Gift Basket Ideas for Vegans: Food and Goodies

Cookies
Alternative Baking Company produces all vegan cookies which can generally be found individually wrapped in health food stores in flavors such as "Colossal Chocolate Chip," "Phenomenal Pumpkin Spice," and "Peanut Butter Persuasion." They also offer wheat-free cookies for people with wheat allergies. "Double Chocolate Decadence" is a delicious brownie-like cookie, a good choice for an ABC introduction. http://www.alternativebaking.com/

At Allison Gourmet, choose from classics (Chocolate Chip and Cinnamon Snickerdoodle) or exotic flavors (mint Chocolate Chip and Lemon Poppyseed).They also offer a cookie of the month club, a perfect holiday gift for anyone! http://www.allisonsgourmet.com/-

Wine
Vegan wine- Wine comes from grapes and grapes are a plant therefore wine is automatically, unquestionably vegan, right? Wrong! A lot of wine is actually not suitable for vegetarian or vegan consumption. The final product, while it comes from grapes, is often filtered with animal products to remove impurities. It doesn't have to be filtered this way, however, and some wineries are responsibly opting to leave animal products out of their wine. But scouring your local grocery store's shelves for a wine labeled "VEGAN!" will produce next to fruitless results. Buying direct from a known vegan vineyard is the easiest way to obtain veg-friendly wines. Don't live near a vegan vineyard? Don't worry! Try shopping some of these sites:
http://www.chinabend.com/
http://www.fitzpatrickwinery.com/
http://www.freywine.com/freywine/
http://www.fourchimneysorganicwines.com/
http://www.mountaincovevineyards.com/
http://www.yellowtailwinesusa.com/wines/

Vegan Candy
From stocking stuffers to fillers or even main features of holiday gift baskets, candy is a star ingredient in Christmas and winter holiday gift giving. But so are wax, butterfat and milk ingredients often found in candies- not at all vegan-friendly. But there are some great candy-basket-stuffer options out there that vegans and vegetarians would love to receive this holiday season. Try some of the following products and ideas:

Vegan carob chips and/or vegan chocolate chips- available in bags in the baking aisle of almost any healthy food store, these clearly labeled bags eliminate the need for scouring through the ingredients list. Take them home and make them into chocolate peanut butter cups or (vegan) ganache filled truffles for a homemade basket. Or, place the unopened bags in the basket along with some candy molds and candy making tools and recipes for an easy, creative and fun twist on a holiday candy gift.

Endangered Species Chocolate- If you haven't heard of them yet, you soon will. This booming business's core philosophy revolves around "Reverence for Life." Their Nigerian-grown cocoa beans are Fair Trade and a percentage of every bar is donated to one of the following partner charities: Chimp Haven, National Wildlife Federation, or the Nigeria Co-op, where the beans are grown. The company also accepts applications for additional partners. Their vegan bars are labeled as such, and they even have a vegan gift box collection, perfect for the holidays.

http://www.chocolatedecadence.com/- With an assortment of prepackaged gift baskets, boxes and trays, ordering from Chocolate Decadence makes holiday shopping easy as a few mouse clicks. My pick? Try the "'Original' Chocolates Gift Basket," containing luscious treats such as chocolate covered fruits, nuts, pretzels, and organic espresso wafers for under $40.

Fruit
Shopping is hard, especially for considerate people like you who are trying so hard to keep ethical or dietary principles in consideration before making a purchase. If you don't want to have to buy different or special items for each person on your Christmas shopping list, there is one failsafe gift basket item- fruit. An assortment of fruits, fresh, dried, exotic, and seasonal varieties will always make a beautiful holiday basket and a healthy gift for all. And as always, buying organic is the healthiest way to say "I care."

If you don't have the time to put together your own fruit basket try ordering one of these:

http://www.proflowers.com/CherryMoonFarms-CMF/organicfruitgiftbaskets-COF?ref=CMFSRCHGoogKwd_fruit%20basket%20organic_c&pagesplit=_c

http://www.melissas.com/index.cfm