yourself or surprise someone with a little after-Christmas goodie. Want to shop these items for yourself? Find the closest Whole Foods by clicking here.
Has a winner been chosen? 🙂