Since last week’s guide went down like brandy with Grandma after Christmas lunch, I thought I’d do another.

photo via Shannon Martin

Again, not a definitive list. Just some stuff I thought you’d like and that supports supporters of this blog and/or have a snappy, ethical slant. Enjoy!

merfins by Oceanika

For your mer-obsessed daughter, from $115. Kazzie’s a Byron chick who dreamt up this idea – eco mermaid fins for kids – a number of years ago. They’re made from recycled rubber, in a factory that uses environmentally sensitive practises and machines. I’ve seen kids swim in these things – they actually swim like dolphins. Check it out in this YouTube clip

The MerFin Package, which includes MerFins, swim tights and bikini, is priced from $174.00, or the MerFin alone starting from $115.00. Get em here.

Oh goodness, it’s a month to Christmas. I have the smell of pine needles in my nose, the taste of prawns and cherries in my being (both staples at our Christmas lunch), and I’m priming myself for the after-lunch delirious wrestle with my brothers. 

I’m not a big fan of mass present-buying. Consumerism is something I actively avoid. All that said, gift giving is lovely, especially if it’s mindful. So I’ve decided to share some ideas I’ve accumulated over the year: products that grabbed me, or are mindfully made and have a touch of quirky expression to them, or are made by friends of this blog. I’ve even secured a few special offers for readers on this blog. Happy Crazy Season!

1. exfoliating cleansing bar by Miessence

Something for your brother: $9.95. I love this exfoliating Cleansing Bar ( in both geranium + tea tree). Soap-on-a-rope that’s good enough to eat, making a simple, all-round gift. Miessence products are possibly the most legitimately toxin-free products on the planet. EWG’s cosmetic database rates it in their top 5 brands and it’s a local (Queensland) company run by one very passionate Narelle.

As a lovely Noel gesture, Narelle is offering readers here 30% off any Miessence purchase over $100 (buy a few soaps for friends and family!). Details here, and make sure you use the code SWB, from December 01 – 25.

It’s always someone’s birthday or wedding. And – separate thought – I think it’s always nice to give something that helps others in need. Because, I mean, who needs another Jo Malone candle!?  So I thought I’d share UNICEF’s Inspired Gifts program…where you can buy a bike for your loved one…that goes to someone in Africa!

via goldsnowdrops

Tip: Flag this post so you have a gift idea ready to go (perhaps add it to instapaper…I have a file called “gifts’ filled with ideas).

Basically, you buy a gift for someone that goes to someone else in need. A goat. Or a bike! I do this at Christmas. My family and previous partners have always groaned at first. But then been grateful. We used to wonder how the goat was going, living its little goat life in Namibia or whatever. (I once wrote a “sponsor letter” from the goat and posted it six months later…”thank you for my life, milking time is always fun”…).

Three of my favourite gifts:

• A Bike! $87. UNICEF has found that in some parts of the world a bike is one of the most important modes of transport for villages. It is particularly helpful for health workers to reach vulnerable children in remote communities. It is often used to transport other Inspired Gifts like the vaccine carrier.
• Measles vaccines: $31 will protect 100 children from measles.
• Family water kit: $127

Here’s what others’ gift-giving antics delivered around the world last year:

I’m struggling at the moment. With being given things (yeah, yeah, poor me!).

I’ll come clean with you all. I get sent some very lovely gifts by strangers daily. Some of these strangers are wanting me to promote their wares. Others are genuinely spreading their eagerness for something they really care about. Others are simply giving to say thank you.

But thing is, I’m not a big fan of things. I grew up this way. And I like living this way. Less makes me happier. It’s not a pious statement to the world. Just a preference borne from habit. Anyone who knows me knows I wear the SAME clothes over and over. And am not one for caring about handbags. Or nailpolish. Or scented candles. Or new bikinis. Or whatever. I just don’t derive joy or excitement from them. It’s a different language to me.

Which makes it hard when I’m given things. I’m grateful for the care and gesture. But feel guilty. Because sometimes the thing (not the gesture!) is just wasted on me. So. From Now On… When someone gives me something because they’re genuinely wanting to spread their eagerness…I’m going to share the love with you instead. Not in an Oprah way. More because it’s doing me a favour.

