During the holiday season, most of us wish to simplify, slow down, and relax so that we can enjoy our families and friends. For those of us who value more simple living, conscious giving is becoming the landscape of our gift-giving. Picking out that special gift for that special someone while still caring for the environment also helps your gift recipients to be more environmentally conscious. Whether supporting a local charity or giving a homemade gift, choosing both an eco-friendly and a fair trade gift while shopping promotes this goal of environmental sustainability. Eco-friendly and fair trade gifts foster thoughtfulness and creativity. Celebrate the environment by seeking out local artisans, bakers, and providers of both services and products in your community when shopping for holiday gifts. Always look for a gift with a personal touch, whether big or small. The heartfelt thought and conscious giving you put into your holiday shopping will be much appreciated by family and friends. Here are just a few local shops that offer you the chance to be a conscious giver this season:

For the World Traveler –

imagiNations Boutique (imaginations-nj.com) in Chester makes the world just a little bit smaller by bringing stylish and exotic clothing, art, crafts, and jewelry from all over the world to your corner of it. Whether you’re looking for a unique holiday gift of jewelry, a stylish outfit from an exotic place, or a stunning accent piece for the home, you can find it at this international boutique, which purchases from certified fair trade wholesalers or directly works with artists. Their purchasers are family and friends living in various countries working with the local population to acquire the goods that they are able to offer. In doing this, the local population both here and abroad benefit from every transaction made.

Pampering Spa Treatments

b. jones located in Morristown ((bjones –spa.com) is an organic sustainable spa experience set in an urban chic environment. Committed to providing quality and an individualized spa experience, b. jones aims to give back to the community one face at a time by offering an array of organic, eco-friendly services including facials, massages, and body treatments.  Give that special someone who is always on the go an Express Facial that includes a mini-facial with cleansing, exfoliation, mask, and moisturizer or for the individual who has more time to be indulged and pampered, the Signature Facial, a customized facial with cleansing, exfoliation, extractions if needed, mask, enzymatic peel, and facial massage to de-stress. Other options are a massage including a Hot Stone Massage that soothes and relaxes muscles by transmitting heat deep into the body or a Scalp Massage that reduces stress, improves mood, and promotes a good night’s sleep. For wintry dry skin, you may even indulge your gift recipient with a Hand Treatment that softens and moisturizes.

Salon FiG (salonfig.com) is an eco-friendly healthy-choice beauty and wellness salon located in Newton. FiG was created to give its customers a healthier place to be with all natural and organic services and products. Give that special gift of a gentler, healthier beauty salon that makes your gift recipient look and feel beautiful while caring for the planet at the same time. Salon FiG offers haircuts, organic deep conditioning cleanse and dry treatments, all types of organic coloring, natural nail spa manicures and pedicures, waxing, make-up application lessons, facial services, and a reflexology session. It also offers a one-of-a-kind European Spa Facial complete with essential oils for an aromatherapy experience with an added scalp, arm and shoulder massage, making this a relaxing and soul-elevating service.

A Good Night’s Sleep

Give the gift of a good night’s sleep with Healthy Choice Organic Mattresses (hcmattress.com) in Ridgewood and Summit. Healthy Choice Organic Mattresses promises both a good night’s sleep that’s also a healthy one. Their mattresses are among the healthiest, most comfortable and durable mattresses on the planet. Regarded as a leader in organic eco-friendly mattresses for 30 years, Healthy Choice uses only high-quality natural materials such as natural latex, organic cotton, and organic wool from only locally produced and American-made materials. Healthy Choice Organic Mattresses strives to satisfy its customers while being conscious of their impact on the local community and world.

Mind-Body Wellness

Integrative Wellness Center (iwc), (iwcnj.com) located in Chester, is a mind/body boutique where your special someone can relax, connect and learn to heal the mind, body and spirit. The Integrative Wellness Center offers massage, yoga, Pilates, meditation, energy work, group therapy, psychotherapy, psychopharmacology and wellness workshops and seminars by bringing together providers from across the health and wellness spectrum. Gift someone the perfect 30- minute Time Out of guided meditation and calming breathwork or some Raindrop Therapy using essential oils to elevate the state of mind during a deeply relaxing massage experience. You may choose to register someone for ongoing classes and seminars.

Crafts of Sustainable Spirit

Culture Cabin (culturecabin.com) in Boonton is the place to find both eco-friendly and upcycled wearable and home goods. They offer new and creative ideas for sustainable crafts from re-designed clothing, jewelry from recycled leather and copper roof flashing, upcycled bike tire belts, and wind chimes from upcycled plumbing pipes. Culture Cabin has something for everyone on your eco-friendly holiday shopping list. Their mission to recycle, reuse, and repurpose in a beautiful log cabin theme promotes a culture of creative international crafts and arts. They also feature a studio in which students can create crafts or other objects with sustainable themes as the underlying inspiration and provide cooking classes from their onsite kitchen. You can also purchase 100 percent recreated fashions and home accessories from their “Sassy Scraps” line.

Grassroots Natural Market (grassrootsnatural market.com) with locations in Denville and Morristown offers high-quality organic produce and grocery products, a wide array of personal health and beauty products, and houseware items that will served as eco-friendly holiday gifts. Grassroots hand-selects trusted organic products from independently owned vendors and local organic recycled gifts in offering a unique and environmentally friendly shopping experience. Thoughtful gifts might include a recycled glass suncatcher handmade in the United States by Henrietta Glass or a Sunbeam candle made of pure beeswax which naturally purifies the air. For the person who’s always chilly, Jack and Mary hats, scarves and mittens are made from recycled fabrics. For those who enjoy aromatherapy, an essential-oil burner by Baraka is also handmade in the United States. And indulge that special someone with organic health and beauty products good for people and the environment such as Doctor Hauschka Complete Skin Care and Body Products and Maddisha Ayurveda Skin Products locally sourced from Mountain Lakes.