If you’re looking for holiday gift sets, you cant get any better than the Naturity organic bath and body gift pack.

This peppermint essential oil scented set comes complete with:

• 8 oz Peppermint Organic Sugar Body Scrub – Made with organic sugar for gentle exfoliation and organic sunflower seed oil, which softens skin with a silky radiance.
• Peppermint Herbal Bath Blend (tin contains four 1/2 ounce bath bags) – Organic herbs and organic essential oils comes together in an organic herbal bath tea infusion that relaxes the mind, body, and spirit.
• 8 oz Peppermint Organic Massage Oil – This organic massage oil combines certified organic sunflower seed and sweet almond oils for a smooth slip and the added antioxidant benefits of certified organic extra virgin olive oil.
  Recycled Paperboard Box and Recycled Paper Shred

All Naturity products comes packaged in reusable glass or tin which is perfect if you want to reduce plastic consumption!

This seasonal organic holiday gift set is only available at Green and Chic until the end of the month.

Don’t know what to get your loved ones for Christmas?  These bath and body gift sets from Green and Chic makes a wonderful, compact, and affordable gift when you simply  can decide.

All Deep Steep products are completely free of artificial ingredients; instead, only the finest organic essential oils, botanicals, and vegetable oils are used. All Deep Steep products are paraben free, fee of chemical preserves, 100% Vegan and cruelty free.

The gift sets also make a handy travel kit complete with:

2 oz Bubble Bath
1 oz Body Lotion
1 oz Body Wash
1 oz Body Polish
1 oz Body Butter
.5 oz Moisture Stick
Signature Print Bag

Want to try Deep Seep, but don’t want to make a huge commitment? The gift/travel sets are a great way to try a variety of Deep Steep products without making a large purchase.

You have a choice of five 100% essential oil blends:

Grapefruit | Bergamot
Honeydew | Spearmint
Lavender | Chamomile
Rosemary | Mint
Tangerine | Melon

$17.50 each

To get 10% off any Green and Chic purchase until December 17th, enter code GHOLIDAY at checkout.

Cloud9DesignStudio is a pretty cool online resource for earth friendly, hand screened apparel. A few weeks ago, I found out about their giveaway for $30 credit for their Etsy store and actually won!  I browsed all of the products that they carry and found some really cute apparel for men, women, children, babies, and maternity.

I was also impressed at the customer service. The package made it to my mailbox in less than a week of placing the order.  Communication with Amber is very easy and response usually happens within a couple of hours via email, Etsy, or Twitter.  She has a 100% positive Etsy rating and deserves it! You can also read more reviews and ratings at shopcloud9design.com/kudos.

I ended up ordering one of the woman’s hand screened t-shirt.  The woman’s Ts are “one size fits most” and very soft and comfortable, I can almost sleep on it!

Holiday Gift Guide

Their new Holiday Gift Guide at Cloud9DesignStudio is also well done. Besides the hand screened t-shirts and other clothing, this guide includes handmade made to order apparel from other designers,  vintage apparel, clothing for women (including maternity), Yoga clothing,  gifts for him, jewelry, accessories, items for baby, home accessories and more.

So if you’re going to buy one or two gifts or totally spurge, at least buy handmade (and/or eco friendly) and support independent designers and artists.

Shop
Holiday Gift Guide
Blog
Portfolio
Web

Photo credit: harakiri

Previous posts in this series touched on homemade gifts and giving a limited amount of gifts to help reduce or eliminate the stress, pressure and financial burden of the holiday season.

How about NO gifts?
Having a no gift policy may seem like a downer for some people, but it can be a welcomed change. There is no pressure to shop for the “perfect” gift, you don’t have to have a Christmas gift budget, no standing in line at the retail stores and post offices, and no clutter from useless gifts. Another policy could be gifts for the kids only.

Present the idea to your immediate and extended family in a positive way and highlight the benefits of a no gift policy.  Emphasize spending the precious (and many times short) time with friends and family instead of feeling the pressure of gift giving.     It could make it easier financially for everyone to get together during the holidays. The gift of family.  The gift of love and togetherness.  Maybe you can pool the money together and help out a family member who is in dire need.

You can also donate the gift money to a charity of your choosing individually or as a family.

I also love the idea  Marelisa wrote in her comment from the previous blog post on holiday gifts.  Offering services such as babysitting, housecleaning, shelving snow, etc in lieu of a material gift is a wonderful idea that would definitely be put to good use and not go to waste.

Buy Nothing Christmas ’06 has 59 alternatives to spending money this holiday season.

Photo credit: AnnaKika

I usually don’t think about holiday gift giving until around December 21st, but wanted to share a few ideas for this season.  Gift ideas that are useful and reduce cost and clutter to both the giver and receiver.

Handmade gifts: This is definitely not a new concept and I’m sure many of you are already ahead of the curve on this one.  Time and skill are two issues that usually come up when thinking about handmade gifts.  For this reason, my favorite item to make are knitted scarves.   I’m by far not an expert knitter.  Throws, blankets, scarves; anything in a straight line is pretty much all I can do.  In terms of time, using large needles and comparable yarn would help you get your project done in no time.  Public transportation, waiting in line at the grocery store, lunch breaks, steeling five minutes here and there – anytime you have to wait for something are great times to get a small knitting project done.

Knitting blogs or blogs that occasionally speak about knitting:
Stitchywich
Carrieoke
Show and Tell: “Use it or Lose it” knitting
Okay Knits

How to knit
How to knit – The basics (YouTube)
How to knit a scarf
Knitting Help

Vogue Knitting | Chic Knits | Knit N Style If only I can knit like that! Fashion knitting is a skill I would love to have, but I think I will stick with blankets, throws, and scarves for now. 

More on handmade gifts.
Tsh at Simplemom.net has a few sewing projects you can get started on now: Holidays by Hand: Celebrate the Season With Your Sewing Skills

Also, Green and Clean Mom Blog presents: 2008 Green Holiday Gift Guide
Getrichslowly.org/blog offers a host of ideas tips in A Do-It-Yourself Christmas: 34 Great Gifts You Can Make Yourself

http://craftingagreenworld.com/

Does anyone have more homemade gift ideas?  Candles, soaps, handmade cards – anything?  Please share what you do (or would like to do) and any related links.