Santa Time: Be Prepared!

It's that particular "ber" month when you can no longer ignore the Christmas jingles wafting from the radio, when you see the first twinkle of fairy lights. You know you have to start shopping very soon or you'll be overrun by last minute Christmas shoppers. Before you start on your list though, buy a few things for yourself from Gifts and Graces first that will make the mad holiday rush a little bit saner.

Big Plastic Baul 

Kids are nosy and gifts create lots of clutter. Buy these big boxes from Gifts & Graces and make this your designated gift container. The buckle will keep the little hands at bay & the generous size will ensure that it will fit your presents until it's time to put them under the tree!

Made of plastic strips by urban poor men of Malabon.


Handmade Paper Journal

Make your list of who's been naughty or nice in this journal made of renewable resources such as Cogon Grass & Banana Bark. The sale of this product benefits displaced women in Quezon.

Mangyan Cloth Organizer

Christmas is a time when nothing is ever in its proper place and when clutter is in an all-time high. Keep your essentials tucked into something pretty and safe with these Mangyan Cloth organizers. Keep your scissors, pens, tape and other wrapping and writing essentials at hand and then roll them and keep them out of sight when you don't need them. Saves you from clutter and going insane trying to find them!


Sewn by urban poor women of Valenzuela City.


Magazine Bag

When doing your shopping, do your part in helping out the environment. Refuse the little plastic bags that they give you and put your purchases in these one-of-a-kind Magazine Tote Bags instead. These are big and roomy and are a conversation piece to boot!


Also available in SM Kultura outlets.

Producer Spotlight: Linda Casimiro of FCED

Nanay Linda Casimiro is 61 and helps support her six children and four grandchildren through the orders that she gets through Gifts and Graces, in particular the consistent orders of Vic Barba.

Before joining the FCED Foundation, she dabbled in sewing, but her earnings were not enough for her family. As a member of FCED Foundation, she trained in sewing under KaBaKa - Kabalikat ng Bayan sa Kaunlaran, an initiative of then Mayor Bagatsing. Through her involvement in FCED and the help of Gifts and Graces, she honed her sewing skills and expanded her opportunities.

She narrates that making Vic Barba bags also helped her a lot in improving her sewing skills. It was four years ago when she first received orders of custom made bags for Vic Barba. She studied the design drawings and samples that were sent to her and produced bags that she was very proud of. When asked why she was proud of the Vic Barba bags she replies “maganda ang quality ng ginagawa namin, alam namin yan dahil sinasabi ng ibang tao. At shempre maganda ang design. Ako ang may gawa eh!”. (We make good quality products, we know this from the feedback of other people. And of course they're very well designed. Of course I made them!). Nanay Linda is grateful for the Vic Barba bag orders, she adds “malaking bagay ang pagagawa namin ng bags ni Ma'm Vic, nakakatulong ang kinikita sa pagpapaaral ko sa bunsong anak ko” (Making Ma'm Vic's bags helps us a lot. The income I get from making those bags help in sending my youngest child to school).

She's also very grateful to Gifts and Graces for giving FCED a lot of income generating projects. “Dahil sa Gifts and Graces hindi kami nawawalan ng trabaho” (Because of Gifts and Graces we have reliable livelihood).

Through your support of Gifts and Graces, producers like Nanay Linda can send her children to school and give them 3 square meals a day. There are various other stories like Nanay Linda's and their stories are tied in to yours. Your act of support and generosity today can be their success story for the coming months.

Table Scape Treats

The dining table is where we gather with family and friends for special occasions. Be it celebrations or commiserations - special occasions and normal everyday it's where we all sit down to eat our daily bread. 


Invest in special pieces that mean something to you and that will make a difference in the lives of the marginalized communities who made them.


Gifts and Graces offer items that could make the humble dining table worthy of all the time you spend there with your loved ones.

Jade Napkin Ring

An elegant accessory to tie up a dining essential and is sure to up the ante in your table scape's overall look.

Oval Directory Tray 

Place your fruits or hot plates on this oval tray made of upcycled woven directory pages. A conversation piece and the perfect opener to explain to advocate to your friends buying fair trade products!

