With more and more people prioritizing the alignment of their values with gift giving, we have some suggestions for the 2020 holiday season. Consider shopping with these HEC Green businesses to support businesses that are role models for sustainability. Whether you start your shopping on Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday or The Night Before Christmas, help us spread some holiday cheer with our #HECGreenBiz partners!
Ambre Blends
Ambre Blends makes a line of natural and organic skin and body care products for men and women. Sign-up for email updates from Ambre Blends and follow them on Facebook to learn about their various holiday promotions. Watch for a Cyber Monday special and a Giving Tuesday give-back shopping day, as well as other promotions for the holidays!
Polly Barks
Check out Polly Barks’s 80+ Zero Waste Gift Ideas list. Of course, we also want to highlight Polly’s book, More Than A Plastic Bag, as a great gift for the greenies on your list.
Bicycle Garage Indy
Bicycle Garage Indy has a variety of gift ideas for cycling enthusiasts or just about anyone on your list. We like their BGI gear and Indiana branded gear, including Sun King Brewing jerseys. And we’re told they have some new massage products and massage chairs in stock!
Foods Alive
Foods Alive is an Angola, IN-based family business that cares more about the quality of food and the effects of producing it on our planet than profiting for oneself. They offer numerous flavors of snack crackers, artisan salad dressings with flax, hemp, chia and sesame oils, artisan cold-pressed oils, an extensive line of superfoods, lip balm, and glass straws with a handy carrying case and cleaning brush (pictured). Use promo code News17.12 for 15% off Himalayan Pink Salt, Coconut Sugar, Cacao Powder, Cacao Nibs, and Glass Straws throughout the month of December.
Own Your Health by Glen Merzer
“Own Your Health is the funniest book on diet you’ll ever read. And it’s the diet that’s right for the planet!” ~Ed Begley, Jr. This book by Bloomington-based author Glen Merzer includes 75+ plant-based recipes.
Just Goods
Just Goods offers fair trade, local-made, made in USA, organic, recycled and green products for the home and for families. Shop online or at Purple Porch Coop in South Bend, IN. Sign up for their mailing list or follow them on Facebook for shopping updates.
KG Acres
KG Acres Featherwerks produces handcrafted, humane, sustainable decor created from feathers from their free-range heritage poultry. Follow KG Acres on Facebook to learn when and where you may find them at a farmer’s market.
Purrfectplay
The heart of a business lies in the values of its owner. Animal welfare, planetary stewardship, and kindness are the foundation of this pet toy company. ~Green America
Owner, Pam Wheelock, always loved cats but was disappointed when she saw that most store-bought toys were made in China from bright, synthetic materials. Since cats and dogs play with toys with their mouths, they ingest toxins from plastic and polyester. Additionally, she knew that dyes were polluting the rivers in China and affecting the people that used those water sources. So, she decided to make her own that would be healthy and fun. Purrfectplay makes natural and organic dog and cat toys in their Chesterton, Indiana workshop. Use promo code healthyhome20 for 20% off through November 30.
Silver in the City
We are so impressed with how Silver in the City has handled their shopping experience during the COVID pandemic. To limit the number of customer inside during holiday shopping, you may book a shopping appointment online for their Mass Ave. and Carmel stores (Tip: the Carmel store has shorter wait times if you plan to drop in). If you opt to shop online for Small Business Saturday, you can pick-up your order on Sunday during their Curbside Pickup Event. Anyone on your list will love gift items from their Sustainable Goods and Indiana Pride assortments.
Here’s a fun holiday shopping idea : Book an after-hours Private Shopping Event at Silver in the City for groups of 10-25 and you can choose a nonprofit to receive a donation of 10% of sales from that event.
Naturally, for those people who literally have everything, a gift in their honor to the Hoosier Environmental Council is also a gift for all Hoosiers. Please be sure to include the gift recipient’s name and email address in the Comments so we can send them a special holiday greeting.