I started featuring this gift guide on the blog a few years ago to highlight companies who make awesome products that give back in some way and hope you find something fun for someone you love below!
Additional Gift Guides:
Gifts That Give Back
- Love Your Melon Beanies and Apparel
One visit to this site will have you falling in love with the beautiful knit beanies and the company’s commitment to giving back! Love Your Melon is committed to giving a hat to every child battling cancer in America as well as supporting nonprofit organizations who lead the fight against pediatric cancer.
This beautiful 8-ounce holiday candle made is made with fresh fir, cedar wood and spruce and poured by hand by the women of Thistle Farms. Thistle Farms is a community of women survivors of addiction, prostitution and trafficking in Nashville, Tennessee. Each candle purchased helps “prepare the ground for all of the new women taking their first steps towards freedom and love in the year ahead.”
Each bottle of wine sold by One Hope wine benefits different charitable organizations. Simply click on any bottle of wine on the site to learn more about the wine and see which organization purchasing the bottle will help benefit. Gift baskets are also available, including this dog lover’s gift basket that helps a shelter animal find a forever home.
Cuddle+Kind dolls are beautiful, hand-knit dolls that help feed children. For every doll sold, Cuddle+Kind gives 10 meals to children in need. Dolls are handcrafted with natural, high-quality cotton by women artisans in Peru, providing them with a sustainable, fair trade income.
- Darden’s Delights Pies with a Purpose
Get ready for your mouth to water! Darden’s Delights was created after a successful school bake sale prompted requests to purchase more pies! The small company is dedicated to challenging the status quo for people with disabilities and creates real opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Darden’s Delights also donates a portion of their revenue to organizations that think “outside the box” to enhance opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
- The Brave Collection Accessories
The Brave Collection jewelry is handmade by talented Cambodian artisans who come from underprivileged backgrounds or suffer from disabilities. Mostly mothers, the team of artists work in a small studio in Cambodia, or from their homes while they care for their young children. All artists work in a free, fair and dignified work environment where they are paid above-average wages and receive benefits such as health insurance and stipends for their children’s education. The Brave Collection works to provide job opportunities to talented artisans, exposing them to a global customer and collaborating creatively. Ten percent of company profits are donated to fight human trafficking in Cambodia.
- TOMS Shoes, Slippers and Accessories
By now I’m pretty sure everyone knows about TOMS’ “one for one” pledge to give back everything from shoes to water to medical care. The company makes some of the most comfortable shoes and slippers on the planet and after giving Ryan and my brother-in-law their slippers for Christmas one year and purchasing at least three pairs of TOMS shoes for myself over the years (the classic TOMS and my beloved Avalon sneakers), it’s a product I love and feel confident gifting to others! And their baby and kid shoes are waaay too adorable!
Favorites for Her: Avalon Sneakers / Plaid Women’s Slippers / Olive Classics / Black Party Clutch / Harlan Havana Sunglasses / Deia Booties
Favorite for Him: Men’s Berkley Slippers / Black Ripstop Backpack / Paseo-Mid Sneakers / Adventurer Duffle
From blog reader Caitlin: One hundred percent of the proceeds from Moo Holiday Cards “directly benefit the amazing staff, patients and families at Boston Children’s hospital #1 pediatric hospital in the country. Without their knowledge, expertise and compassion we would not be home with our happy and healthy thriving 18 month old. They saved our son’s life and I am eternally grateful for this institution.” Love this so much!
- Bombas Socks
I first had the pleasure of trying out Bombas socks through a blog partnership in 2015 and quickly fell in love with them. I ended up buying the socks as stocking stuffers for my family and one of my girlfriends last year and now everyone shares my intense love for these comfy socks that hug your foot juuust right. The best part about the socks? For every pair of Bombas socks purchased, another pair is donated to people in need of a clean pair of socks. (Socks are apparently the most requested item at clothing shelters.) A lot went into the engineering of the socks to help them stay up, prevent blisters and support the arch of the foot and you can tell! Since they first launched, Bombas has released new designs and colors that are a lot of fun!
