Anti-Racist Gift Guide 2024

We’re not sure how it’s come around so quickly, but somehow it’s December, we are fast approaching the end of 2024 and many people will be looking around for Christmas gift inspiration…

Well, look no further because you have come to the right place!

We’re always talking about how anti-racism can be embedded into everything, and Christmas shopping is no different! 

When done with intention, a bit of planning, and a dose of creative thinking, you can make some small anti-racist actions whilst you spend (without compromising on great gifts for your loved ones!). 

Before you start spending, we invite you to slow down and have a read of this article to help you think a bit differently about gifting this year. 

We’ve split the article into categories: Food (including Chocolate, foodie experiences and cookbooks), Bookshops, Educational anti-racist gifts, Art & Culture Experiences, Cosmetics and Festive-y gifts. We could have done more but we had to draw the line somewhere! 

First up….

1. FOOD

Christmas is a time for feasting and many gifts revolve around food. 

Let’s start with the king of the post Christmas dinner carb-coma….

Chocolate

Because there’s chocolate and then there is CHOCOLATE! 

A favourite in our office at any time of year is Toney’s Chocoloney!!

As well as being delicious and relatively easy to find, it has a great mission. 

Did you know they are trying to end exploitation in the Cocoa industry? Every chocolate bar you buy will be putting pressure on unethical chocolate giants who are taking massive profits, forcing farmers to live in poverty and using forced labour in West Africa. Each of the large chocolate bars are created in unequally sized chunks to remind us that the profits in the chocolate industry are unequally divided and look carefully at the bars – the bottom of them depict the West African coastline and the chunks above represent the Gulf of Guinea. Clever eh?! And by the way it’s Chocolonely not Chocoloney – visit their website to find out why. 

For that special someone, or just as a treat, you could check out Dark Sugars. Nyanga spent three years researching cocoa at her family’s farm in Ghana, and has had cult followings at Spitalfields and Borough Markets in London. Dark Sugars does decadent chocolate boxes and hot chocolates. If you are down in the big city you can visit stores in Brick Lane, the ice cream shop in Greenwich and even the 4 storey flagship Cocoa House in Greenwich. Online ordering is also available!

Food Experiences

If you fancy gifting an experience you might be interested in the Ethiopian Coffee Roasting Workshop by Delina Kitchen.

The workshop includes learning about the importance of coffee in Ethiopia where coffee is a ‘daily ceremony which involves roasting the raw green beans, sharing the aroma, brewing in special clay jugs, and sharing with friends and family’. You’ll be watching artisan coffee roasters prepare and roast the coffee, enjoying the aroma and eating Ethiopian food whilst listening to ‘soulful African jazz’. 

Errr, yes please! You might see us there if you book this one…

Everybody loves a cookbook…

Do you know a foodie? A cookbook could be a great option, and to make this an anti-racist purchase make sure you are buying a cookbook written by someone of the heritage you are trying to cook from! 

No shade to Jamie Oliver, but you do not need to be buying recipe books by white people if you want to discover how to make authentic jollof rice, dahl, hoppers, ramen or Moroccan tagines…Give Black and Brown chefs, especially lesser known chefs, some love!

There are so many to choose from including  The Rangoon Sisters, Agak Agak, The Complete Chinese Cookbook or Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen…

If you really want to decolonise your loved ones’ cooking bookshelf, and push back against anti-Blackness, go for an African recipe book. Cooking, like many things, has become centred on whiteness and the varied (and delicious!) recipes which can be found across the African continent often don’t get the appreciation they deserve. 

Check out From Ghana to the World, Africana, Ethiopia: Recipes and Traditions from the Horn of Africa, The Contemporary African Kitchen for a start but there are loads more (we went down a rabbit hole researching this bit!).

Alternatively, if you’re looking for a cookbook which gives back you could opt for Heart & Parcels cookbook safe in the knowledge that your purchase goes back into their projects providing English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) lessons and community events for people learning English in Greater Manchester. 

Cookbooks could also be a great opportunity to support Palestine and raise awareness of the beautiful Palestinian culture. There are lots of books to choose from here.

Now, where to buy your cookbooks from…. 

2. BOOKS! BOOKS! BOOKS!

Books, whether the cookery ones above, fiction or fact, are extremely popular gifts at this time of year. No doubt places like Waterstones and Amazon clean up, but independent bookshops are a great option when adding anti-racism into your shopping. And if we don’t support them their businesses will stop being viable!

