More gift choices

Here are more choices for our readers to consider when planning their Christmas gifts.

Maybe we should change our attitude and look at eco-friendly, innovative and locally-produced items to give as gifts, to help boost the Filipino industry.

The original “natural” establishment, Echostore, has some new suggestions for your gift packages. To start with, they have beautiful native baskets and boxes. Functional and pretty, they can serve as storage units after the contents have been consumed. Among these are various abaca baskets at P240 per, wooden crates (small P250, large P295), eco sacks and pouches from P30 to P65 per. There are buri boxes for P105 per as well.

What to put in them? There are plenty of choices. There are the Honest Herbs, which are herbal tea samplers at P150 each. They are good when entertaining as each set contains several types of the beverage – guyabano, lemongrass, pandan, among others. There are small trial packs of Heirloom Kalinga Unoy and Ulikan red rice. Or get the Nipa brand bignay wine. Other food items include thick mango chutney, artisan calamansi marmalade and of course a variety of coffee blends. Non-food products include Head-to-Toe Wash at P110; kids’ sanitizers, lotion and insect repellants.

Visit an Echostore outlet in Serendra, Salcedo Village, Podium, Centris in Quezon City or Davao. You can call telephone 519-1216 or visit www.echostore.ph

There is a group based in Quezon City whose advocacy is to encourage Filipinos to buy Filipino this season. Led by Jacqueline Ong, the group which calls itself Local Love Philippines has partnered with 30 producers in 25 localities in various regions in the country to collect – and assemble into Christmas baskets – home-grown food stuff. They aim to focus on the country’s resources and the creativity of the people.

They have sourced various products from different regions such as fine hand-crafted baskets from Bicol, handwoven table runners from the Ilocos Region, organic rice from Kalinga, wines from Laguna, mixed origin cacao from Davao and Cotabato and some unique specialties from Pangasinan to Cebu. They have packaged the items according to the preferences of potential gift recipients – like the Christmas Pinoy Basket which contains, among others, chili oil from Malabon, pickles from Bulacan, honey-turmeric vinegar from Batangas, squash ketsup from Rizal, cacao from Cotabato and muscovado sugar from Antique.

Other baskets are Fruit Fiesta, Chocolate and Coffee Lovers. They range in price from P500 to P2,000. Note that while the baskets might seem more expensive, it is due to the fact that they are not mass produced, with most being hand-crafted by the suppliers who may be small farmers or fisherfolk. For more information, call 0942-8637058 or log onto www.lovelocalphilippines.blogspot.com

Think Filipino, then buy Filipino.

Enjoy your Sunday!

E-mail me at [email protected].