Gifts for extremely environment conscious vegans

[Christmascookiesmmmm]

I have a friend who is extremely conscious of the environment to the point that she only buys cucumbers if they don’t have the plastic packaging on, which I think is great and I’m trying to be more like her!

So anything with excess packaging is completely out. She makes all her own gifts- useful things that she knits herself. I was thinking of getting her a gift voucher to her favourite wool shop but I’m not sure if that exists yet.. need to do some research first.. along with some vegan chocolate treats and her favourite tea. If anyone has any other ideas they’d be much appreciated!! Thanks!!

A lentil weaving kit

There are loads of thing in the Oxfam unwrapped line that aren't goats - eg. you can buy someone a toilet, which is surely environmentally and vegan(ly?) unobjectionable. They also do a range of gifts made out of recycled materials like a box made of keys, a recycled paper bird house etc etc.

A previous poster suggested a recycled metal water bottle. I think that’s a great idea.

Be really careful what you buy, I have vegan friends and getting a gift such as ‘sponsor a animal at a city farm’ would be a no go as would the bees wax.

If they are trying to be echo friendly them maybe some nice mason jars so they can store lentils, beans, spices etc?

I have seen lots of lovely echo friendly re usable packaging ideas.

I'd get her some banana yarn. Here's some info on what that is in case you haven't heard of it:

Banana Fiber Yarn. ... After harvesting the fibers from the trunk of the banana tree, they are put through a softening process that makes the fiber very similar to silk. Then when it's spun, it is as soft as silk - soft and strong, full of texture, color, and bio-degradable so it's completely vegan and eco-friendly!

Does she wear makeup? Maybe a vegan mascara or foundation? I think there's a few that come in glass bottles.

Books!

My daughter wraps gifts in fabric such as scarves from charity shops. Have you looked at the Oxfam website for ideas? Another idea is the Kenyan schools project. You can sponsor a school desk and have her name put on it. They send you a photo via email. They use local carpenters and materials. www.kenyanschoolsproject.co.uk/?fbclid=IwAR2QCZFFgGz0QRhOVyTpJKWY2_VYQQhXHzoRRfVlueM9Feu46MxNrHTAJJ8

Bees wax? That’s exploiting bees!
Oxfam goat or any other Oxfam thing is exploiting sex trade
Sponsorship of an animal is exploiting the animal
The only present you can buy that’s not exploiting and vegan is ......
Nothing.
Just say merry Christmas. Ops no you can’t do that because Santa exploited raindeer.

I'm fairly environmentally concious (not quite vegan, but moving that way).... I can't bear the excess consumption that Christmas brings. None of us need any more stuff! The world (and our houses) are full already.
However, if you must buy me a gift, I would like houseplants / a plant for the garden, anything I can eat (esp if fair trade or local), or some eco-friendly bathing products. If you insist on buying something "lasting", possibly a nice book would do (Wildlife Photographer of the Year year book is a good present for the person who has everything as they're always amazing photos with an environmental slant).

I love this thread! Now adding a desk for Kenyan school project to my Christmas list.

On a serious note I have bought a gift which supports honey bees for a friend of mine. There is a gift called Adopt a Hive (or maybe it’s Adopt a Beehive, can’t really remember) where you get a small jar of local honey, lip balm made from beeswax and stuff like that but what I liked was you get a newsletter about a beekeeper in your region.
My friend loved it.

Bee products are not vegan thiough.

BikeRunSki this Biona chocolate and hazlenut spread is amazing, and no palm oil.

www.biona.co.uk/product-120-4.html

Make sure any food or spices are organic. I buy organic/ethical but am not vegan so that makes it harder. I wouldn't have thought lush is on her approved list. It isn't on mine.

The Northumbrian wool is v v nice. I have some waiting to be used!

How about locally made and sustainably made wood products eg spoons or baskets?

Your local Wildlife Trust might have some locally sourced ethical gifts too. They have much less plastic tat for sale than they used to which is great. They could go a bit further, but there has been a big improvement :)

Goodness it’s quite complicated being vegan and ethical......

indieshuffle thank you! I buy Bona stuff from Ethical Superstore, but they don’t stick that, only a dark choc version which does have palm oil. Never occurred to me that there would be other products on the actual Biona site!

I bought a vegan, ethical friend a christmas dinner for a young homeless person from centrepoint. She really liked the thought. I told her i didn’t think it was appropriate to buy her an animal for an African family. And she agreed with that. Nothing from bees for a vegan. She has cats that she adores and one birthday i made 2 cushions with their names and a crown and boxing gloves for their personalities. She was very moved that I’d handmade her presents. Ethical make up and beauty products would be nice as that stuff is expensive. If shes short of money she’ll find it difficult to afford ethical stuff. I love natural moisturiser. So soft and absorbs so easily

Thank you for this thread! I also had a friend who is vegan and ethical so got her a pair of turtle doves gloves because I thought she would like th recycled aspect- I had no idea wool/cashmere was a no go!

Now keeping the gloves for myself (shame!) and ordering her a lipstick from the link up thread!

Buy her a selection of seeds and pack them up in little fabric bags. You can get some lovely unusual veg and plant seeds from Premier Seeds Direct.

I have nothing useful to add but the discussion about wool/acrylic made me think of this: www.amazon.co.uk/Crafting-Cat-Hair-Cute-Handicrafts/dp/1594745250?tag=mumsnetforum-21

Good gifts.org is good on the lines of u can gift anything from animals/crops to families, to buying up rainforests, meals for the elderly, glasses and shoes for those in need etc.

My mum's really into gardening so this year I bought her some fruit trees. The cherry tree was a massive hit as it's her fave fruit.

I bought someone similar a gift token for some massages, maybe that or some reiki or similar? Nice, relaxing treat.

Does she drink wine? I buy a vegan friend George du Boeuf Fleurie red wine as it's one of the ones that is approved by the Vegan society. Other wines use fish products to strain the grapes but this vineyard doesn't.

Really nice water bottles or travel cups would be a good idea. They get battered and lost easily if you use them every day.

A lovely willow or hyacinth woven basket for storing things in?

A shopping bag made of recycled materials?