Having intoduced the funky TAG cloud to the sidebar it was interesting to see what the focus of the site has been since bothering to add tags. An observant reader noticed that although there was no tag for ”puss’ (y cats!) there was a big tag for pants. The ‘Pasty’ quite rightly has a whopping big tag and at this time of year it’s not surprising to see ‘Christmas’ feature strongly.  What we did notice though was a diminutive ‘charity gifts’ tag and as such we decided to boost the prominence of that in the following post.

What are charity gifts?

Charity gifts are . . . well I’ll let this Oxfam Unwrapped page explain how their charity gifts work:

Oxfam Unwrapped offers a range of great gifts suitable for any occasion – here’s how it works. You choose a gift, such as a goat. You get a gift card – charity christmas cards to give to your friend or relative as a memento of the gift.

The gift goes to someone who needs it. Whether it’s a goat to provide milk and fertiliser, the tools and training to plant an allotment, or safe water to drink, the result is that people’s lives are much improved!

One of the things holding people back is the feeling that giving in someone’s name can come off as preachy.

But it doesn’t have to be. The key to gifting donations is that it should be just as personalised as a physical present. If you have an animal lover on your list the afore mentioned goat is ideal or a charity donation to the local humane society or no-kill shelter makes sense. And don’t be afraid to get creative. If you have a family member who’s irrationally attached to the penny, make a donation in their name. Have a little fun. Christmas giving is a chance to show your loved one that you “get” them, so it should feel like they’ve given the gift themselves.

I like the dual gift of soap and manure – hey another heavily featured tag crap – fun and cheeky! I checked out the Unwrapped site, and you can also plant trees and help build schools.

Be generous give often and munch onwards and upwards.

Every now and then we feel obliged to veer from the frivolities of life and focus on a real life issue – see the previous post calling for action regarding the food shortage and famine in drought areas of Kenya.  Visitors looking for unusual wedding gift ideas seemed pleased to find the post that suggested setting up charity wedding gift list allowing guests to give  charity gifts to someone in need on behalf of the happy couple.

Goats – Sold Out

So successful was the concept of giving a goat as a charity gift that for a while the following message to disappointed visitors in search of the versatile gift.

Due to huge demand for this gift, it’s not

currently available – sorry!

The charity gift doesn’t have to be the actual goat

in fact many organisations hope that the money is gifted for them to decide where it can be best used – to send aid and releif to those in most need see the previous post calling for action regarding the food shortage and famine in drought areas of Kenya