Vegan Friendly Gift Ideas!

~Chocolates~Toilettries~Accessories~Homemade gifts~Charitable gifts~Hampers~Vouchers~Drinks~Magazines~Books~Memberships~Animal Adoptions

A friend asked me recently "what's a good gift for a vegan?" 
Obviously vegans are as varied as anyone, and all like different things! Nonetheless I thought I'd write a post to share a few ideas (both shop-bought and homemade!!)

From the shops/internet:

• CHOCOLATES

Some fancy schmancy chocolates:

-Booja Booja truffles, available from Holland and Barrett, Waitrose and independant health food shops (Booja Booja website)

-Montezuma vegan truffles, not an exclusively vegan brand so beware if searching the rest of their website (Montezumas vegan items)

-Hotel Chocolat not exclusively vegan brand. (This links to the vegan stuff:Hotel chocolat website)

  

More chocolates...

From Animal Aid: Animal Aid shop

From Vegan Store: www.veganstore.co.uk

From Supermarkets: Some dark chocolates by  brands such as Lindt and Green & Blacks are suitable.  Just watch out for lactose, whey powder or butterfat on the ingredients list.

Raw chocolate, for healthy foodies who like a treat..

Mr Popples: www.mrpoppleschocolate.co.uk
Concious Chocolate:www.consciouschocolate.co.uk

Raw Nibbles:www.rawnibbles.co.uk

• A nice cook book

Some recommended books:

-Isa Does it  easy, tasty reliable recipes. (US measurements)

-Vegan Eats World- fancy recipes for world cuisine. (US measurements)

-Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen tasty Italian recipes (US measurements)

-Ms Cupcakes, Naughtiest cakes in town decadent easy to make cakes and bakes (UK measurements)

-Vegan Cupcakes Take over The World, Vegan Pie in the Sky, Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar more great recipes for sweet, tooth destroying treats :) (US measurements)

• A restaurant voucher

Find out where your friend likes to eat, and buy a voucher for their favourite restaurant. A few chain restaurants that cater for vegans reasonably well are Pizza Express, Wagamama, Las Iguanas.

• A food hamper/gift box

Buy a nice box or basket and fill it with foods and drinks your friend might like!  Some hamper ideas:

Hot Chocolate Hamper: Could include a mug, a spoon, "choc shot" liquid chocolate, vegan squirty cream, and mini vegan marshmallows!

Sweeties Hamper: Could include: Vegan Fudge, Goody Good Stuff Sweets, Sweet Freedom Marshmallows, other sweets such as ones sold here: www.needsweets.co.uk/

Coffee and cake hamper: Could include: Some nice fairtrade coffee, soya cream, cake such as Mrs Crimbles apple cake, or these loaf cakes from the co-op www.veganoo.net/2013/10/review-riverbank-bakery-fruit-cake.html?m=1)

Tea and biccie Hamper: Could include-a selection of nice teas, and biscuits such as Lotus biscuits, fruit shortcake biscuits, or Lazy Days Millionaires Shortbread 

A fruit basket: ...loads of lovely fresh fruits!  

Snack attack hamper: Many crisps, pretzels, and tortilla chips and dips, are vegan.  Could also include nuts, popcorn, hummus chips

Healthy/wheat-free snack bar hamper: Nakd bars, dried fruits and nuts, kale chips

Favourite Cuisine Cooking Hamper-

Vegan ingredients to make your friend's favourite kind of cuisine, ie for Italian.. posh dried pasta, nice olive oil, jars of sundried tomatoes/roasted peppers, sea salt and pepper grinder.

• Wine

Some vegan wines:Co-op and M&S label their vegan wines.                

More can be found listed at Barnivore.com

• Beer.

Some vegan beers: Heineken, Stella Artois and Budweiser.

More at Barnivore.com

• Toiletries

Just because a brand says it doesn't test on animals it doesn't mean it's vegan friendly (it may contain animal products/by-products)

However the following items are all safe...

Make up:

Any items from Superdrug's "B" range. www.superdrug.com/brandshop/B/makeup
Any items from Beauty without Crueltywww.bwcshop.com/
Any items from Vegan Faces: www.veganfaces.co.uk/

Barry M-their website labels vegan products with a white "v" inside inside a green heart www.barrym.com
Any items from Arbonne: (Note: these are more "high end" products) www.arbonneinternational.co.uk/

Make up brushes-many cosmetics brushes are made using animal hair-Eco tools aren't! www.naturisimo.com (Also available in Boots, and often TK Maxx)

Bath/shower products: 

Items labelled vegan from Lush, Superdrug, Faith in Nature, Marks and spencer (check the product info on their website listings..some of these are listed as vegan)

Hair care products: "Tara Smith" range, available from Marks and Spencer http://tarasmith.com/, certain items from Paul Mitchell (available from hairdressers)www.paul-mitchell.co.uk, certain products from Lush.

