In my previous post about this year’s Christmas season, I mentioned about our goal to support small businesses by sourcing out our Holiday purchases through them. I am very particular especially on giving them out as gifts because it is a great way of helping them widen their reach. As gift giver, I try, as much as possible, to match the gift with the recipients personality. Or if that is not possible, especially for group like our officemates, I try to find those that are either useful, practical or enjoyable. Through the help of the sellers we supportive, I can say that we were able to meet those criteria for all our gifts.
This project has been a rewarding and exciting one! As I am used to buying gifts in one major trip to the mall, sourcing everything online can be overwhelming, but once we had it rolling, everything went smoothly.
We basically started with those within our circle, our friends or their family’s businesses. The great thing about buying from small enterprises is that I am given the chance to interact and communicate with the owners themselves. The stories of how each venture started is inspiring. There are those that started as hobbies, a way to cope in the uncertainty and anxieties brought about by the quarantine period, while there are those that “bit the bullet” and took a leap of online selling as a source of income during the pandemic. Some started out by believing in a certain product, that later led them to be distributing channels here in the Philippines. Each one has its beautiful story to tell.
This experience also led me to appreciation on the convenience and efficiency of shopping online. Of course, the key is to look for reliable and trustworthy sellers. It really saddens me that there are scammers and bogus sellers out there. It not only affects the buyers but more so on other sellers who are doing dignified businesses. In one of my conversations with one of the sellers, I found out they were deeply affected when another seller of the same product scammed a lot of buyers. Some of their customers lost confidence in buying directly from them. It is a good thing that with the demand for online shopping, they were able to bounce back. I hope that buyers and sellers will be equally responsible, and conscientious, in dealing with each other.
An effect of this little project is my discovery of eco-friendly gift wrappers. I really do not want to buy those gift wrappers from Hallmark so I switched to crafty honeycomb wrappers which I also bought from an online seller. Not only was environment friendly, it is also gives crafty vibe to our gifts. I also watched in Youtube how to wrap gifts without the use of scotch tape! To add a personal touch, I repurposed some ribbons from our own crafts box.
As a conclusion, this little project of ours reminded me that, in our little way, there is something that we can do for the world; for others and even for our environment. Every little act, goes a long way.
Happy Holidays, my dear friends!
As a reference, below are our support small businesses finds. You can find all of them at Instagram!
Soy Candles by Helene Handiscrafts ph This is also a staple in our home!
High quality wooden toys by FindersAu
Cooking and baking tools from La Clara Home Essentials
Cool brick mugs from Meera Home PH
Handcrafted girl’s bows by Pink Bubbles by Gabrielle
Dried Flowers gift box by Dahlia Designs ph
Children’s books by Sheep and Tale
Gourmet delicacies from Kusina Sabrosa in partnership with Heinel’s class initiative Samaritano to support their school’s chosen beneficiaries
Pot Roast Beef, Herb Chicken, Seafood Jambalaya by De’Lish Delights
Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies by Rumbles Sweet Bites
Banana Loaves by Bakester_Gi