Nothing screams ‘I love you’ and ‘Merry Christmas’ louder than expensive electrical or techno gadgets with built in obsolescence, and a credit card bill you are still paying in May.

I feel we have lost sight of what Christmas is really all about. Isn’t the purpose of gift giving, at Christmas or any other time, a gesture of affection, love or appreciation?

The best presents should not be measured by their retail value.  Instead, they should be the ones that hold some meaning to all who were involved in their creation, purchase and receipt of the carefully chosen gift.

Your purchase may support a local farmer, artisan, feed an orphan or sponsor a community overseas by giving them clean water.  It might provide much needed funds for a local community organisation, allow a person with a disability to enter the workforce or just give a work at home parent or person confined to home a reason to wake up in the morning with a sense of achievement and creative outlet. You can make a real difference, more than you are likely to know.

Handmade gifts and toys are made by real people with love. That’s why they feel different.  They’ve been made with human hands and real care.  Sometimes you can even feel the warmth of love coming from a handmade toy.  Many of our toys are made at home by craftsmen who create them for the sheer love of it.  Now that’s what makes a toy worth choosing.

As an added bonus, gifts that are not mass produced or are fair trade are usually more eco-friendly, being made with traditional production methods. Gifts made locally do not require long distance transport, which makes their carbon debt so much lower.

Next time you buy a gift, consider buying handmade, fair trade or local produce.

Some great links for Gifts with meanings are:

• World Vision Smiles Gift Catalogue
• World Vision Child Sponsorship
• Craft Markets Victoria
• Australian Market Guide
• Etsy – A shopping website of everything lovingly handmade (one of my favourites!)
• Australian Bush Heritage Gifts

Of course nothing has more meaning than a gift that has been made by you or your children. Some ideas for gift giving that we have handmade ourselves in the past are:

1. Making Christmas cookies 
2. Jams or Preserves
3. Herb planter Boxes 
4. Handmade Recycled Christmas decorations
5. Box of organic veggies from your garden
6. A picture or painting that your children have done
7. A photo in frame

About the author

Melinda is the founder and owner of Eco Toys, Australia's first toy store to focus entirely on environmentally friendly toys. She is a mother and passionate about protecting our beautiful planet so that all our children can grow up to enjoy the beauty of our natural world. She believes that we can all make a difference in this world by choices we make.

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