Perfume-certain perfumes from Lush, Pacifica , these from M&S.

For men:

Hair care products: Items labelled vegan from Lush, Superdrug.

Male Grooming-All Bulldog products http://meetthebulldog.com

available from Waitrose, Sainsburys etc. 

• Clothing/accessories

If your friend is vegan for ethical reasons (not just dietary reasons) they will more than likely avoid anything made of: leather, wool/animal hair (inc. cashmere, angora, alpaca and mohair), silk and feathers and down. (and obviously no fur!!)

So, if giving knitted items make sure they use synthetic yarn, if giving purses/wallets/belts/jewellery make sure they are all synthetic, with no leather trim, or feather decorations. 

For guaranteed vegan belts and wallets visit these sites:

Vegetarian Shoes-vegetarian-shoes.co.uk/belts
Ethical Wears-www.ethicalwares.com/accessories

Vegan Store-www.veganstore.co.uk

Wills Vegan Shoes-wills-vegan-shoes.com

If your friend likes to advertise their veganism loud and proud, maybe they'd like a vegan themed bag or T-shirt, from one of these sites:

-Blood Tight Apparel www.bloodtightapparel.com

-Viva vivashop.org.uk
- VX www.vegancross.com
-Naturally Kind Food www.naturallykindfood.co.uk/

For vegan themed jewellery visit:

-All Glamour No Guts allglamournoguts.bigcartel.com

(or search Etsy)

Some homemade gift ideas...

• A home cooked meal
• A hamper of homemade vegan cookies/candied nuts/truffles, fudge etc (1000's of recipes can be found here:www.vegweb.com)
• A muffin basket 
• Handmade knitted gloves/hat/scarf, (using synthetic yarn)

Thinking outside the (gift) box... 

Charitable gifts

Most vegans have an affinity to animals, so may appreciate a donation to their favourite charity in lieu of a gift, or an animal adopted in their name.

A note on charities to avoid:

Most vegans tend to: 

-Avoid charities schemes that send live animals to third world counties (as it can further impoverish the family looking after the animal, as well as harming the animal.  Some info on it can be found here:

www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/living)

-Avoid charities that fund animal testing (you can check which charities do test on animals, here:

www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/experiments)

Some vegan friendly charities/groups that you could donate to:

-Animal Aid (Animal rights campaign group) animalaid.netdonor.net

-Viva! (Farmed animal campaign group) www.viva.org.uk/

-The Hunt Saboteurs Association (funds groups who sabotage hunting) www.huntsabs.org.uk

-Dr Hadwen Trust (non animal-based medical research) www.drhadwentrust.org/

-VegFam (helps third world famine without using animals)www.vegfamcharity.org.uk/donate

-Hillide Animal Sanctuary (run a "gift of hay" scheme).www.hillside.org.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Gifts_in_Lieu.htm
-Five Valleys Hedgehog and Bird Rescue (small rescue caring for sick and injured wildlife) www.facebook.com/FiveValleysHedgehogBirdRescue/info

-Tower Hill Stables (caring for abused dogs/cats/farm animals) www.towerhillstables.com/towerhill-helpingus

Animal adoption schemes 

A couple of sanctuaries with animal adoption schemes are:

-Tower Hill Stables-www.towerhillstables.com/animal-adoptions

-Hillside Animal Sanctuary-www.hillside.org.uk/acatalog/Adoptions

Memberships and Magazine Subscription

Animal Aid membership  includes quarterly copies of their magazine "Outrage". Membership can be purchased here: www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/ABOUT/membership/

"Vegan Life" -The UK's first and only mainstream vegan magazine.  Subscriptions are available to buy here: veganlifemag.co.uk/product-category/subscription-packages/

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I hope this guide is helpful! 

If you have any other nice ideas for vegan-related gifts, if you sell vegan gifts, or if you've received a particularly thoughtful gift, please comment below, or on our Facebook page! :)

ps... I've mentioned lots of different brands and products in this post.  None of the companies/authors/websites or shops mentioned are paying me to advertise their products.  

(I'm just trying to be helpful by sharing links) :)