Black-owned and anti-racist bookshops are in limited supply in the UK so when you’re deciding which books to buy and gift, have a look at this article by the Black Curriculum to find some. We’d also add Mirror Me Write and Our World My Roots.

Many independent bookshops do their own ‘curating’ and will have book lists on their sites where you can get ideas. 

Bear in mind that if you are looking for Black representation in books make sure you are not just looking at story-lines which focus on Black trauma and enslavement. Look for books which feature Black joy too (Queenie and Sweetness in the Skin we are looking at you!). 

You might find a bookshop near you, but if it’s too far away, you can order a book from bookshop.org and choose which book shop you would like to direct your payment towards. 

For more book inspiration have a look at the books we’ve covered in our Anti Racist Book Club…There are some gems in there!

3. GIFT ANTI-RACIST LEARNINGS….

If you are looking for a gift for children, a teacher, or parent take a look at Fuse DGs SONA (School of New Africa) App. You can pay for a subscription and get them access to child-friendly African history (curated by leading African historians no less!). It’s fun, it’s bite-size and it’s engaging. 

If you are more into physical activities, Ibrahim X. Kendi’s ‘Anti Racist Deck’ cards could be a great option and help to open up conversations about racism with friends, family and colleagues. 

We’d be remiss not to give our own anti-racist learnings a bit of promo here! Why not ‘pay it forward’ and gift someone either a ticket to our Summit or a place on our Online So You Want To Be Anti-Racist? Programme. For the former, if you’re quick you might catch one of just 3 Early Bird tickets left and for the latter, you can pay in instalments to help you budget. 

4. ARTS AND CULTURE EXPERIENCES

For those that prefer experiences and great memories over physical gifts, you might be interested in buying tickets for upcoming theatre and art exhibitions. 

At just £10 a ticket you could treat your loved one to a night at Leeds Playhouse to watch ‘Sisters 360’. We’ll leave you with this teaser… 

“Fatima and Salima are the closest, coolest, hijabi step-sisters in all of Bradford and they will win the Tiny is Mighty skateboarding competition, there is no doubt about it…except their parents have started whispering in the kitchen about living apart…and only the greatest super plan ever concocted will help them achieve their dreams”. 

We’re hooked!

For something closer to home, you could check out Theatre by the Lake who have lots on including ‘Black if the Colour of My Voice’ (based on the life of Nina Simone) by Apphia Campbell which has sold out in London, Shanghai, New York and Edinburgh. 

If art is more their thing you could buy tickets for ‘Being Here’ by Barbara Walker which is on at the Whitworth in Manchester until the 26th January. Or, if you want to make a weekend of it, you could go down to London for ‘As We Rise’ at the Saatchi Gallery or Zanele Muholi at the Tate Modern. 

If an arty and alternative physical gift is what you want, check out Wierdo for their South Asian alternative subculture Zine. 

For music lovers, buy concert tickets, vinyls, CDs or merch from lesser-known Black and Brown musicians. Often we end up buying ‘classics’ by artists who have now died, but there are so many talented Black and Brown artists trying to make it! 

Check out some of our top picks from one of our music-fan volunteers: Hang Linton, Joshua Idehen, Charlotte Adligéry, Ibibio Sound Machine, Kimyan Law, Mui Zyu, Merry Lamb Lamb, Jason Kwan. 

5. COSMETICS

It’s a struggle getting makeup for Black and Brown skin in rural places like Cumbria. If you want to treat your loved one to some quality products ‘made with melanin in mind’, take a look at Ava Estell.

Laydidee’s Natural Skincare are on instagram too, and they create luxury products using 100% naturally sourced organic ingredients and recyclable packing. 

Both are great places to purchase lovely gifts!

5. FOR THOSE AFTER SOMETHING A BIT MORE FESTIVE-Y… 

Look no further than March Muses (you might recognise them from Dragon’s Den!) who are on a mission to bring Black representation into Christmas. You can buy lots of cool Christmas decorations from there including an ‘angel’ Aretha Franklin for your tree! 

For opulent, jewel tone baubles go straight to Marisha Mistry where you can find stunning baubles made out of the offcuts and extra material from their fashion collection.

