Combine eco-friendly principles and green buying power for gifts that will delight everyone on your holiday list.

Staying home in style

Bambu offers chocolate-, kiwi- and red pepper-colored bamboo bowls and Curvy Servers that originate in rural Vietnam. The bowls are hand coiled by farmers as a way to supplement their incomes. The company is headquartered in Asia, with oversight of production and work conditions. Check Bambu's Web site for retailers in Bloomington, Chesterton, Indianapolis and Muncie.

Indiana’s Clay City Pottery (located between Terre Haute and Bloomington) is one of the few family potteries still making traditional stoneware. The company, now more than 100 years old, kiln fires its stoneware for about 72 hours at a temperature of 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit. The process makes the pottery very durable and safe for the dishwasher, oven and microwave. The glazes are lead-free, and the stoneware is safe for all foods. Crocks $11.50 and up, pie plates from $20. (800) 776-2596.

Small gifts with big heart

Fragrant Blossom’s best-selling natural soap (made in Noblesville) is scented with pure-grade Bulgarian lavender essential oils and free of animal products ($3.95 per 5.5-oz. bar). Tibetan Tea, from Rising Sun Soap , is all-natural and made with Oolong tea enriched with pure silk, which contains 18 amino acids essential for healthy, glowing skin ($4.95 per bar). 

As reusable bags and bottles grow in popularity, styles profliferate. Buy a different bag for everyone you know at www.reusablebags.com , a Chicago-based company that offers a mind-boggling array of choices in natural tones or colorful cotton, hemp, nylon and plastic fabric or string. Many use recycled materials—including recycled outdoor ad banners. Prices vary according to style. 

Eat it – or give it! 

Buy a yummy chocolate collection and make a donation to a non-profit animal group through Indianapolis-based Endangered Species Chocolates . The Ocean, Chimp and Feline collections offer chocolate that fits the theme and a small gift from the non-profit receiving the donation. The non-profit groups include the Ocean Conservancy, Chimp Haven and Exotic Feline Rescue Center (located in Indiana). Choose from two price levels for each collection: $40 and $75. 

Indiana’s oldest commercial waterpowered mill, Greenfield Mills in Howe, has produced high-quality flour, pancake mix and certified organic products for more than 100 years. All the grain is from Indiana and Michigan farms. The Rinkel family offers a range of organic flours and pancake mixes in gift sets and baskets ranging from $9 to $23. (260) 367-2394. 

Soup of Success , a not-forprofit, faith- and community- based program that provides job and life skills training for at-risk women in Elkhart sells custommade gourmet gift baskets of soup, cookie mixes and salad dips or dressings. Soup and cookie mixes are $5 each, dips and dressings $2. Baskets range from $4 to $10 depending on the number of items in your selection. Shop online at www.soupofsuccess.com or through Global Gifts. 

The “I Wanna Kill ‘Em” Gift Set consists of hot sauces from  of Franklin, including Pure Arson, Back-draft, Haz Mat and Stupid Hot sauces (one bottle of each for $38, shipping included). Firefighter Jim Campbell grows some of the most ridiculously hot chiles and distills them into flavorful concoctions with names that will keep your friends chuckling well past New Year’s Day. Campbell lays down the challenge: “These are my recipes and they aren't sent off to some far-away commercial venture to be ‘dumbed down’ for general consumption.” 

Whole Foods for local beverages 

Consider giving a pick-six pack of micro-brewed beers, now available from Whole FoodMarkets in Indianapolis. At the Nora (1300 E. 86th St.) store only, choose single bottles from a wide selection of Indiana and other Midwestern boutique breweries. For example, the Oaken Barrel’s Indiana Amber, brewed in Greenwood, is a well-balanced blend of malt and hops perfect for mid-palate beer drinkers. Purchase any six bottles of wine and receive a 10 percent discount at any Whole Foods Market (Clay Terrace or Nora locations). Whole Foods makes it simple with a reusable six-pack wine carrier and an extensive selection of Indiana and organic wines in both stores. 

Green thumb gifts 

The Technaflora “Recipe for Success” starter kit ($29.95 at Worm’s Way , (800) 274-9676) introduces gardeners to earth-friendly hydroponic gardening — which produces up to six times the food using five percent of the water in less than one-third the space of conventional farming — while making a donation to Bloomingtonbased Hydro for Hunger. Technaflora donates a portion of its profits to the agency, which assists the Institute of Simplified Hydroponics in raising awareness about global food shortages.

One-half inch of rainfall on a 1,000- sq.-ft. roof will produce more than 300 gallons of storm water run-off. Just one rain barrel can save a minimum of 50 to 65 gallons of this precious resource. Rain Barrels and More of southern Indiana has offered white oak and recycled plastic rain barrels for 30 years. Their rain barrels are designed to be placed under a home’s downspout. Prices range from $59.95 to $299. (877) 888-5609.

Your friends will be glad to save the environment washing their cars, too. Instead of lathering up on the driveway, where the soapy runoff enters storm sewers and eventually make its way to creeks and streams, send your friends to Mike’s Express Car-wash, located in several Indiana cities. Mike’s uses approximately 60 percent less water than washing a car by hand. In addition, most of the water is processed through a reclamation system. Gift booklets make it easy. Through Dec. 31, purchase theWorks Book (“Buy 4 washes, get 2 free”).

Wearing your principles proudly 

Make a difference one bracelet at a time, when you purchase a paper-bead band from ImaniWorkshops of the Indiana-Kenya Partnership (a program of the Indiana University School of Medicine). Imani Workshops is a revenue-generating social enterprise focused on selling highquality crafts made by HIV-positive artisans in western Kenya. Imani employees create bone and horn jewelry, fabric handbags, dolls, notecards and recycled magazine-paper beadwork. Magazine-paper bead bracelets sell for $6.50 and $8, while necklaces range from $12.50 to $25, online or through Global Gifts of Indianapolis.

The little ones in your life deserve the same care and protection as shade-grown cacao trees, so dress them in an ecofriendly organic cotton “Shade Grown” onesie from Hae Now (Humans, Animals & Environment Now!).” $20, available through Endangered Species Chocolate , where gift sets come with a pouch of chocolate treats, too. 

Wandering the world 

For $20 per person ($30 for couples), you can send your friends back to the land on an organic farm. Through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms , an international program that places volunteers on farms around the world, members have access to a network of organic farm jobs, which include room and board for a specified period of time. There are currently 600 host farms in the U.S., including Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In Indiana, members can stay at farms such as Emerald Isle Organic Farm in Atlanta or Michaela Farm in Oldenburg, as well as farms located in Elkhart, North Manchester and Bloomington. (831) 425-FARM (3276).

Armchair travelers and other friends will enjoy a subscription to their favorite travel, cooking or environmental publication, maybe even Indiana Living Green ($18 per year). Also consider a gift membership to a CSA (community supported agriculture) cooperative or Slow Food Indiana’s chapter , called a convivium. Or make a donation in a friend’s name to help someone less fortunate through Heifer Project International’s online gift catalog. Livestock shares for goats, pigs, rabbits, baby chicks or sheep start at an affordable $20. 

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