It’s been a year since we sent out our Five Way (you haven’t thought of) to Fair Trade your Holiday and what a year it is has been!

This year Global Exchange Fair Trade purchases helped install a water treatment plant in India to filter 2,000 liters of water each hour. We created a new month of activities for Halloween and Fair Trade month, delivered kid’s Valentines to the Board of the Hershey’s company, made delicious Fair Trade S’mores in the summer and had a significant victory when Hershey’s agreed to go 100% certified by 2020.

The end of the year is always a good time to take stock, express our gratitude and prepare to meet the new year with renewed energy to make Trade Fair! Here are a few of our suggestions for this year.

  1. Buy less stuff: Our good friends over at The Story of Stuff (and winner of the Global Exchange 2012 Human Rights Award) encourage us to choose family over frenzy this holiday season and to think carefully about the full life span of the products we consume. Where does your gift come from? Who made it and where will it go when we don’t want it any more? A gift of time and love doesn’t have to clog our landfills and exploit labor to be meaningful.
  2. Shop Fair Trade: When you shop Fair Trade you set an example of responsible consumption rooted in the celebration of craftsmanship; the enforcement of workers rights; and the empowerment of artisans and their communities around the world. You get quality, beauty and tradition in one-of- a -kind, hand-made products. From gemstone earrings set in hand-etched sterling silver in Bali, to messenger bags hand-cut from the inter tube of big rig truck tires in El Salvador, and 100% cotton table linens block-printed in India, there are many beautiful and functional gifts. At the origin of each piece, is a story of preserving culture, supporting community and sustaining the planet.
  3. Don’t buy SodaStream: One of the most popular gifts this season is the do-it-yourself soda machine made by SodaStream which carbonates water at home. But don’t do it! People who care about human rights should know that the product is made in an illegal Israeli settlement on stolen Palestinian land in violation of international law!
  4. Give the Gift of Membership: A great way to give a gift that doesn’t take up space but keeps on growing is to give a Global Exchange membership. When you do that you’re connecting someone you care about with an international movement to build a better world.
  5. Be Generous: Times are still hard for many people who are struggling to recover from storms, from the economic downturn and from personal trials. If you can afford it, give as much as you can to those who are making things better and if you don’t have a lot of money, share your smiles, time, songs and encouraging words.

What are your Fair Trade Holiday ideas? Tell us in the comments.

Have a Happy and Fair Trade Holidays!

Halloween is over, but keep the celebration going and start thinking about the holidays. Fair Trade Federation Executive Director, Carmen Iezzi offered to write a guest blog post for Global Exchange to highlight the newly released FTF Holiday Gift Guide for all your Fair Trade gifting needs.

We all know that the holidays are a time for reconnecting with family and friends. They are also a time to connect with our global community. When you support Fair Trade, you become part of a network of people dedicated to facilitating change for disadvantaged artisans and farmers.

To make this process simple, the Fair Trade Federation has created a NEW holiday gift guide full of products that empower women, provide education for children, heal the earth, and so much more!

It’s easy! You can just click on the link in each profile and visit FairTrade.us, an independent online news magazine celebrating Fair Trade, to read a full review of these and other great products and link directly to the seller of each one!

Whether you’re looking for a gift for Mom, Dad, the kids, or to dress your home in style, your purchases change lives! All of the gifts in this guide are sold by fully committed Fair Trade Organizations – members of the Fair Trade Federation – so you know these great choices really do make a difference.

Celebrate Fair Trade
In addition to the great items in the guide, they have even more ideas to Fair Trade your holiday and your life:

  • Prepare a great Fair Trade Dish,
  • Educate your Community with Films and Speakers,
  • Invest in or Donate to a Fair Trade Organization,
  • Host a Fair Trade Home Party when the weather’s too bad to go out,
  • Suggest your office choose Fair Trade for its Corporate Gifts,
  • So much more!!

At www.FairTradeFederation.org and www.FairTrade.us, you can find these and other great ways to be an advocate for change throughout the year.

For more than sixty years, Fair Trade Organizations have connected you with artisans and farmers across the globe by delivering high quality products that create a tremendous impact on their communities. This holiday season, let’s continue that momentum for change.

Be sure to check out this gift guide for a list of great places to get Fair Trade gifts this holiday season, including our own Global Exchange stores.

Also, you can find out more about Carmen Iezzi in this Change.org Faces of Fair Trade feature on her.