Help The Planet This Year With Eco & Ethical Stocking Fillers

We’re saying it softly, but it’s about that festive time of year again, isn’t it? Cold nights are drawing in and we’ve got the first twinkly lights strung up in our shop. We do love Christmas on Skye and we are so looking forward to our ÒR Christmas event on the 30th November, celebrating the Portree Christmas lights switch on. So we’re easing ourselves into the spirit of things here with a few small Christmas shopping suggestions, along the ethical gifts line.

Eco-friendly and ‘ethical’ products because at a time of year where people buy a lot, we think it’s important to know what you’re buying, where it’s coming from – and where it’s going to end up too.

Sustainability and ethical motivations are woven deep into the fabric of ÒR anyway - we like working with independent designers and producers, who create slowly and sustainably naturally.

So browse this list of ethical gifts stocked at ÒR, and if you’re around Skye or Portree on Saturday the 30th November pop into the shop anytime from 10 until 6 o’clock and let us nudge you into the Christmas shopping with some fizz, nibbles & special discounts.

Eco & ethical gifts: some little suggestions for stockings

Coco Isle of Skye Drinking Chocolate

Thoughts on drinking chocolate: it’s just a cut above ordinary hot chocolate. Thicker, creamier, and much much more chocolatey. The Coco Isle of Skye drinking chocolate is also a great ethical product, made in the country of origin (Colombia), palm oil free before finished off in Edinburgh.

Oh – and Coco envelop their chocolate in recyclable paper packaging with artwork from independent artists to make it an extra special (ethical) gift.

Stojo Cups

Why not pair drinking chocolate with a eco-friendly takeaway cup? And of all the takeaway coffee cup alternatives around, this is one of the most popular - and for good reason. The Stojo cup is a silicone collapsible cup, stocked in a range of pastel & natural colours, and free from phthalates, glues and BPA. And no, they don’t smell weird. Stow in bag, pocket or stocking for this Christmas.

A Stojo cup with a wooden screen print from East End Press

Nathalie Bond Soaps, Salts & Candles

If you’re looking for traditional beauty products -the type that comes in aromatic soap bars, or bottled in dark glass jars that look straight from the apothecary shelf- then Nathalie Bond is for you.

Choose one of their small hand-poured soy candles for subtle, calming wafts of fragrance for up to 4 hours. Our Christmas recommendation is the Nathalie Bond Winter Candle - a citrusy, spicy festive scent.

And whilst all their products are organic, cruelty-free and use no palm oil, they’ve also recently upgraded their packaging to be almost entirely plastic-free. Ideal for re-use and display in the bathroom cabinet we’d say.

Forge Creative Ornaments

A truly sustainable Christmas gift: using the off-cuts from making their furniture, Forge Creative produce these contemporary tree ornaments, which make lovely modern Christmas decorations that could be around the house year-round.

Aster & Bay Skincare & Beauty

Beauty products with a pearlescent lustre that is just perfect for a bit of Christmas sparkle.

Coming from Edinburgh, founder Erin Hammond has incorporated both Highland and Appalachian herbal lore into her natural lotions and potions, in recyclable bottles & packaging.

The Aura Body Serum in Solstice with its glowing mica pigment might be the most Christmassy gift on this list - what do you think?