Unless you opted to play it safe and get a vegan cookery book, buying a Christmas present for vegans used to be quite a tricky task. One that frequently involved checking ingredients in products, materials that things were made from and a company’s animal testing policies. Thankfully, there a lot more cruelty-free shops nowadays that do all of this work for you and the added bonus is that many of these sell their products online so you don’t even have to venture out onto the high street to buy your vegan Christmas gifts.
So, for those who want to make it a cruelty-free Christmas this year, here are a few ideas…
Vegan Perfumes
Everyone loves to smell nice so you can’t really go wrong with an animal-free perfume or aftershave. It’s just a matter of doing some detective work first to find out what sort of fragrance the person likes before selecting something suitable.
The ShopVegan range includes a selection of beautiful organic perfumes from Florame that are based upon various aromatherapy oils.
Perhaps the most popular perfume in the Florame range is Intense Patchoui, but other popular fragrances include Delicious Vanilla, Eternal Jasmine, Bewitching Lavender, Precious Amber and Radiant Rose.
Animal Sponsorship at a Sanctuary
For a gift with a difference, but one that shows you really do care about animals, you could sponsor an animal at one of the sanctuaries that cares for unwanted or abused farm animals. Hillfields Animal Sanctuary has an animal sponsorship scheme for £10 or £20 and you can choose which of the deserving animals you would like featured on the certificate that goes to the recipient. Among the rescued animals that you can sponsor are horses, pigs, sheep and other animals that have been rescued from situations where there were being ill-treated or were simply no longer wanted. Click here to go to the Sanctuary’s sponsorship page.
Vegan Make-Up or Make-up Brush Set
We know that all vegans are naturally beautiful people, but sometimes Mother Nature does need a helping hand to make us look our fabulous best. There are an ever-increasing number of vegan cosmetics products available with a wide range of the Barry M cosmetics stocked by ShopVegan.
In addition, our range of EcoTools make-up brushes includes specialised make-up brushes and a great value 6 piece brush set that would make a wonderful gift at Christmas, or indeed, any other time of the year.
The EcoTools brushes use soft taklon synthetic bristles as an alternative to the animal-derived bristles that are used in most brands of makeup brushes and the handles are made from highly sustainable bamboo. Even the sleek ferrule is made from recycled aluminium. They really are the ultimate cruelty-free make-up brushes that also have a low impact on the Earth’s resources.
Vegan Society Subscription
The Vegan Society help to promote the vegan lifestyle in general, encouraging more people to adopt a cruelty-free way of life and manufacturers and produce products that are suitable for vegans. They publish and provide a wide range of information to those interested in veganism as well as providing literature to schools and the general public.
Membership to the Vegan Society includes a year’s subscription to the society’s quarterly magazine called “The Vegan”. This contains articles on new products, recipes, gardening tips, sound nutritional advice and much more. Membership to the Vegan Society can be bought online through their website by clicking here.
Vegan T-Shirts
We love T-shirts. No other item of clothing allows you to express yourself as much as a T-shirt with a vegan message on it. ShopVegan have a small (but exclusive) selection of vegan T-shirts for both men and women with designs ranging from the cute to the downright cheeky!
We know that vegans come in all shapes and sizes too so we try to stock a selection of shirt sizes to cater for everyone. Check out the designs available by going to our vegan clothing section.
Vegan Shoes
If you know the person you are buying for pretty well (or at least well enough to know their shoe size) then a pair of non-leather shoes or boots could make a good present. Vegetarian Shoes based in Brighton are one of the oldest retailers of cruelty-free footwear and they have a great selection on their website at www.vegetarian-shoes.co.uk. Not the cheapest certainly, but excellent quality in our experience. Other online retailers of vegan footwear include Ethical Wares, Beyond Skin and Veganline.com to name but three.
That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals
If you’re buying for a youngster then a children’s book with a cruelty-free message is a great idea. One of our personal favourites is “That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals” by Ruby Roth. This hardback book takes a candid, compassionate look at the plight of animals on factory farms, using gorgeous artwork and lively text to introduce vegetarianism and veganism to early readers.
That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals is suitable for ages 6 to around 10. It’s published in the USA, but is available online in the UK from Viva! and Amazon, as well as a few others.
Booja Booja Chocolates
We had to leave the chocolates until last otherwise we’d have spent the whole time talking about which ones are our favourites and dreaming of opening a box of Booja Booja gourmet truffles on Christmas morning. Where was I? Oh yes… Booja Booja must be the ultimate in vegan chocolates. Their range includes such treats as Organic Around Midnight Espresso Truffles, Organic Champagne Truffles and, a personal favourite with this writer, the Organic Cognac Flambéd Banana Truffles.
Whoever you’re buying for this Christmas, if they like chocolate, they’ll love some Booja Booja. Available from many health food stores and also online from specialist online retailers too, of course.
