Spoil your eco-goddess with this Australian Organics Luxury Bath and Shower Kit that comes in a zipped bag.   The bag comes with 200ml Evening Primrose Oil body lotion, 250ml Peach Kernel Oil shower gel, 250ml Jojoba Oil exfoliating body wash, 100g Peach Kernel Oil plant soap and mini 40ml bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Australian Organics products are developed to cleanse, nourish and protect hair and skin with the finest quality botanical ingredients, free from artificial fragrances and colours.   Made in Australia.  From Big Green Smile, £16.50

Food is so often an appropriate gift, from a sustainability point of view, because it’s consumed and doesn’t have to be disposed of eventually.  What’s more, it’s a favourite gift.  Who doesn’t like to receive gifts of chocolates, wine, biscuits or other favourite delicacies?  Here are some foodie gifts that I’ve picked out.

Popina Organic Biscuit Tin

This biscuit tin contains a selection of unusual and deeply delicious organic biscuits including fig, white chocolate and sultana, and ginger, orange and oat.

£8 from John Lewis.

Duchy Originals Organic Cheese Nibbles Selection Box

You know that you’re going to get something special when you buy Duchy products, and this cheese nibbles selection is no exception.  It’s a selection of delicious bite-sized cheese nibbles in three varieties: mature cheddar cheese, rosemary and thyme and wholegrain mustard.  They are made using organic butter and the finest English mature cheddar cheese.

£7.50 from John Lewis.

Duchy Originals Tea Time Mini Hamper

This mini hamper is presented in a basket containing 50g English Breakfast Tea, 125g Chocolate Butterscotch Biscuits, 340g Organic Strawberry Jam and 300g Organic Lemon Curd.

£28 from John Lewis.

Green & Blacks Cook’s Treat Set

There’s something deeply satisfying and deliciously decadent about cooking with chocolate, so why not  indulge someone’s inner chocoholic this Christmas with this gift set.  The Green & Blacks Cook’s Treat Set contains Green & Blacks organic cocoa, dark chocolate made with 72% coca solids, a recipe book, wooden spoon,  apron and nonstick silicon muffin tray.

£20 from John Lewis.

Duchy Originals Festive Favourites Basket

A deliciously festive treat from Duchy Originals. The basket comes packed with Organic Strawberry Jam, Cheese nibbles with mustard, Cranberry sauce with port, Chutney, Organic highland shortbread and Organic Christmas pudding.  Yum!  A real party pack.

£40 from John Lewis.

Green & Blacks Seasonal Treat Set

The perfect gift for chocolate lovers.  This gift set contains Green & Black’s organic cocoa and a pair of ceramic mugs,  12 mini bars of milk and dark chocolate plus full-sized bars of organic ginger and butterscotch chocolate.  It all comes in a beautiful box tied up with a ribbon.

£30 from John Lewis.

Broughton Organic Ales and Glass Gift Set

Organic malt from the UK and organically grown hops from New Zealand are blended with pure water from the Scottish border hills to make Broughton Organic Ale. The result is a light, golden-coloured beer full of aroma and flavour.   It won the bronze medal at the Munich International Brewing Awards and has Soil Association accreditation.  The set includes two 50cl bottles of ale and 1 Broughton Ales glass.

£12 from John Lewis.

Rhino Eco Friendly Rechargeable /Dynamo/Windup Radio and Flashlight
This would be the perfect thing for camping and gardening. The Rhino radio has AM/FM radio, is wind up & rechargeable. It also has a DC charger. The light is an integrated LED and the unit has an optimum charge indicator.
£24.99 from All Things Green

Neal’s Yard Organic Seaweed and Arnica foaming Bath
I don’t believe in taking baths every day, because they use too much water. But once in a while, after a hard day’s work in the garden or going for a long walk, a bath can be just the thing. This restorative foam bath contains extracts of revitalising mineral-rich seaweed, arnica and comfrey, and essential oils of lavender, juniper, lemon and pine. It’s ideal for after exercise.
£11.70 from John Lewis.

Neal’s Yard Organic Citrus Hand Wash
I love hand soap with a refreshing zing to it. This Citrus hand wash from Neal’s Yard will put me in a good mood every time I wash my hands. It contains essential oils of antiseptic lemon, cleansing orange, grapefruit and ho leaf, with mild vegetable derived detergents and foaming agents.
£6.75 from John Lewis.

Eco Friendly Newspaper Briquette Maker
This looks like such a handy gadget for making our own logs for the fire. Just got to have one. It’s a great way to recycle newspaper and save money. The free fuel you make with one of these is non-toxic and leaves a minimum of ash. The briquette maker is of metal construction, and is easy and safe to use. You just soak the paper, place it into the mould and squeeze.
£14.95 from Amazon.co.uk

Cambodian Recycled Rice Bags
These ethically produced recycled rice bags always get good press on this blog. I just love them. I’ve been wanting a couple of them for ages.
£12.95 from Firebox.com

Bye Bye Standby Energy-Saving Kit
This is the ideal solution to my video machine and set-top box energy saving debarcle. Bye Bye Standby will completely cut power to my video machine, DVD player and set-top box when they’re not in use, thereby saving the power that these devices would otherwise have consumed in Standby Mode. The pack contains one remote control to switch off the lot.
£34.99 from All Things Green

This Naturian Fizz! organic brut (£6.99) is free of chemicals and is produced without the use of fertilisers and pesticides.  This is a whole lot more eco-friendly than regular bubbly because of the pollution involved in fertiliser and pesticide production, as well as its use.