Utilizing remnants of Zulugrass, Maasai artisans design one-of-a-kind bracelets to symbolize the bright futures of educated children. The Leakey Collection donates 100 percent of the profits from the bracelet sales to pay for teachers’ salaries in Kenya. Purchasing five bracelets pays for a teacher’s salary for one day.
Additional Gifts That Give Back
- Trades of Hope Accessories
- Nicki’s Diapers
- LipCURE Lip Balm
- Allkiind Apparel + Prints
- Serengetee Apparel + Accessories
- OOFOS Shoes + Sandals
- Women’s Bean Project Food + Gifts
- The Shine Project Apparel + Accessories
- Send a Survivor of Human Trafficking a Gift Box
- Pins for Solidarity
- Jax & Bones Pet Toys
- Timbali Crafts
- Arzu Studio Rugs
- Healthy Family Classics Cookbook
- Notecards for Haiti
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Disclaimer: None of the items featured in the above gift guide are sponsored and the gifts featured are simply items I think would make fabulous gifts for loved ones this holiday season. Some affiliate links may be included that do not impact purchase price and, as always, I truly appreciate your support.
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I have a love your melon beanie and LOVE IT! I love all these gifts, knowing they benefit a good cause definitely makes them more meaningful.
Those beanies are amazing! And the brave bracelets. Great round up I haven’t heard of most of these brands and everyone loves receiving a gift with deeper meaning. Thanks <3
Great list! It’s always fun to learn about companies making a difference. Make sure & check out Better Life Bags out of Hamtramck, MI. They’re bags are beautiful (& worth every penny, I own two!) but what the company does for women in their community is really inspiring.
Happy Holidays!!
*their, I couldn’t edit my comment!!
These are so great, Julie! I ordered most of the women in my family jewelry from The Shine Project, who employs first generation college students. Each piece is hand-crafted by them, and it comes with a tag that says “thank you for helping me become a first generation college student.” With a hand signed name. Their jewelry is high quality and beautiful! Check them out.
http://www.theshineproject.com/shop/
…I just realized The Shine Project is already included in your list. That’s what happens when you read your favorite blog nursing a wiggly 11 month old ?
Thanks for the Thistle Farms love 😉 I’m from Nashville and we love our community. <3
Thank you for reading! Thistle Farms sounds like an incredible community of women!
I love this. I’m going to make sure I come back to this post for birthday gifts throughout the year
<3
Wonderful ideas! Right now, I need a really good bus driver gift and teacher gifts for my daughter. They will love anything on this list I’m sure.
I adore Love Your Melon hats and always appreciate a company that gives back, even outside of the holidays. Thanks for the list!
Thank you so much for this post! I love all of the gift guides, but this one is particularly great. I have 5 girls that I need to buy presents for, and they all have everything!!! So I always struggle with what to get them for Christmas. The cuddle + kind dolls are so cute, and a good cause! I love the message it provides them. Thanks!
Me too!!! They were one of my favorite finds this year! So adorable. Hope your little ones love them! <3
My favorite gift guide! I’m so glad you did it again this year 🙂
Love this! So many great organizations that I haven’t heard of before! Just a heads up though that the model that Toms and many other organizations follow can actually cause a lot of problems in developing countries because it weakens their local economies. Small businesses can’t survive when donation-based aid is abundant (why would anyone buy shoes from the local cobbler when Toms gives them for free?) so businesses close and then when the aid runs out, communities are worse off than they were before. I don’t mean to be a downer and I’m sincere when I say that most of these look like amazing organizations. But as someone who had dedicated my career to international development, I struggle with Toms and other organizations that flood developing economies with free stuff rather than building capacity, creating jobs, and stimulating the economy.
These are some really great things! I’ve never heard of some of these companies. I like the idea of smart purchasing – gifting MORE than just the gift. Thanks for sharing these!
This post is one of the main reasons I follow your blog regularly… You are such a generous, kind person and these gift ideas are fantastic! I didn’t know about several of these companies/gifts and will be looking into these for family and friends I still haven’t shopped for ?
