A Fair Trade Christmas

It's that time of year again. Advent began on Sunday and it's time to start thinking of Christmas presents for all your loved ones. I was able to do a lot my Christmas shopping (and my mother's) at the Jubilee Craft Sale on Friday and I'm doing a little more at Global Folk Art today. My goal this year is to buy only fair trade Christmas gifts. What I can't buy I'll try to make myself!! If you're starting to think about Christmas shopping, please allow me to make a few suggestions.

• Friday, November 25 is the day after Thanksgiving and a major Christmas shopping day. It is also the annual Buy Nothing Day. If you can, try to refrain from buying anything on this day. You have 30 other days between then and Christmas on which to buy things and besides the stores will all be crowded that day anyway!
• Buy Fair Trade as much as you can. If you live in the Spokane area, I suggest Global Folk Art (35. W Main Ave.) as an excellent place for Christmas shopping. There is also a fair trade show in the Community Building (35. W Main Ave.) this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Ganesh Himal, a Spokane based fair trade company that imports things from Nepal will be there, as well as several other local fair trade merchants. Spokane is also home to Moonflower Enterprises, fair trade importers who import beautiful Mayan handicrafts from Guatemala. (Their names are Felipe and Maria and they're really nice.)
• Try to find Fair Trade shops where you live. If you're not sure if a product is fair trade or not, ask if the store or importer is a member of the Fair Trade Federation. Some people may use fair trade practices, which means they pay the artisan who made the product a fair wage, but may not be part of the Fair Trade Federation. Confused? Just ask who made the product you're about to buy and who imported it.
• For those of you who can't find a fair trade store near you, there are plenty of online places to shop fair trade. Some good places: Ten Thousand Villages, Serrv International, and Jesus Wears Fair Trade as well as many others.