Riverstone Candles 

Do away with the typical candles on your table. Accent your table with these candles that look like smooth river stones instead.

All about Upcycling

We talk a lot about upcycling in this blog but not a lot of people don't know what exactly upcycling is. If you're one of those people, read on!


To quote Cara Smusiak in her post about upcycling in Naturally Savvy, Upcycling is 

"taking something that you would otherwise throw out and finding a way to make it into something else." 

She explains further the difference between recycling and upcycling: "upcycling maintains or improves the quality of the materials" while recycling downgrades the materials that are reused.


There are a myriad of ways to upcycle different sorts of "waste". It's all up to your imagination and creativity to reuse something that could potentially have added to to the landfills! To get you started, here is a list of 100 Amazing Upcycling Ideas you could use.


If you don't want to start upcycling yourself, why don't you buy some of Gifts and Graces many upcycled products? Not only will you be helping the environment, you would also be helping provide a dignified income to one of our partner marginalized communities!


Here are just some of our upcycled products:

Upcycled from Scrap Fabric

 Retaso Pillow

 Coffee Sleeves

Retaso Travel Set: Passport Holder, Luggage Tag & Checkbook Holder

Upcycled from Juice Packs

Juice Pack Bag

Upcycled from Magazines

Magazine Tote Bag

Upcycled from Phone book Pages

Stackable Directory Bowls

Upcycled from Old Flour Sacks

Harina Tote Bag

To see more of our upcycled products visit our showroom/office at:

Unit 131 Milelong Building, Amorsolo St, Makati City

or call 759-2525 or email us at: marketing@giftsandgraces.com

Fair Trade Travel

Jet-set in style using Gifts and Graces travel accessories. Be a fair trade traveler and take your advocacy wherever you go!

Mangyan Travel Set

Take your Filipino pride wherever your travels take you by covering your travel essentials with these Filipino handmade cloth passport holder, checkbook holder and luggage tag. 

Retaso Travel Pillow

 Travel in style and comfort with this pillow decorated with quality scrap fabric.

Retaso Travel Pouch

A place to put your toiletries in your hand carry bag made of canvass cloth and retaso fabric strips.

G&G on Give the World a Little Nudge

The Gifts & Graces team would like to thank Miss Emily Dy for featuring G&G in her blog Give The World a Little Nudge. Her blog has a regular feature called The Switch wherein she documents her efforts to switch to more sustainable and more environment - friendly products. 


On her fifth installment of the series, she writes about alternative Corporate Giveaways suppliers.

The G&G corporate giveaways products are included in her post.

Thanks again Ms Emily for helping us spread our advocacy of fair trade & livelihood support!

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If you also want to do a feature on G&G

Please don't hesitate to call us at 759-2525

Or email us marketing@giftsandgraces.com

Organize Your Life

Does your home look like it;s been hit by a tornado? You're going to need things to help you organize. Buy fair trade products to get your life in order!

Mangyan Cloth Organizer

Put your things in little compartments, roll it up, tie it around and put it away!
Easy tidy tip!

Wooden Desk & Drawer Organizers

Compartmentalizing is the secret to a well organized life. Have a place for everything and everything in its place with these desk/drawer organizers.

Retail Partner Recap: The Lobby Shop at Edsa

Do you know that Gifts & Graces products are available in your favorite retail stores? In fact if you are staying at the Edsa Shangri - la Hotel you can drop by The Lobby Shop and get some of our fair trade products.

Here they are on the shelf of The Lobby Shop:

G&G Products at The Lobby Shop are:

Retaso Stuffed Toys

boat bags

and our handpainted newspaper bags:

Get them while it hasn't been snatched up yet!

Gifts & Graces in Metro Society May 2011

We, at Gifts and Graces, would like to extend our appreciation to Metro Society Magazine for featuring our beautiful newspaper bags on their May 2011 Issue with Kenneth Cobonpue on the cover.

Very special thanks goes out to Ms. Marichelle Ligon for including our best-selling Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly newspaper bags in her feature Objects of Desire.

The featured bags are handwoven from upcycled newspaper pages and hand painted by Mr. Boy Buenafe.

