Help me be the coolest mother in the world!

[gemandjule]

My daughter is in first year in Uni in Edinburgh. We do not live in the UK and due to travel restrictions we haven't seen her since Christmas and will not see her until June at the earliest. It's her birthday at the end of March so I am trying to think of a present or selection of presents that I can sent her by post or get delivered to halls that will appeal to a 20 year old who is great fun and very sociable but also very environmentally aware and will only buy sustainable clothes, vegan cosmetics etc. I also am nervous re brexit charges. I ordered something on line recently which came through the UK and I had to pay €60 customs which I was only informed of when it was delivered! Budget would be approx £100.
So if you were a socailly and enviromentally conscious fun loving 20 year old uni student what would you love to get delivered to your door.

Look on etsy for sustainable brands- you can get them shipped directly to her. Things like sustainable skincare products, wax wraps for food, soaps, art etc.

One thing I'd say is avoid things made with vegan leather. It's just plastic and isn't sustainable/good for the environment. The same goes for resin. Both materials are 'big' at the moment and are sold by indie companies who claim to be eco-conscious.

Came on to say a jigsaw puzzle of a nice photo of yours.

Re the import taxes, is that not only where the value exceeds €130, or something of that order?

@SplendidSuns1000, intersting about teh vegan leather and resin.
@LizzieMacQueen I'm not sure about the import taxes but the presnt I got caught for a few months ago was a Christmas present for my son and his girlfriend that got delayed into January in the post and was around €200 so you may be right

I had no idea about vegan leather until very recently. It's much more sustainable to purchase secondhand genuine leather. Most vegans would want any animal products to not go to waste and would rather wear leather rather than let it go to landfill.

Resin is terrible though, it's just plastic and people use it for terrible things like weird pyramids labelled as 'art' and ashtrays that when they come in contact with heat release toxic fumes! A lot of small businesses have taken up resin art making as it's easy to do but now they're just creating more plastic waste.

What about some Lucy and Yak dungarees? They are not Edinburgh based (north of England I think) but they are a very ethical company. They may not be your daughter's style but their dungarees are suuuuper comfortable (and quite cool in my opinion). I think a uni student might get a lot of wear out of them?

lucyandyak.com/collections/corduroy-dungarees

Am surprised you managed to see her at Xmas tbh. Well done, that must have been difficult! I live 300m from my mum and have seen her once in a year!

I'm 25, vegetarian, somewhat environmentally friendly. Have you thought about a pottery kit from a U.K. service? Gives her something to do!

Milk is a popular vegan skincare brand with good ethics and a great reputation. As is Herbivore (can be ordered from Cult Beauty).

Also agree w PP avoid resin and vegan leather (plastic) at all costs

@CorianderBee we managed to see her at Christmas as she was able to come home for 5 weeks. She quarantined for 2 at home in her room but still had 3 weeks after that. She did her lectures and assignments on line when she came home. She also had covid just after she moved over in September ( I posted about that at the time) so was very likely to have immunity at Christmas which made it easier to have her in the house.

@gemandjule I'm glad you like the empowerment pants they are really cool. Have a social purpose too which I love. 100% of profits go to funding places on empowerment courses for women and girls.