When we ask, “What’s your biggest challenge with green gift giving?” the answers nearly always have to do with convenience.
Choosing the perfect eco-friendly gift or taking the time to really think about an experience or vintage gift your recipient will love can be tough. It’s something I used to struggle with too, until I realized the feeling that comes from giving a conscious gift is infinitely better than wandering through a mall hoping to cross a name off my list.
Of course, convenience is important. We put such a value on it, we’ve turned the big box discount stores into household names. The prices are cheap, but what is the real cost? Manufacturers turning a blind eye to poor working conditions, child labor, and GMO’s in foods just so they can make it in mass quantity as cheap as possible.
And every time we give a “made in China” gift, wrapped in a cheap paper gift bag, we’re sending a message that it’s OK as long as we’re saving money and time. But if that’s no longer OK with you, the best solution is to take action by voting with your dollars.
This Year, Make It a Conscious Christmas
We’ve been quite busy with our 2011 Holiday Green Gift Guide (coming soon!), with ideas for experience gifts, handmade gifts, and other options that don’t generate a lot of “stuff.” For our product section, we search trade shows, magazines, and everything we can find online for the best quality, affordable, and convenient green gifts out there. Thankfully, our search got far more simple when the kind and helpful people from Abe’s Market contacted us to see how they could be a resource for our eco-savvy readers.
I’m not sure how I hadn’t heard of Abe’s Market until now. It turns out, they are pretty much everything I look for in any type of store, whether online or brick-and-mortar. They not only carry a wide selection of eco-friendly products – a one-stop shop for your laundry soap, food items, and holiday gifts – without the fluorescent lights and people yelling at their kids.
But they also promote a sense of caring among the suppliers they choose to work with. They profile stories from real people who use the products and share solutions to help with every day life. One of Abe’s Market’s beliefs is that buyers should be “In the Know” on the products we consume. That’s why the created a video series under the same name where they interview green-living experts and offer in-depth info about the products they offer.
After I read about the founders (they seem like people you’d want to go hiking or hang out with) and Grandpa Abe’s story (old-school values and trust), and watched their very first commercial (below), I knew this is a business that deserves my “votes.”
In these months leading up to the holidays, we’ll be highlighting the Abe’s products we think will help you have a conscious and convenient Christmas. We’ll also share some of their In The Know series videos to keep you informed of where your products come from and what goes into them.
So tell us what you think about one-stop shopping and convenience. When someone else does all the sustainable research for you, are you more likely to give green gifts? What about supporting smaller, mom and pop shops verses the big box retailers?
Abe’s Market sponsored this post, but all opinions in this and the upcoming series are strictly mine. See our disclosure for more information on sponsored posts.
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