If you want to order or see more of our newspaper bags 

you are welcome to drop by our office/showroom:

Unit 131 Milelong Building, Amorsolo St, Makati City

or call 759-2525 or email us at: marketing@giftsandgraces.com

Fair Game

Fair trade products cater to a wide range of people including the little ones. At a young age, start exposing them to eco-friendly and ethically-produced toys so that they can start early with social responsibility. 

Get your kids a few of the fabulous Gifts & Graces Fair Trade Foundation toys:

The Tangram

A 19th century Chinese puzzle that has spread around the world. The tangram is a square that has been cut into 7 pieces or tans. The tans are used to make silhouettes of everyday objects, animals and even people. The only rule is all 7 pieces be used in making a design and none of the pieces may overlap.  

Tell your kids to use their imagination and sense of humor to come up with his or her own shape.

Monster Dolls

Give your kids cute and quirky monster dolls to help them express their personalities and to stretch their imaginations. Help them make stories about these unique plush toys using different scenarios. Teach them imaginative play and the concept of individuality!

Retaso Stuffed Toys

These stuffed toys are truly one-of-a-kind. As they are made of donated quality scrap fabric, no two stuffed animals are the same. These cute bears are made by differently-abled persons. Your purchase will supplement their livelihood programs.

These are available at The Lobby Shop at Edsa Shangri-La 

and our office/showroom 

Unit 131 G/F Mile Long Building

Amorsolo St., Makati City

Rainy Day Gear

It's that time of the year again that workers dread and students spend with their fingers crossed for classes to be suspended. That's right. Typhoon season is upon us again. Aside from the all important umbrella and the optional rain boots and rain coat, why don't you add some of our fair trade products to your list of rainy day gear?

Tarpaulin Shoe Bag

Are you one of those sensible office workers who wear rubber slippers or boots to work and change to pretty heels or dress shoes when you get to the office? Keep your office shoes from getting wet by putting it in this cute shoe bag made of upcycled tarpaulin. You can keep your rubber slippers here during work hours too!
 

Retaso Travel Set

Dress up your travel essentials while protecting it from getting wet. The Retaso travel set made of quality scrap fabric consists of a Luggage Tag, Passport Holder and Cheque Holder. Also available in Mangyan Cloth and Buri.

Tarp Sling Bag

Keep your things safe from the torrential downpour by putting them in this sling bag made of upcycled tarpaulin. Remember, tarpaulin is made to endure any weather condition and this bag will keep your hands free to hold an umbrella up. Stylish and practical.

Bamboo Candles

Typhoon season also unfortunately is synonymous to black out time. Be prepared with these beautiful bamboo candles. Awesome house decor and excellent source of light when the power fails. Of course, you can opt for our eco-friendly soy candles.

Market! Market! Tarp Bag Promo

Market! Market! Tarp Bag Promo

In 2008, Market! Market! In Bonifacio Global City, launched their highly successful tarp bag project where Market! Market shoppers get the chance to win one-of-a-kind upcycled tarpaulin totes. This promotion earned Market! Market! Prestigious accolades and recognition for their concern for the environment and support of livelihood programs through its partnership with Gifts and Graces Fair Trade Foundation.

The Public Relations Society of the Philippines awarded Market! Market! In 2009 and 2010 with an Anvil Award of Merit for Public Relations under the Community Engagement category. For the same promotion they garnered honor as ICSC Finalist 2009, Tambuli Awards Bronze Winner 2009 and recognition at the Philippine Quill Awards.

Gifts and Graces continues its successful partnership with Market! Market! by tapping five of our partner marginalized communities to produce the upcycled totes made from Market! Market!'s donated tarpaulin.

Be one with Market! Market! And Gifts and Graces in our commitment to environmental concern and economic sustainability for underprivileged communities. For the whole month of July, you can avail yourself of these tarp tote bags by visiting Market! Market!and presenting P2,000 single or accumulated receipts or you can buy one for P75.00 when you present P500 single or accumulated receipts.

Shop Gifts and Graces from Shopnow@eyp!

Good news everyone!

You can now buy Gifts and Graces products without leaving your home or office. Click this link to buy our unique handmade products made with by our partner communities.