Welcome to Sweden With Love‘s 2014 Kind & Green Holiday Gift Guide! Here, you’ll find carefully curated gifts that meet our high standards for living an authentic, mindful and gutsy life. Every single item on our list is eco-friendly, animal-friendly and created with love in small quantities. Why? Because every choice matters, and every dollar we spend has a ripple effect. Small acts, when multiplied, will change the world. Happy holidays! •
The Solvang Bakery’s Custom Gingerbread Houses
The family that runs The Solvang Bakery in California love what they do: getting up early in their morning, these bakers whip up some of the country’s most delightful iced cookies, wedding cakes and Danish pastries. But around the holidays, it’s all about their awe-inspiring gingerbread houses, ranging from ornate mansions to traditional cabins.
The gingerbread houses have turned into a favorite holiday gift — to give and receive — among celebrities including Kelly Ripa, Neil Patrick Harris, Tiffani Thiessen, Elton John, Jerry Seinfeld and many more.
Angela & Roi’s December Clutch
Made of high-quality vegan “leather” and minimalistic in design, Angela & Roi’s December Clutch is soft and smooth to the touch. The interior is fully lined and features two open pockets to hold various essentials. Depending on the color you buy — the clutch is available in black, wine and gray — the company will donate a portion of the sale to a non-profit organization that supports prevalent health issues.
Angela & Roi also offers totes, cross-over bags, bucket bags and backpacks, all priced around $100. Every bag is made of vegan leather and durable fabrics, and supports the company’s Donate By Color charity campaign.
Arbor Collective’s Skateboards & Snowboards
Since 1995, The Arbor Collective has crafted their handmade snowboards and skateboards using environmentally friendly materials such as sustainable wood and bamboo, water-based sanding sealers and grip made from crushed recycled glass. They also donate a portion of every sale to the Hawaiian Legacy Forests, supporting the organization’s efforts to restore the forest ecosystems in Hawaii.
Arbor’s old school craftmanship combined with their forward-thinking mission — to inspire people to protect the planet — is admirable. But what makes their boards stand out are their awesome design.
By working with an array of artists — 32 at the moment — they’ve managed to create boards fit for everyone from professional boarders to your 8-year-old daughter to your adventure-loving spouse.
Memory Bright Photo Book Memoir Service
If you’re famous, your life’s story is covered by professional editors, photographers and designers. MemoryBright’s founder Chris Tauber was a New York magazine writers doing just that, interviewing movie stars, rock stars and sports stars. Yet when he moved to Florida to start a family, he resorted to hasty do-it-yourself photo books for the most important story: his own family’s (he and his wife now have four kids). If they were famous, what would these books look like?
That’s when MemoryBright was born. When we first heard of this newly launched company, it sounded too good to be true. But MemoryBright really does all the things you’ve been putting off for years. They sort through your albums, scan your old slides and prints, take care of your camera uploads and edit them, sort through your Instagram photos and scan your kid’s first letter to Santa. The options are endless.
On top of that, Chris and his team of professional journalists will cover your life — they’ll interview you (or your loved ones) and write magazine-quality stories about you and your family. Then they’ll put it all together, design the layout, print a high-quality book and deliver a photo memory book that you will pass down for generations.
The Burlap Bag Natural Soy Candles
Austin, Texas, has many cool attractions and one of them is certainly The Burlap Bag. The two person company is run by Josiah and Lauren Lowe (plus their daughter Greta), who hand pour their candles in small batches. Made of natural U.S. grown soy beans, the 9 oz candles in amber glass jars have a 70+ hour bur time. They also come in a variety of unique natural scents, including Crazy Cat Lady, Unicorn Puke, Nerd Alert, Coffee Fix, The Bee’s Knees, Puppy Love and Cuddles.
Uncle Goose’s Stack and Scare Blocks
Uncle Goose’s classic ABC Blocks are the traditional gift for a newborn baby, but did you know they also offer an array of other creative blocks? This Stack & Scare set allows kids to create their own monsters by stacking and combining 15 fun blocks. The set is handcrafted in Grand Rapids, Michigan using sustainable basswood grown around the Great Lakes. The non-toxic, child-safe ink used to decorate the blocks is also made in the USA.
