2021 gift ideas to AVOID AMAZON!

Hello!

How are you? How are your family and friends? If you are in school, how are your exams?
I hope you’re enjoying your December and getting excited for the holiday break ahead.

Personally, I am well! Two weekends ago, I finally celebrated my graduation from my Bachelor’s degree, and after spending a couple of wonderful days in Montreal with my loved ones, I travelled back to spend the month of December at home with my parents. I am getting in some much-needed family time (and dog time). It’s lovely!

Being home this early before Christmas has also given me the chance to actually plan my holiday shopping ahead of time for once (possibly the first time ever?)! As part of that, I will be boycotting Amazon. During the holidays, we know that consumption drastically increases, and due to its convenience, a lot of that business gets directed toward the multinational online giant. This boom is very beneficial for Amazon, but not so much for its workers, who are the ones who make that 2-day shipping guarantee a reality.

Just read this Guardian article from February 2020, for example. Of course this is an American context, but follow the thread of our geographical and cultural proximity, as well as similar pandemic-related shifts in consumption, and you’ll conclude that the Canadian reality was, and is, not all that different. Valuing workers is just not in Amazon’s business strategy.

Shopping from Amazon is convenient, and many people aren’t able avoid it due to their economic or geographic situation, which is fine. But if you can, I strongly urge you to try.

And obviously, this is Ethigirl we’re talking about, so I’m not going to tell you to stop something without giving you an alternative! As such, I wanted to take the time to share with you some ideas for conscious, small-business oriented, thoughtful, sustainable, and/or ethical gifts you can give in 2021. I hope you like them, and that they give you some inspiration as you go about your shopping! And please remember to gift responsibly — aka, avoid overconsumption as much as you can!

food & drink

Specialty Food Items from Brunette (or another local grocery/online shop)

What it is: Brunette is an online, Montreal-based gourmet food retailer, which offers gifts, goods, and merchandise from the city’s top chefs, restaurants, and grocers. Montreal is such a major food city, with so many iconic spots and celebrities, so a business like this is incredibly cool to have. I ordered a box of their goods for my parents last year, and it was one of their favourite Christmas gifts! If your family is into food, try this site out. Or, pop into your local boutique grocery store and see what treasures you can find! Many of them also have websites nowadays.

What I recommend: From Brunette, go for ANYTHING from Stefano Faita, or one of their cool gift bundles.

Spices from Diaspora Co.

What it is: Diaspora Co. was founded in 2017 by Sana Javeri Kadri, a third-generation Mumbai native, with the goal of creating accessible pathways to higher-quality, equitable spices and to build long-term partnerships with Indian farmers. Since its inception, the company has grown tremendously, and offers a great array of delicious products. The website has a dedicated page just for gift ideas, so take a look!

What I recommend: Check out The Trio, which allows you to choose three spices as a "starter pack” for your recipient, or The Pantry Refresh, which is comprised of six of Diaspora’s most popular spices.

NOTE: Keep in mind that if you order from Diaspora, at this point they might not be able to guarantee delivery by December 25th.

Fair Trade Food - Coffee, Tea, Chocolate and More from Rosette Fair Trade

What it is: If you’ve been around awhile, you’ll remember that in my 2019 holiday gift guide, I recommended Rosette Fair Trade too! Rosette offers an abundance of fair trade goods in an easily-navigable site, and acts as a one-stop-shop for all things ethical! It also stocks Oxfam Fair Trade products, which provides Canadians access to a whole host of products that we can’t normally get here. In 2019, founder Lia Walsh VERY kindly gifted whole box of snacks to try, and everything was so delicious!

What I recommend: Another thing which I love about Rosette Fair Trade is that it sells Palestinian-made products! That’s why this year, I’m recommending the Zatoun gift bundle of Palestinian products, which comes with fair trade olive oil, soap, and za’atar (a Palestinian herb mix). This purchase directly supports Palestinian olive farmers, keeping a traditional practice alive while also economically assisting surrounding communities.