The perfect gift for the host of a Christmas party that you’re attending, or just nice to have chilled in the fridge for when you have friends over during the festive season.

This clay-dyed organic cotton t-shirt with a “love” motif on the front is flatteringly cut in a feminine style and will make a good Christmas present for a wife or girlfriend.

Clay-dying produces lovely earthy colours that celebrate the natural world.  And because they are organic, buying one of these supports organic cotton farming, which is far kinder to the environment and to the farm workers than conventional cotton farming that makes use of loads of pesticides.

A good buy at just £12.45 including postage.

Nice towels are something that people just don’t tend to spend much money on for themselves, but lovely organic towels make a fabulously luxurious gift. They would be the perfect gift for a parent, aunt, or a young person starting out on their own.

These lovely towels from Natural Collection are made from 100% organic and Fairtrade cotton.   The cotton comes from the Chetna Cotton Project in central India. This project is run by a group of farmers from the region who work together to produce cotton which is organically grown.

The towels are available in the following colours:  Pebble, Dusky Rose, Bark, Parchment and Moss (from top to bottom in the picture).

If you’re planning to throw a Halloween party for the children, or maybe even for the grown-ups, here are a three little tips to make your party an altogether greener one.

Think organic, local and Fairtrade - when you’re planning your party food and decor, opt for local apples for the apple bobbing, local pumpkins for the Jack ‘o Lantern, Fairtrade and organic chocolates and sweet treats, and local and where possible organic food too.

Think biodegradable -  get your hands on some biodegradable crockery instead if you’re a paper plate junkie.

Think reuse and repurpose - for costumes and decorations, use what you already have.  Get a book out of the library on making Halloween costumes and make one yourself out of second hand materials.

Photo credit: fabbio 

Here are another two Halloween treat ideas for health-conscious parents.  Halloween is just next week, so don’t leave it too late to get your hands on delicious and healthier treats for the neighbourhood kids.   There’s no need to give up your preference for organic when buying sweet treats for children.

Village Bakery Organic Berry Bars

Village Bakery Wheat-free Organic Berry Bars come in packs of 4.  They are made of chewy oats, cranberries, blueberries, strawberries and rasberries, with no added fat.

Yummy yet healthy, a good compromise with the kids.

Free Organic Laidback Liquorice

Laidback Liquorice is the ultimate organic liquorice experience.  It’s “the softest, smoothest, most sumptuous liquorice ever to take on a taste bud!”. So it says on the packet, and I am in full agreement.

I’d like to introduce you to Natural House Organic Dish Spa, the first ever dish washing liquid to have Soil Association full certification.

It’s made of only organic and natural ingredients, but Natural House says it works every bit as well as non-organic alternatives.    Dish Spa is made from organic saponins, Soil Association-approved natural cleansing agents and organic Lemon Sfumatrice (a gentle de-greaser with a light aroma of lemon zest).  The result is a low foaming,  high-performing product, that reduces the environmental impact of washing up water going down the drain.

While it’s powerful on grease removal, Dish Spa is also gentle on skin, so no need for rubber gloves when you wash with this stuff.  And no need to worry about dishwashing liquid residue on plates and skin, because it’s people friendly and planet friendly.

Wherever you turn people are talking about the credit crunch.  Most of us are feeling the pinch in one way or another, and so we’re coming up with clever ways to save money.  Most of these ideas have been around for ages, but because of a consumer economy that brings us goods at prices that don’t reflect the real costs of manufacture, and because of cheap oil, many of us have not had to scrimp and save like our parents or grandparents may have had to.

1. Buy in bulk

Here’s an idea that’s been around for a while.  Buy in bulk.  Get together with friends and do it, or if you have the space, just do it yourself.  And if you think that those organic or eco-friendly products are too expensive to afford these days, buy them in bulk to save.

2. Turn your thermostat down

Okay, it’s not time to switch the heating on yet, but you can turn down the heat of your water in the meantime.  And when it’s time for the heating to go on, turn that thermostat down a couple of degrees.  Put on a fleece or a jumper and be toasty warm.

3. Shower, and keep it short

Showering saves lots of water (and also energy used to heat the water), but only if you keep it short.  Keep showers under 5 minutes, and take a navy shower.

4. Make do and mend

Before you buy something new because the old one is outdated, think about it.  What values are you supporting by buying into mindless consumerism based not on what you need but what you desire?  If something breaks, see if you can fix it, rather than buy a new one.  And if something is no longer suitable for one job, perhaps it can be repurposed to save you money somewhere else.

5.  Stay organic by growing your own

It’s not the best time of the year to start doing this, but there is still time to plant winter and spring crops like cabbages, broad beans, garlic, lettuce, rocket, spinach and potatoes.  When you grow your own, you can afford to stay organic.  For the price of some compost and a few seeds, you can have fresh, local, season produce all year round.  And you don’t even have to pay for the compost if you make your own.

Photo credit: René Ehrhardt