It’s hard to buy gifts that tick all the boxes. First, you want to find a present that’ll be truly appreciated, a feat in and of itself. Then, it needs to be the right price, and if you’re ordering it online, it needs to arrive before this year’s gift exchange — a struggle late-season shoppers know all too well. To ask for it to be ethically made, too? Well, that’s just one more requirement to add to your list. But this year, PayPal is proving it’s possible by teaming up with socially responsible merchants that make ethically focused gifting much easier.
These are companies that use sustainable and high-quality ingredients, employ people who historically struggle to find jobs, support the communities who manufacture their products, or donate part of their profits to good causes. Below, you’ll find five gifts we love from a few of these merchants. Each one not only offers giftees what they want, but also allows everyone to feel good about where it came from. A win-win for the holiday season.
For Your Sustainability-Minded Friend With a Sweet Tooth
Cocoa nibs — better known as unprocessed chocolate — are what’s inside a cocoa bean, and this batch has been roasted, giving it a rich, nutty flavor. They taste delicious blended into smoothies, sprinkled onto granola, or eaten on their own. Plus, like all Askinosie Chocolate, they’re sourced from a single origin and harvested sustainably. The company also profit-shares with its farmers in Tanzania and the Philippines, and for every item purchased, it donates a school lunch to children in communities there.
For the Nature-Lover Who Embraces Self-Care
Long winter nights are all about living that cozy life. Can you picture anything cozier than sipping hand-crafted white tea sweetened with orange blossom honey and lighting a beeswax candle? Conveniently, all those items come in this gift box from Bee Raw. One percent of profits go to its Save the Bees Foundation, which supports bee conservancies, botanical gardens, and underfunded organizations promoting the insects’ health and habitats.
For the Zero-Waster Who Loves Art
Inspired by geometric shapes in architecture, this large woodblock print is handmade with textile scraps in a zero-waste process at a woman-run print- and paper-making studio in Jaipur, India. The Block Shop has a long-standing partnership with the studio, and each year, it invests 5 percent of its profits into community health and well-being programs there.
For the Imaginative Child Looking for a New Stuffed Friend
Meet Juliette: She’s an exceptionally soft stuffed rabbit who likes to paint, and she’s looking for a small human to dress her up, tell her stories, and take her everywhere. She’s made of 100-percent organic and ethically sourced materials by Hazel Village, a Brooklyn-based toy and clothing company that partners with organizations around the world to empower artisans with quality jobs and fair wages.
For the Activist on Their Chill Day
The Little Market is full of fair-trade products handmade by artisans around the world, and this spa package is no exception. It features a sugar scrub and soaking salt created by young mothers in Chicago, soap handmade by women transitioning out of homelessness in Los Angeles, and an all-natural bath bomb made by Musee Bath, a Mississippi-based company that creates jobs for people struggling to find them, including women coming out of prison and people with special needs.
This is paid content produced for an advertiser by New York Brand Studio. The editorial staff of New York Magazine did not play a role in its creation.