Let’s kick off with this crocheted glass bracelet…

I wrote about giving this week. So, then, the very committed Julie Cowdroy, an activist and academic and ambassador for Opportunity International Australia and the Global Poverty Project alerted me to a post she’s just put up ABC’s The Drum about how to give goats for Christmas.

Or, more to the point, how to give a charity gift, instead of something consumerable. She kindly offered to provide a bit of a guide to the gifting charities she rates… handy for any of you out there who Just Can’t Face Buying Crap In A Mall this Christmas. Or Have Left Shopping To The Last Minute. Or who Want to Care More.

I’ve also posted her ABC piece below.

1. OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA
Buffaloan: $50
Help sustain the source of livelihood for a poor entrepreneur in India by investing in the buffaloan. For just $50, you can feed this valuable creature for a month, keeping a buffalo full, healthy and ready to produce the milk that provides a regular income for a number of the rural poor in India.

Peas on Earth: $96
This gift helps entrepreneurs in Indonesia plough through poverty, allowing them to start a small vegetable farm – be it cabbage or carrots, beans or broccoli. Once it’s harvest season, they can collect their crop and sell the fresh produce at their own market stall for a profit, using the money to provide the basics for their families. Makes you wonder about money not growing on trees…

Christmas time, right. Time to care, really.

In my family, we don’t do presents…which leaves a gaping hole for giving in other ways. Below are a few ideas, based mostly on some projects I’m working on…

1. give $2 to the homeless in your ‘hood.

I’m an ambassador for StreetSmart. So, is Stephen Fry! In the lead-up to Christmas, StreetSmart  restaurants – Longrain, Otto, Coast, Universal, Sake, Red Spice Road, Mezzo Bar&Grill, Ladro, Cutler & Co, Il Centro Restaurant & Bar, ecco Bistro, Urbane and hundreds of others – ask diners to donate $2 to StreetSmart on their bill.

The two bucks is simply added to your bill.  I’ve always liked this idea…it gives you the option to opt out…but invites you with conviction to give…it makes it easier for us to care, which I think we all want.

The cash goes to homeless projects in nearby areas – choirs, book exchanges and simple accommodation and food. This matters. Donating local I think is good. It’s more intimate. You’re more part of it. Your care is tangible.

I guess what you can do is choose to eat at a participating restaurant. And ask your favourite cafe/restaurant to take part next year.

2. if you’re buying gifts…

…check out this Women in Business gift guide Clare put together, which supports Australian women in business.

And avoid products made by this list of companies that committed some pretty sexist acts this year.

3. donate to Aboriginal literacy

Four out of 5 Aboriginal kids in remote communities can’t read. Donate some extra $$ to the Australian Literacy & Numeracy Foundation here.

4. or donate to young girls.

I’m also involved in the Because I Am a Girl campaign. ‘Because I am a Girl’ is Plan International’s global campaign to fight gender inequality, promote girls’ rights and lift millions of girls out of poverty. If you want to know why this matters…click here.

Do you have any gift ideas that matter? I’m happy for you to add here…

Every few weeks or so I feature one of Eugene Tan’s wonderful beach pictures on this site. I know many of you love them. Woah!, now you can buy the book.

Uge has become a great mate after years of running into him down at Bondi in the mornings where, for the past 11 years, he’s been found taking beautiful pictures of people being happy in water… which he then posts on his site aquabumps. 40,000 people check in each morning to view his work. And thousands have bought his over-sized prints. I’ve seen them hung around the world.

You might recall, I’ve written about Uge before. He taught me about “checking in with your inside people“. And I can safely say, Uge is one of the happiest people I know. He smiles when he surfs. It shows in his book.

Plus a gratuitous shot of our mate Gezza x

I reckon it’d make a great Christmas present. Happy, fresh, summery. This you might like to know:

* It’s a massive coffee-table spectacular (almost a metre across when open).

* It’s designed by Ant Donovan

* It’s $150 and you can buy it in Uge’s gallery on Curlewis St or here:

Have a great Friday xxxxxx

A great idea: Australian company Merry-go-round make reusable greeting cards. Regifting…from the card up! The cards have little slits inside that hold a message on a separate slip of paper. Recipients can then replace the slip of paper with their own new message. And play it forward. Featuring the artwork of children’s book illustrators, they’re printed in a limited number. I like this bit: users each fill in a little blank tree on the back, so you can follow how  many sets of hands it’s passed through. Sweet.