It’s that time of year when it’s inevitable that you’re going to be doing more gifting than usual. Wouldn’t it be great if some of that giving you’re doing from your wallet gave in other ways too? Canadian online boutique Giving Gifts is all about giving fair trade and eco-friendly gifts for kids while giving back. 10% of their profits go directly to charity and their 2010 charity is Carli’s Kids.
Lisa Pozin, a mum of three who’s always loved finding the perfect gift, founded Giving Gifts when she had her third baby. She says she felt she’d whiled away her first two mat leaves and with this, her third and last one, she wanted to “do” something. So she plunged headlong into the world of ecommerce, focusing on fair trade products and eco-friendly items as they’re more socially and environmentally sustainable.
The mission behind Carli’s Kids is to save as many street children in Uganda from abuse, starvation, abandonment and lack of education as possible by constructing a Children’s Village that’s a safe haven for them. So far Carli Travers and her husband Robert Birungi have adopted 12 Ugandan street children and bought 11 acres of land on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda where they’re about to start constructing the village.
Luckily Giving Gifts has lots of good gifts to get – giving back is all well and good – but it’s even better if you’re actually able to find great gifts while you’re at it. They carry solid brands like Plan Toys, Sprig, ImagiPLAY, Ecojot and Blabla and they’ve got everything covered from playing to crafting to reading to carrying to drinking.
Stand outs include one-of-a-kind hand puppets and wall art from Cate + Levi, a Canadian line we’ve had our eye on for awhile; Yubo’s customizable BPA-free recyclable lunch boxes; and intriguing Boom Boom Cards.
Giving Gifts is still a fledgling enterprise and we’re looking forward to seeing them grow and carry more selection, but they’ve launched with a well-rounded capsule collection and it feels good to get gifts for the kids in our lives that help other children as well.
Giving Gifts: www.givinggifts.ca
Thinking of giving back? Then check out these great Canadian charities that benefit kids.