I’d like to remind all of our readers that we can use our holiday shopping dollars to support people around the world, including our children’s countries of origin. Charities and/or fair trade cooperatives, which provide local craftspeople training and the chance to earn a fair price for their work, probably operate in your child’s country of origin, whatever that may be.
One website alone (SERRV, which I reviewed last year) carries plaques and sculptural art made by Haitian artisans using recycled oil drums. SERRV carries scarves and textiles from India, Cambodia, Vietnam and Nepal as well as tableware from Chile and Kenya, chess sets of Pakistan onyx, and jewelry from Mexico, Chile and Ecuador. Crafters will find exotic yarns from Peru and Nepal and a Christmas Scrapbooking Kit with frames and embellishments using handmade paper from Nepal.
If you want a taste of your child’s country—literally, SERRV also carries tea from India, coffee from Ethiopia and Latin America, teas and jams from South Africa, chocolate from Ghana, Brazil nuts (including some chocolate-covered nuts), and cashews from Honduras.
If you have a child from the U.S., consider buying Wild Rice and Maple Syrup from Native American-owned cooperatives or some soup and chili mixes, candles and soaps made by disadvantaged mothers in Chicago.
Jambo Kids dolls and books—a line of school-age dolls with various adoption “histories” that I’ve recently reviewed donates a portion of profits to several charities including ones that support special-needs children in China.
Harry Potter fans are excited about the newest volume by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, The Tales of Beadle the Bard. This is the fairy tale book wizard children are told stories from, as referred to in the final Harry Potter book. All proceeds from this book are going to help children in Eastern Europe. If you have a child adopted from Bulgaria, Romania, the Ukraine, or other Eastern European countries, here’s a chance to help that child’s country.
Perhaps you live near a Target store. Sales of Erbaorganics’ baby wash and body oil benefit the Worldwide Orphans Foundation (founded by a doctor who pioneered adoption medicine and supported by Angelina Jolie.
Adoptive Families magazine has an online gift guide for gifts that give back. Your daughter may be asking for a Karito Kids doll. That line supports several organizations that work with Chinese orphans. Another of the gift guide’s many links offers a teddy bear whose purchase brings money to Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and the North American Council on Adoptable Children. You will also find a scrapbooking site that gives their income from their adoption papers and stickers to two agencies assisting Chinese orphans, and a company which donates a fleece blanket to an orphan for every blanket bought by a customer.
The Adoptive Families’ Gift Guide can also link you to an adoptive mother who makes custom ceramic pendants with names, titles (Mother, Foster Mother, Older Sister, etc) or sentiments in Korean or Chinese. Although the deadline for placing a custom order to arrive by Christmas is past, in-stock and imported items may still be ordered. Amy Genz will again this year donate 30% of her holiday sales to organizations assisting adoptees. This year an additional ten percent will go to the medical expenses of an adoptee needing a marrow transplant.
Happy Shopping!