Fair Trade Your Christmas: Cards & Gift Wrap!

Cards from Africa's Joy Wreath (also available at Good Paper).

We hope you’ve enjoyed our recent winter holiday posts, which will help you to Fair Trade your Christmas & Chanukah.  This current post began as a snapshot of our favorite Fair Trade Christmas Cards.  But with so many fabulously creative and charming greetings to choose from, we quickly found our ourselves building a Christmas Card extravaganza.  However, when you read the missions of the two producers we feature most heavily in this collection (Cards from Africa and Sanctuary Spring), we think you’ll agree that more is definitely merrier.

Cards from Africa:

“Our greeting cards are all handcrafted by young people in Rwanda who have been orphaned by genocide or AIDS. The cardmakers are all heads of households, responsible for providing for the remaining younger siblings in their family. Cards from Africa pays above-market wages so that the cardmakers can feed their families and send the younger siblings to school. All the colored papers are made by recycling Rwandan office materials by hand as an expression of environmental stewardship.”

Sanctuary Spring:

“Sanctuary Spring is a line of beautiful, fair trade greeting cards handcrafted by women who have escaped prostitution in the Philippines. These women were originally forced into prostitution by others or because they had no other means of providing for their families. Now, they are participating in restoration services provided by local charities in order to forge a new beginning for their lives. With limited job options in the Philippines, Sanctuary Spring is a critical lifeline that provides safe, dignifying, and empowering work.”

Our Favorite Christmas Card Packs:

• New Internationalist’s The Sound of Silence Cards – Set of 10 (available at Greenheart; inside reads, “‘Season’s Greetings’ in nine languages [French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Irish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh and English”]):

• New Internationalist’s Christmas Robin Cards – Set of 10 (available at Greenheart; inside reads, “‘Season’s Greetings’ in nine languages [French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Irish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh and English”]):

• New Internationalist’s Dove of Peace Cards – Set of 10 (available at Greenheart; inside reads, “‘Season’s Greetings’ in nine languages [French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Irish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh and English”]):

• New Internationalist’s Bethlehem Cards – Set of 10 (available at Greenheart; inside reads, “‘Season’s Greetings’ in nine languages [French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Irish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh and English”]):

• New Internationalist’s Jolly Penguins Cards – Set of 10 (available at Greenheart; inside reads, “‘Season’s Greetings’ in nine languages [French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Irish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh and English”]):

• Deer Newsprint Cards – Pack of 4 (available at Fair Trade Winds):

If you like Cards from Africa’s individual cards below, check out their multipacks for holiday savings (also available at Good Paper).

Our Favorite Individual Christmas Cards (Faith):

• Sanctuary Spring’s Batik Angel (available at Good Paper):

• Cards from Africa’s O Little Town of Bethlehem (also available at Good Paper & Revive):

• Cards from Africa’s Shining Nativity (also available at Good Paper):

• Cards from Africa’s The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy (also available at Good Paper):

• Cards from Africa’s Star in the East (also available at Good Paper):

• Cards from Africa’s The Magi (also available at Good Paper):

• Cards from Africa’s Wise Men from the East (also available at Good Paper):

• Sanctuary Spring’s Batik Peace Dove (available at Good Paper);

• Cards from Africa’s Peace on Earth (also available at Good Paper & Revive):

• Prokritee’s Christmas Joy Angel Card (available at Ten Thousand Villages):

Our Favorite Individual Christmas cards (Holiday):

• Sanctuary Springs Contemporary Card series (choose from Bells, Candles, Mistletoe, Ornaments, or Wreath; available at Good Paper):

• Cards from Africa’s And to All a Good Night (also available at Good Paper):

• Cards from Africa’s Christmas Penguins (also available at Good Paper & Revive):

• Cards from Africa’s Where are the Breaks (also available at Good Paper & Revive):

• Sanctuary Spring’s Fa La La (available at Good Paper):

• Sanctuary Spring’s Red Robin Ornaments (available at Good Paper):

• Sanctuary Spring’s Red Robin Winter (available at Good Paper):

• Cards from Africa’s Happy Snowman (also available at Good Paper):

• Cards from Africa’s Snowflake Tree (also available at Good Paper):

• Sanctuary Springs Batik Poinsettia (available at Good Paper):

• Cards from Africa’s Christmas Robin (also available at Good Paper & Revive):

• Sanctuary Spring’s Merry Gingerbread Man (available at Good Paper):

• Sanctuary Spring’s Holiday Treats (available at Good Paper):

• Cards from Africa’s Winter Cabin (available at Revive):

• Cards from Africa’s Will It Take Off (also available at Good Paper & Revive):

• Cards from Africa’s Wrapped Up Robin (also available at Good Paper):

• Sanctuary Spring’s Snowflake series (choose from Penguins, Igloo, or Wonderland; available at Good Paper):

• Cards from Africa’s Paper Snowflakes (also available at Good Paper):

• Cards from Africa’s Let it Snow (also available at Good Paper):

• Jirmit Papyrus Center’s Holiday Cat at Window Card (available at Ten Thousand Villages):

Our Favorite Gift Wrap:

• Handmade Expressions’s Recycled Cotton Rag Paper Gift Wrap (available at Greenheart; available as a pack at Zen Deluxe):

• Wrapping Paper in Mulberry (also available in Teal, Orange, & White; available at World Shoppe):

Now you can spread the message of Fair Trade along with your holiday cheer.

Peace and Love,

Your Fair Trade Trendsters