Seattle, WA

Allison over at Reality on Bravo is having a contest right now in which you could win a really neat “Stop Global Warming” bracelet. The bracelets are made by a company called Ecoist, which “repurposes” and recycles candy wrappers. They have some really cool stuff that would make great Christmas/Holiday gifts.

Looking over the Ecoist site got me to thinking about other “earth friendly” gifts that might be on the market so I put my google-fu to work and came up with a few suggestions. Along the way I found an article that eco-friendly gifts may be this years trend. According to the article, “San Francisco led the nationwide survey of 14,135 consumers, with 27 percent saying they planned to purchase earth-friendly products. Seattle was No. 2, with 25 percent.” Here are a few that I found:

Kate’s Caring Gifts: Seattle based, “Kate’s Caring Gifts brings you the very best natural, organic, and ecologically sustainable products that you can find anywhere. When Kate (yes, there really is a Kate) founded this company, she set out with the mission of finding products that she could feel good about offering to you. While looking for the highest quality natural skin care, organic and fair trade foods, natural candles, and other great gifts, she sought ethical companies that treat workers fairly and manufacture using sustainable materials and methods. Kate sought out products that promote good health as well as good and conscious living. Since then, she has found some fantastic treasures crafted by independent companies and artists dedicated bringing you outstanding, earth friendly products at great prices. In addition to offering these wonderful products to you, we create unique, fun, gift sets, making it easy to give great People and Earth Friendly gifts.” I’m in love with these Planet Earth earrings!

UncommonGoods.com: Dedicated to providing unique items of outstanding quality that “work in harmony with the environment and without harm to animals or people.” Check out these gorgeous glasses made from “rescued” wine bottles. They have a plethora of neat gifts made from recycled products.

LittleEarth: “When Rob Brandegee and Ava DeMarco founded Little Earth Productions, Inc. in 1993 they had a simple but revolutionary idea: design and make fashionable, unique and trendsetting purses and belts by reusing and recycling materials that would otherwise be overlooked or thrown away. Not only did the idea work, but it introduced the world to a new term: ecofashion.” I’m not sure why, but I love these license plate purses.

Hip & Zen: “At hip and zen, our purpose is to bring an eclectic blend of lifestyle products to forward-thinking people of a unique sensibility—those with a modern soul. We present items that inspire calm and unity with just the right edge of sophistication and style. Nurturing body and soul through an aesthetic identified by clean lines and a respect for the earth is our passion. We celebrate the beauty of simplicity. This is echoed in our careful selection of recycled, organic, hand-made, fairly traded, and natural products. Our unique offering is not limited by genre nor function, but rather an uncommon devotion to design, beauty, and spirit.” With a surname like Clothier, how could founder Karen Clothier be anything but a designer? She was born to it! Hip & Zen has collections that are organic, vegan, recycled and even fair trade. They have some adorable handbags made from recycled plastic.

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