Sometimes it is hard to find green gifts at a reasonable price especially if you want to spend $25 or less. With the economy still being sluggish this year, $25 seems to be the magical price threshold that most people want to spend on family that they do not see very often or good friends.

I have been spending quite a bit of time lately exploring eBay’s World of Good. It is a growing shopping mall for green gifts, and specialty items, and really fun to browse.

I recommend that you browse eBay’s World of Good to see what they have to offer and bookmark some items for your friends and relatives. It is always good to know that you are contributing to the health and well being of your friends and family.

Here is one of my personal favorites this week:

Alex and Ani St. Christopher Bracelet
I think that I might have to get one of these for myself.

For my friends, this is a great gift:

Natural Handmade Balm for Dry Skin

To go directly to the World of Good website, click here.

The Body Shop® offers a full assortment of naturally-inspired products, including bath & body, men’s and women’s skincare, and creative gift ideas for a variety of occasions.  They also offer classic and unique fragrances, home fragrances, makeup, and accessories.

Right now in anticipation of the winter holidays, The Body Shop is offering the following specials (click on any of the following links):

• All Body Butters are 2 for $30 at The Body Shop.> – Oct. 19 – Nov. 8
• Free shipping on all orders over $60 at The Body Shop.> – Oct. 19 – Nov. 8
• Free Shipping on all Love Etc… purchases at The Body Shop.> – Oct. 19 – Nov. 8

For those of you who love The Body Shop products, this is a great time to pick some up. This way you can check one thing off your list, and save money on shipping.

Here are a few of my favorites:

The Body Shop Nutmeg and Vanilla Bath & Shower Gel
Best if you want to: Pamper your skin and indulge your senses with fragrant skin cleansing shower gel that gently lathers on application to leave skin feeling cleansed, soft and cared for. Best for: normal skin How it works: Nutmeg extract adds a warm, nostalgic fragrance. Community Trade organic honey moisturizes and conditions skin

The Body Shop Nutmeg and Vanilla Soap
Best if you want to: Cleanse and moisturize your skin with a beautifully embossed soap that contains particles of ground nutmeg to gently exfoliate the skin as you cleanse. Best for: normal skin How it works: Nutmeg extract adds a warm, nostalgic fragrance. Community Trade organically grown soya oil, rich in essential fatty acids, helps to restore the skin’s natural moisture barrier. Derivatives of sustainable palm oil and glycerin cleanse and condition skin.

The Body Shop Mango Foaming Bath
Best if you want to: Soak in a moisture-rich bath filled with a creamy lather and fresh mango fragrance that leaves your skin soft and lightly scented. Best for: very dry skin How it works: Mango extract moisturizes the skin. An ingredient derived from Community Trade cocoa beans creates foaming, cleansing bubbles.

Winter time is the best time to try new bath and body washes. Skin dries out, becomes more sensitive, and needs to be pampered. One of the best green body shampoos on the market is Blooming Lotus Body Shampoo.

Blooming Lotus Body Shampoo
Organic vegetable oils, glycerin and pure essential oils provide a super gentle shower gel with luxurious lather. This organic castile base is a truly natural alternative to the SLS, DEA, Cocobetaine and other detergents used in most shower gel formulas. Organic vegetable oils, glycerin and pure essential oils provide a super gentle shower gel with luxurious lather.

Comes in a 9 ounce bottle and is available in four varieties:

Fairy Fresh – Uplifting and intoxicating with notes of neroli, frankincense, lime and gem essence of carnelian and amethyst. Ingredients: distilled water, organic coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic jojoba, potassium hydroxide, essential oils, glycerin, xanthum gum, rosemary extract, gem essence & love.

Groundation – Centering with notes of sustainable sandalwood, cedarwood, bergamot and gem essence of smoky quartz. Ingredients: distilled water, organic coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic jojoba, potassium hydroxide, essential oils, glycerin, xanthum gum, rosemary extract, gem essence & love.

Soulshine – Inspirational and bright with with notes of mandarin, tangerine, neroli, spearmint and gem essence of citrine. Ingredients: distilled water, organic coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic jojoba, potassium hydroxide, essential oils, glycerin, xanthum gum, rosemary extract, gem essence & love.

Sublime – Sensuous and alluring with notes of sweet orange, rosewood, cocoa, ylang ylang and gem essence of lapis lazuli. Ingredients: distilled water, organic coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic jojoba, potassium hydroxide, essential oils, glycerin, xanthum gum, rosemary extract, gem essence & love. (9 ounces)

About Blooming Lotus Products: all organic, pure positive energy. These products begin as organic or wildcrafted herbs growing in healthy soil and warm sunshine. Their essence is artfully distilled into the finest essential oils available, which become key ingredients in the resulting soaps, lotions, and aromatherapy products. Blooming Lotus blends small batches to ensure quality and then packages the final products in ways to preserve their healing properties.

Those cobalt bottles aren’t just pretty, they protect the oils from the damaging effects of light. All Blooming Lotus products contain no synthetic ingredients.

For more information on green bath and body wash, follow this link.

Socktopus – $ 22.50
From: BuyGreen.com
The long lost cousin of the famous Sock Monkey. The eight-legged creatures are made from traditional red heel socks and button eyes. This Socktopus is handmade by Friends of Socktopus. These delightful cephalopods are made from recycled wool sweaters. Their wooly covering allows them to live comfortably on land, especially indoors. They are excellent companions for children of all ages, and add a splash of color to any room.

