Gift Guide for the Conscious Babe
The holiday season is truly a time to show your friends and family that you care with little signs of kindness, support and affection. It can easily shift from a time of love, to become a time of massive overspending, over-gifting and overconsumption. I love to use the holidays as an opportunity to support brands that I love, local businesses and people who are making a difference.
The Stars + Carrots gift guide highlights some of our favorite conscious companies, ethical brands and local favorites as well as ideas for some out of the box gifts that promote connection and holiday cheer.
Sustainable, inclusive, good for you goodies
Manicure / Pedicure at her favorite spa — For the girl who loves self-care, or the girl who can’t afford a mani/pedi for herself but would love a mini spa day. What we love about this gift: it doesn’t add clutter to your home and shows her that you care about her rest and relaxation. BONUS: Get them together for some quality time!
Sage or Palo Santo bundle — What we love about this gift: these sacred herbs can help clear your home of stuck energy and make a really thoughtful hostess or housewarming gift (and no, it’s actually not going extinct). BONUS: Add a pretty matchbox, candle, and print out instructions on how to clear your home with intention.
Osea Hyaluronic Sea Serum — Holy mother of skincare products. What we love about this brand: Osea is an incredibly conscious and non-toxic skincare brand that gets the seal approval from Stars + Carrots. It’s moisturizing and perfect for anti-aging. You’ll want to grab one for yourself while you’re at it. BONUS: Buy it locally (in person or online) from Vibrant Market.
Clothing Rental Subscription — What if instead of giving your friend a sweater, you could give her multiple pieces of clothing that she can return after wearing? We’re new fans of NUULY, but there are so many rental subscriptions to check out. Gift 1 or 2 months of free (hint hint: someone, please do this for us!) What we love about this gift: It takes the focus away from fast fashion and curbs the consumerism without sacrificing your killer sense of style, plus you won’t have to travel with extra gifts or have them pile up in that corner of your room!
Local artwork — Support artists this holiday season and get her something beautiful for her space. Search for someone local that you both enjoy and have it framed for maximum impact. Don’t know where to start? Check Etsy for artists from around the world. What we love about this gift: the options are endless and there are so many talented artists to support. The print shown is Anna Liv Design’s eye print, perfect for the woke babe.
Tarot Cards — We love our Neo-Tarot Deck. What we love about this brand: In Neo Tarot, Jerico Mandybur offers a refreshing and intelligent look at the ancient cards and practices, showing you that they can be used as a healing tool for self-care, greater clarity, and self-awareness. This deck is a gorgeous, modern deck for your mystic boo.
Non-toxic candle — Candles are a beautiful gift and perfect for ritual, setting the perfect mood lighting, and making a room smell amazing. Interior design for all of the senses. What we love about this brand: Sacred Space Candles are made locally in Louisiana, these candles are non-toxic, sustainable, eco-friendly AND THEY HAVE CRYSTALS IN THEM!
Activewear — For the yogi in your life. Why we love this gift: we love gifts that mean something after the holidays are over. Something that means something to you in your everyday life that you will return to time and time again. If your conscious babe likes to move, consider some activewear in her gift box! Why we love this brand: Girlfriend Collective checks every single box we could possibly check. Their body positive, sustainable, transparent and made from recycled materials. Plus we love the way they look! BONUS: Gift them some yoga classes at their favorite studio!
Biossance — This is our new favorite beauty brand and we’re all about Squalane. The great thing about this brand is that it’s non-toxic and the great thing about this gift is that they have a plethora of discounted holiday gift bags— the easy way to gift clean beauty! (We may or may not have already ordered some for ourselves).
More local artwork — We love this gorgeous planter from Marianne Angeli Rodriguez! Marianne is a truly badass local artist based in Covington, LA. Her “peace planters” are original, one-of-a-kind hand-painted terracotta pots. There are two faces rendered on each planter, one representing 'Awake', and the other representing 'In Meditation’. The hope is to encourage mindfulness in our everyday lives, whether that be in slowing down to water and care for your new plant, or remembering to cultivate compassion for yourself and your surroundings. We just adore them. BONUS: add a cute succulent for your earth mamas.
Invest in their health — Sometimes being a conscious babe and caring about the quality of food that goes into your body can be expensive. Throw them some gift cards to support their healthy habits! We love local New Orleans spots like Raw Republic, Vibrant Market, Lamara Coffee and Kitchen, Green Fork, The Daily Beet… I’m feeling a separate blog post on this coming on.
Handwoven wool throw — If you can afford to gift something luxurious, We feel like you really can’t go wrong with this gorgeous, supple, hand-woven throw from The Citizenry. We love this brand because they establish sustainable relationships with our artisans + their style is impeccable.
Happy Gifting! xo, Anna