Zero-Waste Gin from Loop

What it is: Loop is a Montreal company that is seeking to solve food waste by using it to create innovative products (thus, closing the Loop!). They started out by making cold-pressed juices, and quickly expanded to a variety of other items, including gin!

What I recommend: The Lime Ginger Gin I’ve linked is made from potato chip waste which Loop rescues from a nearby factory.

Your recipient will be happy to have a delicious and sustainable gift with a very cool party story. According to Loop’s website, you can currently buy the gin at the SAQ (Quebec), LCBO (Ontario), ANBL (New Brunswick), and Highlander Wine & Spirits (Calgary).

art & music

Vintage Décor, Artwork, Ornaments, Candles and More from Etsy

What it is: One of my favorite places to do holiday shopping so far this year has been Etsy, a small business-oriented online marketplace. Man, it literally has everything! I love seeing the creativity that so many artists and small business owners have. For me, even when I’m not sure what I want to get someone, once I browse Etsy I pretty quickly come up with an idea! I love being able to support a real person through every purchase I make.

What I recommend: Although I could suggest things forever, here are a few items that have recently caught my eye: this Sailboat Jewelry Holder, this Cereal-Scented Candle, this absolutely gorgeous Suncatcher, and these Flower Beaded Earrings. But seriously, go take a look yourself! Etsy has a really extensive gift guide so you don’t get overwhelmed, and so many things are reasonably-priced and very high quality.

Merch from Their Favorite Artist, Movie/Show, Charity, or Café

What it is: This is such a thoughtful one! For every one of your recipient’s interests, there is sure to be a merchandise shop somewhere — either on the website of the thing, or on somewhere like Etsy or Redbubble. If your recipient loves cafes, surely their go-to spot sells mugs, bags of coffee beans, or tote bags. A favorite musician will certainly have a t-shirt or pin for sale on their website. Get creative, and you’re sure to find something they’ll treasure forever!

What I recommend: Personally, I’ve got my eye on this All Too Well poster from Taylor Swift’s website.

Custom Records, Cassettes, or Coasters

What it is: If your recipient is really into music, we can go deeper down this rabbit hole! If they own a record player or have an old cassette player, you can make them a custom record or cassette mixtape, and even choose what goes on the outside!

What I recommend: For Christmas last year, I opted for the mixtape for my boyfriend — this one from Etsy. I was seriously so happy with how it turned out, and the experience of creating the playlist and then eventually listening to it together was so sweet! For the custom record, here’s one option. Another decorative idea is to do custom record coasters! You can pick the album(s) you like, and then your lucky recipient has all of their favorite music as decorations.

self-care

Anything from Lush

What it is: I have been a lifetime customer of Lush, and for every good reason. They are ethical and sustainable by-the-book on every cause, their products are all natural, their employees are treated fairly, they are serious about animal testing, they are vocal about human rights and activism, and most recently, they’ve decided to break up with social media!

The latter thing is something I’m incredibly excited to follow. While I know as a blogger how powerful social media can be, I also know how detrimental it is and I’m terrified of its long-term impacts. Companies like Facebook are also extraordinarily unethical, and are only getting worse, so it is time to take a stand. I couldn’t be more supportive of Lush taking a lead on that.

What I recommend: Lush has a pretty extensive gift selection, all of which look absolutely wonderful! But if you are looking for individual products, I have a few suggestions too. If you’ve got curly hair, check out the Power conditioner and the Revive hair cream. Charity Pot is a body cream for which Lush donates 100% of the profits to grassroots charities. And Angels on Bare Skin is a wonderfully gentle face and body scrub that smells amazing!

A Nice Compost Bin

What it is: Alright, some of you might be laughing about this one (which is totally fair honestly), but think about my reader base for a second! If your recipient is eco-conscious, help make composting a little less disgusting for them. Let’s be realistic — most of us definitely leave our compost bins under our sink for WAY too long and forget to take them out. The whole thing is just not fun, but it’s worth it for the planet.