Kind Cook Books
Vegan Holiday Cooking from Candle Cafe: Celebratory Menus and Recipes from New York’s Premier Plant-Based Restaurants
Even world-class carnivore Jimmy Kimmel swears by the deliciousness of Candle Cafe’s new vegan holiday recipe book. The award-winning chefs behind these New York’s famed restaurants elevates plant-based fare to a new level. They offer fresh, inventive menus for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Super Bowl Sunday, Valentine’s Day, Cinco de May and more.
Thug Kitchen’s Eat Like You Give a F*ck
Thug Kitchen started their wildly popular website to inspire people to adopt a healthier lifestyle. In their first “no pretense, no hype” cookbook, they’re throwing down more than 100 recipes for their best-loved meals, snacks and side dishes. What about Roasted Beer and Lime Cauliflower Tacos? Pumpkin Chili? Grilled Peach Salsa? As Thug Kitchen would say, believe that sh*t.
Vegan Holiday Cooking from Candle Cafe on Amazon
Thug Kitchen’s Eat Like You Give a F*ck on Amazon
The Citizenry’s Adia Planter
The Citizenry collaborates with local artisans across the world and sells their goods straight to you. By designing their own collections, offering fair trade wages and investing 10% of their proceeds back into artisan communities, The Citizenry helps local communities thrive. Each season, the company offers a collection from a new country. This holiday season, their beautifully designed wares comes from Uganda. Each piece is handcrafted, hand numbered and available in limited quantities.
The Adia Planter is hand carved from a single block by a group of fifteen seasoned woodworkers in the Nakawa region using rich Mugavu wood. In the spirit of sustainability, the cooperative replants the trees for future generations.
Jade Yoga Mats
Not only are these mats arguably the best performing yoga mats on the market — yoga gurus Seane Corn, Shiva Rea, Baron Baptiste and Steve Ross are a few of the mat’s fans — but they’re also incredibly eco-friendly.
The mats are made in the U.S. of natural rubber tapped from trees, which is a renewable resource. And for every mat sold, the company honors the mat’s origins by planting a tree through their partnership with Trees for the Future.
Pop Chart Lab’s Art Posters
Founded by a book editor and a graphic designer, the Brooklyn-based Pop Chart Lab has amassed a ton of renown for their infographical treatments of things we love: coffee, beer, culinary tools, The Great Gatsby, hip hop names, typewriters, sneakers, bicycles and superpowers to mention a few.
The company uses 100 lb. archival stock certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and each poster is pressed in Brooklyn, New York, on an offset lithographic press using vegetable-based inks. The prints are signed and numbered by the artists, and comes packaged in a Pop Chart Lab Test Tube. So fun for everyone!
Portland General Store’s Shave Kit
Portland General is an apothecary in Portland, Maine, that makes natural, organic and vegan products in small batches. The handcrafted quality extends to their beautiful packaging and fun product names. How about Whiskey, Bootlegger and Farmer?
Sprout’s Eco Kids’ Watches
If you’re like us, you don’t let your kids drink out of plastic water bottles or heat up their meals in plastic containers in the microwave. So when we discovered Sprout’s line of organic and eco-friendly (and no plastic!) watches, we fell in love.
Sprout’s watches are constructed from sustainable elements such as biodegradable corn resin, bamboo, cork, organic cotton, mother of pearl conflict free diamonds, Swarovski’s Advanced Lead-Free Crystal and mercury free batteries. It’s a watch your children will love — and one that you can feel happy they’re wearing.
www.SproutWatches.com
**We have not been sponsored by any companies to include them in our 2014 Kind & Green Holiday Gift Guide — all endorsements of the above products come from our heart. **
If you like our 2014 Kind & Green Holiday Gift Guide, we ask you to please share it on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook!
Best ever gift list, thanks