Thinking about gifts for this holiday season? Don’t buy stuff, Change the world!

Especially fitting for the day after the biggest spending day all year, Nov 23 (also celebrated as Buy-Nothing Day) – today, think about making your next purchase something that will make a real difference, instead of more STUFF!

As these ads by Oxfam in the UK and New Zealand comically point out, every year most people both give and receive a whole lot of presents that are useless or not needed, usually generic, and just add to the STUFF we all have lying around. This year, use some or all of your gift-buying to change the world a little!

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/content/unwrapped/rubbishpresents_video2.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0XKE15yNnE

The sites below have great gift ideas that you can purchase through them that will really let you make a difference this year.
Note: These sites are from several different countries, but we live in a connected world, so if there’s something one another country’s site, you can probably still get it, shipping will just take longer for the card (unless you get an e-card) and you’ll need to consider the exchange rate for whatever you’re buying.

Oxfam Unwrapped Canada – http://www.oxfamunwrapped.ca/
Oxfam Unwrapped US - http://www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.com/
Oxfam Unwrapped UK - http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/Browse.aspx?catalog=Unwrapped&category=UWGifts
-some of the fun gifts you can find on these sites include: male and female condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS, a sanitary toilet for a community or school, safe water, chicken donkey or goat, hygiene kits, emergency kits, training or tools for women, peer education training on HIV/AIDS prevention

Good Gifts Catalogue (based in the UK) - http://www.goodgifts.org/
-check out their stocking stuffers for cheaper gifts that still make a difference
-wide range of useful gifts, sorted by interest for animal lovers and gardeners, music lovers, food lovers and book lovers

Ten Thousand Villages Living Gifts (Canada) - http://www.tenthousandvillages.ca/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=living_gift
-plant trees, send children to school, or give livestock

Quick and Easy Ways to Fight Poverty

Poverty.com - a website that gives quick and easy to understand summaries of the major problems contributing to poverty. You can also download an print a letter to send to each (a differnt letter for each) of the countries that have not yet delivered on their 0.7% aid - including Canada! Send a letter today!

Free Rice - a website that helps you your English vocabulary, and for each word you get right, the sponsors donate 10 grains of rice to help end world hunger. It's extremely addictive and fun(i'm serious about this!), plus you know you're making a real difference.

The Hunger Site - this is a simple click-to-donate site, where sponsors donate cups of rice each time you click on the button on the main page. Only one click per day allowed, but there are several related sites such as the breastcancer site and the literacy site, and you can click on each site's button once a day.