T'is the season to be thinking about Christmas Pressies. Clued Up lists the best of the eco-market and the perfect recipients for them. Here’s what’s on our Christmas wish list.

For Foodies:

Ever had a go at making your own chocolate? This tasty little kit should fill a hole. The Mayan Magic Chocolate-Making Kit is a fun way to work for your chocolate rush. In 15 minutes raw chocolate, which contains antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, is transformed by melting the natural sweeteners, butters and chocolate powders together. Four simple instructions result in your own home made box of deliciousness.

Why it’s Eco: The company says: “We buy from an Importer who buys from a cooperative in Equador and most of the products they buy in are shipped.

“Raw chocolate has not been processed thus it is a more environmentally friendly product.”

£11.95 from:  Selfridges, Wholefoods, Earth Natural, Mother Earth, Infinity Foods, plus selected health food stores nationally

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For beauty bods:

For me, Christmas isn’t Christmas without a few beauty treats under the tree and this year is no exception with some beautiful, ethical treats for you and your loved ones.

The Wild Organics range is free from colorants and fragrances, parabens, pesticides and harsh chemicals such as mineral oils and petroleum.

The Marshmallow butter sugar scrub (400g) will leave skin sloughed, buffed, quenched and drenched – and smelling subtly natural. Swirling the scrub with your fingers, the butters soften and offer a delicious bath time indulgence.

Why it’s Eco: As if that wasn’t enough Wild Organics is a proud partner of the Freedom from Fistula Foundation, with 10% of all profits, going towards this unnecessarily life-threatening complication during child-birth, affecting many African mothers and babies.  Over 2 million women in Africa suffer with Fistula with 100,000 more cases each year.

£28 from Wild Organics

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For that special someone:

These heart earrings are from ethical brand Element, which is dedicated to making fine ethical gold jewellery.

The heart earrings are a great way to show your love this Christmas.

Why it’s Eco: Element sources its gold and platinum from a group of Colombian mining communities, meeting strict environmental and humanitarian criteria - toxic chemicals are banned, as is child labour, forests are kept alive, and profits go back into the community.

Element is dedicated to the creation of beautiful jewellery with ethical integrity.

Diamond wise - as a member of the British Jewellers' Association, Element supports the initiative of the United Nations and the World Diamond Council (The Kimberley Process) to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate supply chains of the jewellery industry.

£295 from Element Jewellery

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For candle fanatics:

There are always a few candle fans among friends and family. We’ve found this environmentally sensitive option that doesn’t compromise on style. The Paddywax Eco Range offers a premium quality, environmentally sound alternative to the usual paraffin based candle and features a 45 hour burn time. It features a soy wax blend with 12 entrancing, nature-inspired fragrances, using natural fragrance oils. We love citrusy numbers Blood Orange and Fresh Ruby Grapefruit.

Why it’s Eco: Biodegradable packaging makes the Paddywax Eco range the ideal choice for the style conscious, eco sensitive candle lover – when it is filled with soil and seeds it can be planted in the garden after the last frost. The product sleeve also features re-cycled paper with soy-based inks and hemp twine is used for fastening the product label. 

£14 each from Acassa.

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For boozy boys:

Adnams, the Suffolk based brewer has developed the Champion Beer Box.  It contains East Green, the UK’s first carbon neutral beer made in Adnams’ eco efficient brewery in Southwold.

The keepsake box, which contains a selection of favourite Adnams brews, is a replica of packaging that was introduced in 1956 – the year Adnams won champion Beer of Britain. Original boxes in the same style were unearthed during refurbishment of the Adnams brewery in 2008.

As well as East Green, the box includes classic Adnams beers such as Broadside, Adnams Bitter and Explorer.

£10 from Adnams.

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For gadget fans:

If you’re tired of sitting around waiting for the weathermen to get it wrong, look no further than the Oregon Scientific Eco Solar Weather Station.  It will give you a local forecast from 12-24 hours in advance. Also contains clock, alarm and calendar.

Why it’s Eco: Battery-free, the unit is charged purely through solar power.

£69.99 from Oregon Scientific

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For homeware lovers: 

We’ve found these fab recycled vinyl record coasters and recycled milk bottle jug through Nigel’s Eco Store. Recycled from vinyl records, these coasters have a quirky eco style to protect your surfaces from marks made by hot drinks.

Made from the recycled centre sections of unplayable or unwanted records, they come in a set of 6 assorted colours and make a great eco friendly gift for a music lover. £9.99 from Nigel's Eco Store.

So good for the planet, the cows don't want it back. This recycled milk jug is a special limited edition.

Recycled from original milk bottles collected from dairies in Devon, they make a great looking, fun jug to go with your breakfast cereal or hot drink. Choose from Kelloggs, or Typhoo for a great eco gift for anyone who likes a bit of nostalgia. Also available from Nigel's Eco Store.

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Canny little stocking fillers:

Hari Tea. Herbal tea lovers are in for a treat with some tea with a difference. Tummy in Harmony contains a soothing dose of Honeybush and Rosemary, while Mindscape delivers a concoction of ginger and lemon – perfect for the chilly winter mornings.

Why it’s eco: This herbal tea comes wrapped in organic cotton tea bags. Although we found it a crying shame to throw the tea bag away and found ourselves reusing them a few times. Still as delicious.