What I recommend: If you’re like me, you just bought the cheapest one you could find. But this one from OXO is a little higher-end, a little less unsightly, and it’s even dishwasher safe! Making sustainable household chores more palatable is something I’d definitely call self-care.

last-minute, harder-to-box, but still good

A Subscription to Book of the Month

Subscription boxes and services have become something of a go-to for a lot of people, but if your recipient loves reading, or wants to love reading but never knows what to pick, this is a great option! How it works is you pick the length of your subscription (3 months, 6 months, etcetera…) and then each month, the company lets you choose one book from five great new releases. The service is surprisingly affordable, and very exciting as a recipient (it’s fun to have something to look forward to every month, and it’s like a gift that keeps on giving)!

A Parks Pass

Does your recipient like nature? If they do, buy them a Discovery Pass from Parks Canada! It will let them get unlimited admission to more than 80 locations. With the pandemic, a lot of us are seeing more of the places we live in, and this is a cool way to help your family and friends do it without paying anything.

A Travel Gift Card

Whenever your recipient decides they’re ready to get on a plane again (especially if it’s to come see you), help them make it easier with a gift card from FlightGift! It’s a service that allows you to purchase a gift card that the recipient can use toward virtually any airline and any destination. I gifted one of these to a friend earlier this year and they were incredibly happy! If you have been separated from a loved one during the pandemic, this thoughtful idea could help close the gap (if/when it’s safe).

A Donation in Their Name

If there’s an organization whose work they are passionate about, this might be a good option! Some people truly mean it when they say they don’t want anything, and this is a good way to ensure they know you are still thinking of them. This thoughtful option could also go very well paired with another small item, if you wished.

A Tinggly Gift Box

Here is an opportunity to consciously give the gift of an experience! Tinggly is a company which allows you to gift “experience gift boxes". What does that look like? You choose the category (think: Bucket List, Taste the World, and so on), and then Tinggly sends a personalized package that allows your recipient to select the experience from an extensive list and redeem it next time they are travelling. Examples of experiences include cooking classes, spa treatments, or even bungee jumping. It’s a really cool concept that I think goes a step beyond your traditional gift card and into the realm of something that will encourage your recipient to try something new and amazing!

conclusion

Well, there you are! A whole host of new gift ideas that I hope will make it easier for you to get started (or get finished, depending what stage of shopping you’re at). I hope you’ll remember to support local, shop small, and consume consciously this holiday season, whatever that looks like for you and your unique situation.

What are you planning on gifting this year that you’re excited about? What did I miss? Let me know in the comments — I’d love to hear it (I’m still collecting ideas, after all)! I love you all so much, and thank you for reading!!!

With love and sustainability,
ethigirl

feminist brown bread: on memorializing through baking and the devaluation of domestic labour

I’ve been thinking a lot about my grandma recently. She died about two and a half years ago, and she was my best friend all my life. All this thinking about my grandma reminded me of an essay I wrote last spring about her for one of my classes. I don’t exactly know why, but I feel compelled to share it here with you now.

(Okay — I do have one lead on why I’m so emotional about her — on Taylor Swift’s latest album there’s a song called “Marjorie” that’s about her grandma. And oh my, this song is KILLING ME. Here, YOU listen to it and tell me you don’t understand what I mean.)

If you’ve read any of my other content, you also know that this blog is actually in dedication to…well, her (as in my Nan, not Taylor Swift. Although I do love her too). So, having this here is fitting <3

This blog post details my experience baking brown bread, a family recipe passed down through generations, as a way of remembering my grandma and how I came to better understand feminism. I also detail how this experience got me thinking about how society systemically undervalues domestic labour.

A huge part of my childhood was defined by time spent sitting at my Nan’s kitchen island, telling her about my day as I watched her prepare meals for the nursing home that she and my grandfather ran. Lots of times, I would even help her. One day, on the menu was a homemade chocolate cake. She walked me through the recipe, and then when it got to my favourite part — decorating — she unveiled an array of sprinkles and coloured frosting for me to choose from. Although eight year-old me did an absolutely horrible job decorating that cake, my Nan was quick to fawn over how beautiful she thought it looked before slicing it up and proudly serving it to the folks of the home.

