This Holiday Season, Buy Handmade!

Taken from my Facebook.

Instead of standing in huge lines at department stores this Christmas/Hanukkah/winter observation of your choice, why not buy something handmade?

Buy Handmade.org had lots of resources for people considering taking the time and effort to get away from corporate box stores for the holiday. I recommend it for anyone doing some holiday shopping, and I actually request it from anyone who wants to buy me a present. (Need a place to start? I have an Etsy wishlist here!)

But why, you ask, should you buy handmade? Well, there are tons of reasons, but here's some of mine:

1) Supporting giant department stores might inadvertently mean supporting unfair trade practices and sweatshop labor. Independent and small-scale businesses are much less likely to rely on underpaid workers in China or India!

2) Mass production is super-harmful to the environment. On the other hand, many handmade items use recycled, found or organic materials, and also don't produce harmful by-products during production!

3) And, the most important reason: Why should the designers who can get their item into Khols or Target have an artistic monopoly on the entire country? There are tons of fantastic artists out there making insanely wonderful, creative things! Supporting them encourages individuality and allows us to create our own culture, instead of having it dictated to us by a few big industry leaders!

So, there you have it! Buy handmade this holiday season for human rights, for the environment, and to keep your soul from being eaten by a hungry big box store!

Happy Holidays everyone!