£3.99 per box (16 tea bags)

Stockists: Hari Tea, Partridges, Whole Foods or Yoga Matters

Dinky little balms are always appreciated in the stocking and Dr Bronner’s Magic Organic Balms are no exception. Available in tins or tubes, we love orange/ginger and patchouili/lime for a natural kick. Also available as an unscented version which is suitable for men. The body balms are also great for soothing dry skin and tattoos.

Why it’s Eco: The purest certified organic lip balms and body balms that you could wish for this Christmas. Scented using only Fair Trade organic essential oils and containing no synthetic ingredients or preservatives these make a perfect natural winter skin treat and perfect Christmas stocking filler.

Each is USDA and Fair trade certified, with large portions of profits (between 30% to 70%) donated to charities each year.

£2.95 from Liberty London and Victoria Health

Written by Kate Hamilton-Hunter.

This age of ecological awareness has brought a shift of attitudes and styles along with it; in the same way that mass produced, cold, minimal interiors now look dated, fashion too is having an epiphany with people anting their clothing to be a reflection of what they believe as well as who they are. This isn't a new concept; Umberto Eco summed it up beautifully in the early '70s when he said "I speak through my clothes". This statement has renewed relevance, with today's eco-philes seeing the provenance of their clothing and accessories being equally as important as the style.

Jewellery from the Kate Hamilton-Hunter  Studio

Vintage, the ultimate in eco-provenance, has gone beyond being a trend and embedded itself into our collective fashion mindsets. With the economic crisis, a full blown resurgence in the love of crafts and the likes of Mary Portas imparting business advice to charity shops there seems to be no stopping our love of recycling and reinvention.

It just takes a little vision; used plastic cups, discarded tyres, unwanted tins - seeing the detritus of our lives transformed into useful, beautiful and much loved objects should bring a warm glow to the heart of every one of us.

But that's not the whole story. Yes, it's all more eco-friendly and in some cases gentler on the pocket, but in our newly uncertain (and sometimes anxiety inducing) reality, there is a certain comfort to be gained in nostalgia.

We're all of us guilty to some degree of donning rose tinted specs in relation to the past. There are those amongst us who, when looking at this reinvented brooch are reminded of the 1970s in its use of iconic imagery; cosy Christmases, long hot summers, uncomplicated lives and the protection of youthful innocence from the worst elements of the decade (fashions excluded!).

Whether reliving your childhood, aspiring to buy eco-friendly goods or simply because you like it, the art of making something beautiful out of an old relic is a skill that's gaining in popularity and this new breed of designer-makers are changing our relationships with fashion, recycling and our past.

Written by Kate Hamilton-Hunter who began her working life as a seamstress, specialising in bespoke bridal gowns. After four years in college and 5 years teaching Art & Design, a career change was brought about by a discovery of metal. Starting with aluminium, copper and brass, Kate soon discovered a new material to make jewellery from - recycled and reclaimed biscuit tins. Now officially a biscuit tin expert, Kate designs most of the jewellery on this site and makes the Antique range to order, and is developing a gallery range of one-off pieces. 

To support her article, for July only, the Kate Hamilton-Hunter Studio is offering 15% off their recycled jewellery.

It used to be easy; what was in the shops was what was in season. These days with modern growing techniques and air freight it’s hard to know what’s in season and what’s not.

Check out the Eat Seasonably Website - supported by many retailers, pubs and restaurants including Sainsbury's, Waitrose, The National Trust, DEFRA and many more.

But, why should we care? Isn’t choice a good a thing? How impressed would the Victorians be to see strawberries on Christmas dinner tables!?

Well, there are a couple reasons why would should have a care:

Those strawberries might look great on the Christmas table and create a bit of intrigue and chatter, but, let’s face it, they don’t taste that great do they. Fruit and veg that is grown artificially is passable in most cases, but generally lacks the taste your remember as a kid.

They’re also pretty expensive compared to buying seasonal strawberries in June. That’s beacuase they are grown in artificial conditions in poly tunnels and air freighted to the UK. It takes a whole lot of heating, artificial light and extra food to produce them out of season. Which, as well as maiking them expensive, creates an extra burden on the environment too.

If you are anything like us you'll find it a bit difficult to work out what is in season and what's not. So, it was great for us to find a campaign for eating seasonally. You can easily find out what’s best for each month using a visual calender wheel – for example, in July the best fruit and veg in season are cherries, cucumber, early carrots, Bramley apples, curly lettuce and much more.

Eat Seasonably celebrates eating the right things at the right time: a crisp salad when it’s hot and sunny, a wholesome stew when it’s cold; strawberries in June, Brussel sprouts in December. The campaign is being backed by major supermarkets and small market stallholders alike, as well as cafes, pubs, restaurants and some of the nation’s favourite charities. Partners are aligning their support around the monthly highlights and using the Eat Seasonably label to help people navigate what to eat when.

Click on the wheel above to go to the Eat Seasonably interactive version

On the website there are plenty of other things to get involved with: For example, they have British Food Week, 'A Taste of Autumn' by the RHS and 'Food and Beer Fairs' & 'Kitchen Gardens' by The National Trust.

If this is interesting, why not check out other articles such as Waste less food; save money and help the environment.