My grandmother, or Nan (as I knew her) passed away in August of 2018. She was an enormous part of my life and one of my best friends. Even more broadly speaking, looking back, I was truly so lucky to grow up surrounded by so much of my extended family within arm’s reach — on any snow day I had somewhere to go, and for every afterschool obligation I had someone to pick me up.
There was certainly a dichotomy between my own dreams and the life she led. Throughout my adolescent years, as I started to learn about feminism, my initial understanding was tied to second-wave ideas such as those put forth in Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique. The idea that housewives were inherently oppressed and that “strong, independent women” worked high-level jobs and lived in big cities was ingrained in me. But even though my Nan’s life directly opposed this ideology, I still considered her one of the strongest women I knew.

She told me several times that throughout most of her life, she knew she wanted to be a homemaker. She spent so much time learning how to cook and sew from the older women in her family and her community. My grandfather was a pastor, so when she married him, she dedicated herself to putting forth the most emotional availability for her family and for her church community as she possibly could. She made everyone with whom she came into contact feel special. And if she could have created a new love language, it would have been cooking. For instance, at the last church she and my grandfather worked in, the entire congregation always looked forward to her muffins! That was because directly following every Sunday service, Nan would have the hallway all set up with a whole selection of freshly-baked, homemade muffins, as well as coffee and tea.

Therefore, when I found out about this assignment, I knew I wanted to focus on my grandmother. But I struggled to figure out how I would do it, and I also worried I wouldn’t do it justice. Regardless, memories upon memories kept popping into my head — things that I hadn’t thought about since I was a young kid. At some point, I remembered one specific day I’d spent with my Nan during which she was making bread for the special care home. As she waited for it to rise, I sifted through a jam-packed recipe card holder, filled with very well-used index cards that had important family and community recipes. Upon remembering this, I called my aunt (who was visiting my grandfather’s home at the time) and asked her to send me as many photos of these recipes as she could. After looking through them, I felt confident I’d found the perfect one: Homemade Brown Bread.

Brown Bread: Deciphering the Recipe

Brown Bread is delicious, dark, and sweet — thanks mainly to the copious amounts of molasses and shortening that one must add to achieve the perfect loaf. Looking at the photo of the recipe card, which has been passed down several generations, reminded me not only of eating it in my Nan’s kitchen, but also of making it with my other grandmother and my great-grandmother on my mom’s side. However, I haven’t found anyone here in Montreal who is familiar with the recipe. Therefore, for this assignment, I decided to do some research to pin down where Brown Bread actually came from, and I found out that it is indeed a Canadian Maritime thing. For example, an article on the molasses company Crosby’s website by Bridget Oland details how she grew up in Southern New Brunswick (not far from me at all) and “homemade bread meant one thing to [her]: molasses brown bread.” (Oland 2014)

Especially after understanding that the recipe really did have regional roots, I was so excited to bring it into my new living space and to introduce all of my friends to it. There was just one problem: the recipe card was not descriptive at all!

Although the recipe card does fortunately list the measurements of each ingredient, the instructions leave something to be desired. They simply read, “add flour to right consistency...makes 3 double loaves.”

Aside from the fact that I (a university student living in a tiny apartment) had no need for three loaves of bread, I also had never made bread by myself before. But I did know there certainly had to be more to it than simply combining all of the ingredients together and adding flour “until the right consistency.” So, I called my grandmother on my mom’s side, hoping she’d be able to help me out. Fortunately, she was! I took detailed notes, and soon realized that this was not going to be nearly as quick of an assignment as I’d initially thought. The dough needed to proof twice, she said! For an hour and a half each time! There went my plans to leave the house that day. However, with the promise of freshly-baked bread on the other side of all this waiting, I decided it was worth it.