One of the best places to shop for green gifts is BuyGreen.com. BuyGreen.com is essentially a Eco-Chic Green Shopping Mall. All of the products on their site are green, eco-friendly and healthy products. They have products in several different types of product lines including skin care, household cleaners, clothing, and accessories. I am just going to highlight a few items here that are under $25 and would make great green gifts, but if you click through the links you will find loads more to explore. I love the Socktopus above. Here are some more:

Affirmatif
With DMAE and pearl powder to tighten, tone and nourish your skin.

This is part of Marie-Veronique’s therapeutic line of skin care, designed to care for your skin through all stages of life. These products protect, nourish and repair in an age-appropriate manner. The Therapy line is for everyone who wants healthy and radiant skin. You can also supplement the basic skin care routine with products that address special concerns such as aging and rosacea.

UV Natural Baby Sunscreen

UV Natural has just been ranked #1 by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). UV Natural ranked as the safest and most effective sunscreen sold in the US and the World! Beating nearly 800 other brands, UV natural is recognized as offering uncompromising safety and efficacy in sun protection. The entire range of UV Natural sunscreens protect against the full spectrum of UV light – UV A1, A2, B and C.

For the most precious members of your family, UV Natural Baby is gentle in its action so you can reduce the risk of sunburn to your baby’s soft and sensitive skin. In addition to its SPF 30 block-out properties, UV Natural Baby formulation strengthens and maintains healthy skin cell growth. Apply UV Natural Baby daily for a skin routine that nurtures healthy glowing skin for life as sun damage is cumulative and must be taken seriously from the earliest age. UV Natural Baby comes in two perfect sizes – small (1.76 oz)- for the diaper bag, purse, handbag or glove box in the car, and the large (5.29 oz) for the home, the diaper bag or to share with friends. UV Natural Baby provides a nourishing, health conscious sunscreen solution.

Sweater Owl

These charming creatures are made from recycled sweaters. They are soft and squeezable, and have child-safe eyes. They are 12″ tall. They come in the following colors: Green-Blue, Red-Yellow-Orange, or Pink-Purple.

Solar Hybrid Flashlight

This flashlight offers innovative Hybrid Solar Technology – it generates renewable power from sunlight or room light and stores it for later use. No shaking, no cranking – it’s ready to go when you need it! This flashlight can hold a single charge for over 3 years with 1-Watt 2X Super Bright LED.

Comes in three colors: Black, Camouflage and Yellow

Environmentally friendly – Solar technology generates renewable power from sun or room light. 8 hours charge in sunlight or room light will provide up to 16 hours of continuous light – can be charged over and over again. Holds a single charge for over 3 years and comes fully charged.

Does not need to be stored in the sun – throw it in your glove box or drawer and three years later, just turn it on! Back up battery has a 7 year shelf life.

For more green gift ideas under $25, follow this link

Soywax Massage Oil Candles

What is a massage candle?

Light the candle and burn it for 15 minutes to enjoy the wonderful scent. Extinguish the flame, then use it as a warm massage oil.

One of the benefits of using Greenfire Candles for massage is that the warm oily wax soothes dry skin: Greenfire’s premium and unique blend of all-natural vegetable and soy waxes is vastly saturated with Vitamin E. Use Greenfire candles for their healing purposes. Premium, food-grade ingredients and the wax’s low melting point mean the product is entirely skin-safe and warm to the touch. The vitamin E will absorb into skin, leaving it luxuriously soft and fully renewed.

At only $15, this is the perfect stocking stuffer or special gift for a loved one.

Ebay is developing a new eco-friendly, organic, fair trade subsite called World of Good. For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, World of Good is a somewhat small site right now, but rapidly growing, full of interesting and unique eco-friendly products.

If you are familiar with the eco-chic green companies that have been creating great clothing, personal care, annd other green products, you will probablly recognize several company names on the roster. So far, everything that I have seen on the site is from known companies, large to very small, and most of them also have their own websites. But if you are an Ebay shopper or want to look at them all together, it is a great place to search and shop. And it may introduce you to some companies or products that you weren’t familiar with. Worth your time to check out, even just to browse. I have already found a few items that I am interested in, so you better get there before I snatch them up.

To find out more about World of Good, follow any of the links in this post.

If you live in an area of the country that gets cold in the winter, even if it doesn’t snow, then you need to protect your skin from chapping, and drying out. This is not just a cosmetic issue, it is a health issue, because your skin protects your body from catching diseases. Healthy supple skin is important, and of course it also feels good.

I am the kind of person who forgets to put lotion or creams on during the day, and I don’t like the way they feel on my hands while I am working, so it was difficult to find something that I could use on a regular basis and that I would want to use. After several years, I found The Body Shop’s Body Butters. When they first came out, there weren’t too many choices of scents, but it seems like every year now they come out with more. I like to use them after showering in the morning over moist sking, and sometimes in the evening before bed. They come in different skin types all the way to very dry, and they are never greasy. My personal favorite is the mango, but they have many floral, fruity, and natural scents. Best of all The Body Shop is an ethical, fair trade, and eco-friendly company and has been since its inception. Definitely a product to have on hand and a perfect gift for anyone. Totally worth every penny I have ever paid for it.