Gifts for Good Guide 2021
Gifts for Good Guide 2021
Christmas may be the season for giving, but it is also the season of waste, and for many people in our communities, it's a lonely and difficult time. The good news is that, with a little effort and imagination, you can spoil your loved ones with thoughtful, quality gifts that will also benefit your community and the environment. All the gift ideas in this guide are available from Irish charities and social enterprises.
Local, Sustainable Gifts
We Make Good is home to products designed by some of Ireland's best emerging designers and made by people facing social challenges who have been supported to develop valuable skills and gain employment in their craft. Pop into their fabulous shop on Fade Street in Dublin, or have a look at their gorgeous online collection.
Their ‘Days of Christmas Retold' decorations are destined to become collectors' items.
The Rediscovery Centre in Ballymun is home to a colourful Eco Store, which sells sustainably made products from over 20 independent Irish suppliers and from their own reuse social enterprises. They sell everything from jewellery upcycled from old vinyl records to upcycled bicycles and vintage furniture.
You can also check out Roscommon Women's Network CycleUp Store for fashion and homewares made from upcycled materials.
Thrifty Threads
Socially conscious fashionistas have long known that charity shops are a treasure trove of sustainable fashion and vintage clothing. If that is your thing, Thrifty.ie is a goldmine. It describes itself as ‘a movement which creates a true circular economy, benefiting charities, the environment, and of course all the passionate thrift lovers out there’. Check out their curated fashion for men, women and kids, sourced from charity shops across Ireland and the UK.
Who has been a good boy/girl?
The ISPCA has a range of animal-themed gifts in their online shop. Ditto Dogs Trust, which sells fun gifts for both your two-legged and four-legged friends.
Gifts you can grow
For the green-fingered people in your life, check out these gift ideas from Grow it Yourself (GIY). Founded in 2008, GIY supports people around the world to live healthier, happier and more sustainable lives by growing some of their own food.
Irish Seed Savers specialise in heirloom vegetable seeds and Irish heritage apple trees, but you'll find everything from books about bee-keeping to scything lessons in their online shop.
Crafty Gifts
ReCreate in Walkinstown, Dublin 12 is an Aladdin’s cave of reclaimed craft materials. This thriving social enterprise makes art materials and educational supplies affordable and accessible to every sector of the community for all kinds of creative purposes. You can order a box of craft materials for home delivery. Check out their Love and Remix Boxes.
Book Bounty
For the bookworms in your life, head to Oxfam Books on Parliament Street in Dublin or the SVP Bookshop in Middleton for a hand-picked selection of quality used and rare books.
Kids’ Own, an arts charity based in Sligo, publishes a delightful range of books, written and illustrated by children. Also check out their gorgeous 2022 wall calendar, packed with art by children. It will put a smile on anyone's face!
Give Memories
Experiences make excellent gifts, and they tend to be more sustainable too. Consider a voucher or annual membership of a community theatre, museum or arts organisation like The Ark, or festival like the Dublin Theatre Festival.
Airfield Estate gift vouchers make an ideal gifts for families and nature lovers. Gift cards can then be used for an annual pass, in Overends Kitchen and for day tickets.
The Marie Keating Foundation are also streaming their Concert4Cancer for one night only on 30 December, and tickets could be a perfect stocking-filler at just €10.
Giving is Better than Getting
For the those who prefer to give rather than receive, Concern, Suas, Oxfam, Trócaire and Self Help Africa offer a range of charity gifts that benefit communities in need, such as eco-stoves, solar lights, bicycles, menstrual supplies, school lunches and honey bees.
Find more gift ideas at buysocial.ie, a home for social enterprises in Ireland. The website is brought to you by the Irish Social Enterprise Network, the largest network for social enterprises, social entrepreneurs and social innovators in Ireland.
This is just a small sample of gifts ideas from Irish charities. Get in touch to tell us about your organisation's gifts. Please remember to support your favourite charity this Christmas season.
The Wheel sees sustainable communities as socially resilient, environmentally healthy and economically thriving.
We are engaged in a series of initiatives that highlight the importance of sustainable communities and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).