Preparing the Bread

I began by activating yeast, which I’d never done by myself before. As it rose, I prepared all of the other wet ingredients in a bowl, and then combined the yeast with that. Next, I moved to a larger workstation so I had more room for dough-kneading purposes.

After about twenty-five minutes of hard work, the dough was looking pretty good! So I added it back to a shortening-greased mixing bowl for its first proof, being sure to also cover the top with extra shortening so it didn’t dry out (as per my grandma’s advice).

One and a half hours later, the dough had doubled in size, and I was very excited about the living being in my kitchen! I punched out the air and then divided the dough between a loaf pan and a muffin tin. Then, I set my timer for another hour and a half for the second proof.
After over three hours of waiting impatiently, the bread was finally ready for the oven! Unfortunately, I’d actually forgotten to preheat the oven, so that added another ten minutes to the process. After, however, I slid the pans in at 375 degrees celsius for 35 minutes.

Just over half an hour later, I sped to my oven and excitedly removed my bread! I burned my fingers on a roll because I was too excited to wait for them to cool to try them out. And… It was delicious! I was so pleased with the fruits of my labour that it made all the waiting well worth it.

Reflection

Although I felt satisfied, I also ended this process utterly exhausted. Aside from the bread-making, I’d also spent my Sunday preparing two meals for the week, as well as doing laundry and schoolwork. One thing became abundantly clear to me from this exercise: domestic labour is very, very difficult and we systemically undervalue it. Scholar Bridget Anderson also speaks extensively about this in her book Doing the Dirty Work?: The Global Politics of Domestic Labour (2000).

I mentioned at the beginning of this post that, early on in my exposure to feminism, what I understood very much resembled the second-wave narrative. To me, “women’s empowerment” looked like a sophisticated, independent woman living in a city, working an “important” job. But I obviously know now that this understanding was problematic, and feminism comes in many forms.

In any case, I realized that all of those days I’d spent with my grandmother — and all the ones I hadn’t — she’d probably ended absolutely exhausted. During her time running the special care home, she woke up nearly every day at 5:30am to prepare breakfast and didn’t stop working until everyone went to bed that night. She made three meals from scratch, plus desserts and snacks, every day for years — and here I’m only counting the time at the special care home. Prior to this, she did all of the same things for free for her husband and three kids.

Like I mentioned, she always told me that she loved what she did. But regardless, it is difficult for me to do justice how hard she worked during her life, and how much it upsets me that domestic labour is nearly invisible. As Peter van de Ven, Jorrit Zwijnenburg and Matthew De Queljoe of the OECD demonstrate, it simply goes unaccounted for in GDP calculations (OECD 2018). Moreover, socially, we simply take it for granted as something that will “just get done” (mainly, of course, by women). And there are many feminists who, like me when I was younger, still look at women’s desire to be a homemaker or a stay-at-home mom as a form of oppression.

I certainly do think there is a tension between intrinsic goals and systemic, oppressive pressures, and I think there are elements of what my Nan did during her life that fit into each. However, it is invaluable labour that society simply expects to be provided from somewhere, and always with a smile. My grandmother told me many times toward the end of her life that she felt fulfilled by the work that she did, and that it was always her goal to accomplish what she had. I am so grateful to have had this experience and to have tried living in her shoes, even in a small way, for a day.

Works Cited
Anderson, Bridget. Doing the Dirty Work?: The Global Politics of Domestic Labour. New York: Zed Books, 2000.
Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.
Oland, Bridget. “Sarah's Molasses Brown Bread.” Crosby's Molasses, February 19, 2019. https://www.crosbys.com/sarahs-molasses-brown-bread/.
van de Ven, Peter, Jorrit Zwijnenburg, and Matthew De Queljoe. “Including Unpaid Household Activities: An Estimate of Its Impact on Macro-Economic Indicators in the G7 Economies and the Way Forward.” OECD Statistics Working Paper Series, no. 91 (July 25, 2018).