It makes me so uncomfortable you included affiliate links in a giving back post. Just seems unnecessary and a little greedy.
Hi Lindsey! Thank you for your feedback! The majority of the links in this post are not affiliate (only TOMS and Bombas are affiliate links). I am sorry this rubbed you the wrong way. I definitely do not mean to come across as greedy but wanted to disclose the fact that there are a few affiliate links in this post. The items that are affiliate links are items I would’ve included even if they weren’t and since my blog is also my business, if there’s an opportunity to include an affiliate link to something I am going to share organically anyway that would not alter the purchase price for my readers, I did not think it would be an issue. I’ve included the same disclaimer for years for this gift guide and have not received push back in the past and sincerely apologize if you feel like my motivation for sharing this gift guide was for my own financial gain as that is not at all the case.
Thanks for the really thoughtful response. Sorry I jumped to comment, as your explanation does make sense and in the end, your blog is a business! I appreciate the answer, and how kind you were 🙂
Thanks for the great suggestions. Also check out Linked Together Jewelry: http://linkedtogetherjewelry.com/ They raise funds and awareness for Operation Underground Railroad.
This jewelry is gorgeous! Thank you for sharing, Andrea!
Loved this! I think it’s so lovely to be able to give a gift that does some good- they’re always so much more special!
So glad to see you included Nicki’s diapers on the list, I was going to suggest it! I love how they donate cloth diapers to those in need so the gift continues to give rather than be thrown away like a disposable!
Julie, thank you so much for including Allkiind in this list. We just launched in August and when I got to the office this morning (aka the garage the three of us work out of), I noticed that we had more visitors on the site already than we usually have at this time of day… I tracked down referral traffic and found this article – and it made our day!
Thank you so much for the shout out – it really means more than you may know to our little do-good operation 🙂 We hope you have the most wonderful holidays with your family!
Much love from California,
Doris & the rest of Team Allkiind 🙂
I’m so, so glad to hear this!!! <3 Thank you for letting me know, Doris. And thank you so much for giving back!! <3
I recently discovered this site and am planning to use it for most of the gifts I’ll need to buy next year: https://globein.com/.
I’d also recommend watching Poverty, Inc.: http://www.povertyinc.org/.
Thank you so much for sharing, Molly! The scarves and towels are gorgeous — I also didn’t know a subscription box like this existed but it seems amazing!
Love this!!! Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks for reading, Taylor!! <3
Love this!!! Thanks for sharing!!
Oh I love this list. I’m finally starting my Christmas shopping this week (oops) and will be checking out all of your gift guides! I I might purchase some of that wine for myself! 🙂 Ha!
They have so many great options! I don’t blame you! 🙂 Ha!
This blog post is the third time I’ve heard Thistle Farms candles mentioned in the past month! I had never heard of it before, but my sister told me about it a month ago, then I saw a post about it on Facebook, and now this! I’m so excited to see it getting this much attention – it sounds like such a great organization.
I think a great post idea would be to share how you and your family personally give back, whether it be volunteering or giving money to a local or national organization you feel close to. I work in philanthropy and I think a blogger sharing how they share their wealth, instead of just what they buy for themselves, could be very meaningful and inspiring. It’s a personal thing, but I think it could be quite impactful to share with your readers.
This is a great list! I bought coordinating gifts for all three of my sisters from it! Thanks for sharing!
Also, last year I had a family member buy several gifts from feedprojects.org. For each item you buy, meals are provided for underprivileged children around the world. Each item also states how many meals it provides!
Emily
Thank you so much for this list! I love all the ideas and I love giving back and this is so handy to have it all in one place.
I love this yearly list! Got some great ideas and gifts last year and mama needs a new winter hat sooo can’ wait to check that shop out ! Thanks Julie!
So many awesome options! I love this list, Julie. 🙂
Awesome! Just ordered dolls for each of my nieces! I wass wanting to find a gift with a little more purpose this year. I am so excited to gift these cutie little dolls now and feel good about doing it. Thank you!
This is a truly excellent list. Thank you so much! This year giving any gift without a greater purpose feels empty to me.
These are great! I love gifts that give back!