Why not use your shopping dollars to help people in your child’s country? Fair trade catalogs such as A Greater Gift (formerly SERRV) feature handicrafts that enable artisans to support themselves. From jewelry made by polio victims in Africa to ornaments and housewares from Chile, Guatemala, Vietnam, and India, this site has a small toy section with wooden puzzles, knitted finger puppets, and a large musical instrument section, a large furniture/dishes/table linens/home décor section, and accessories such as mittens, scarves, caps and hair ornaments. They have a range of inexpensive gifts such as candleholders or desk accessories or earrings. They also feature nativity sets from around the world and ornaments and jewelry made near Bethlehem.
Another site for fairly-traded world crafts is Ten Thousand Villages(which also has retail stores in many locales). The website of the Fair Trade Federation allows you to select the region or country of interest and the type of items you are interested in (you can select multiple criteria, such as toys, T-shirts, apparel, house wares, etc.
Other resources for gifts and books include:
Kids’ Culture Center, in addition to having a “virtual culture camp” online for kids to learn about different countries, also carries dolls and books. Their selection is smaller than other sites, but two unique things to find here are cookbooks and festive clothing from other lands.
Jambo Kids (jambo is Swahili for hello) is a new line of diverse
Web characters with online games and stories kids can play. There are dolls and books available for purchase for each character. The character “Rachel” was adopted from Asia.
Country-specific websites featuring toys, videos and crafts include Heart and Seoul and Arts and Crafts Korea for products celebrating Korea, and Mei-Mei and Me for products celebrating Chinese culture (Mei-Mei is Chinese for Little Sister).
For books celebrating diversity—from baby board books through teen novels—check out Lee and Low Books.
For a variety of children’s as well as adult books on adoption topics, consult EMK Press, Tapestry Books, or Perspectives Press.
AdoptShoppe also has adoption-related books, in addition to multicultural dolls and puppets and jewelry especially designed for birthmothers, adoptive mothers and children.
Please see these related blogs:
Toys and Dolls for Multicultural Families
Kids’ Books Starring Internationally Adopted Kids
Fashionable Eco-Friendly Holiday Gift Ideas