There are so many Black and Brown owned businesses from where you can buy your cards and wrapping paper. Check out Kazvare Made It, LatchSpoke, JellaCreative, Tihara Smith and Afro Touch Design to name just a few!  

More gifts which didn’t fit in a category… 

For a non-physical option, you could gift a membership to Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) , or if they like handmade artisan stuff you could checkout some of these beautiful handmade gifts from Palestine. 

You defo also want to check out Manjit Thapp’s ‘Trailblazer t-shirts’ available at the Dishoom online shop! They feature ‘rule-breaking women from Indian history’ including the warrior queen, Rani Lakshmi Bai; Princess turned revolutionary, Sophia Duleep Singh and more!

That’s a Wrap! 

We could have given you a much longer list but we’ve had to make ourselves stop before this becomes 20 pages long!

Before we finish though, let’s talk boycott lists and money…

When we shop, our money is being redistributed. So, when you’re shopping, it’s good practice to ask yourself: Who is my money going to? What is my money supporting?

Have you seen the BDS boycott list for Palestine? There is a targeted boycott of companies funding the Israeli army operations in Gaza and companies profiting from occupied land. Before you shop, it might be a good idea to double-check to make sure your purchase doesn’t break the boycott. 

Now, what else do I need to think about other than the boycott?

Did you know that many of our highstreet shops are owned by massive fast fashion companies? When we shop at the big brands we are often (unknowingly) sending our money to the CEO’s of Boohoo, H & M, Frasers, ASOS and Inditex who own most of the highstreet. Have a look at Ethical Consumer to get a fuller picture of just how much they own… Even when we think we’re shopping somewhere more ‘expensive’ and therefore better (like Coast or Debenhams) we are actually shopping at a Boohoo owned company… Many of these companies are taking home millions in profit whilst disregarding workers rights. 

Amazon has been in the news for poor treatment of workers but has become a one-stop-shop for any product under the sun. Estimates are that Amazon makes over 1 billion dollars a day, 53-54 million dollars an hour, 896,000 a minute and 15,000 per second…

In 2023, Amazon’s yearly revenue was around $554,028 billion.

Many of these companies, including Amazon who have revolutionised convenience and ‘click to buy’ shopping are pushing what is called ‘ultra-fast’ fashion. Clothes, homeware and toys are increasingly made with synthetic materials made from fossil fuels which are designed to break after a few uses.

Ultimately, these clothes end up dumped in the Global South where they leach toxic chemicals into the air, waterways and earth causing significant harm to human health locally, but it is also harming the whole planet by trickling into the food system and contributing significantly to the greenhouse gas driving the climate crisis. 

The climate crisis is an anti-racist issue. The Global South is set to be the most extremely affected, and divides in society which already exist, including racism, will be exacerbated by the pressures of a world facing the effects of a climate crisis which has not been addressed. 

So, we’re not telling you to never shop at these brands. Let’s be real, it can be incredibly hard not to! Any product that you google sends you straight to Amazon, and it can sometimes require effort to find a product somewhere else online. Their prices are also competitive and in a cost of living crisis we get it. 

Not everybody has the privilege of time to trawl second-hand sites such as Vinted, Depop, Ebay, Gumtree and Facebook marketplace for cheaper second-hand alternatives; and shopping for new products at ethical and independent brands can be more expensive. 

Anti-racism focuses on power structures, not individuals to create change. But if you have time, resources, or money, you can make a difference by being intentional about where you shop. 

Found something on Amazon? Have a quick google to see if you can buy it somewhere else.

Found a really nice jumper on ASOS? Have a quick look to see if it’s already on vinted (you will be shocked how quickly clothes end up on there, even when they are still on the shelves!).

Really want a new lamp? Look on Facebook marketplace to see if there’s any lamps you like as an alternative. 

Instead of heading into town to shop, look for independent events. For those happy to travel to Manchester, Melanin Markets could be a great option this festive season. It’s on the 8th December and you can do all of your shopping purchases from independent Black-owned businesses!

So much of fast fashion is habit based. We go back to the same big companies as default and because they have the money for huge marketing campaigns sending us constant ‘must have’ messages. Just look at what happened to Feyi’s Flowers and then think about the collective power we have to say “NO, that’s not right or FAIR’. 

We hope our anti-racist Christmas list has given you some good ideas and inspired you to try shopping at some smaller Black and Brown owned businesses! 

Happy shopping!