15 Vegan & Cruelty-Free Gifts To Show Kindness For All
All gifts should be vegan cruelty free gifts. And you can make this holiday season even more heartwarming by making sure yours ticks that box.
Don’t know where to begin?
We’ll help you find bath bombs without animal-derived ingredients like lanolin and self care gifts that never passed through animal testing labs.
When your recipient tears into the zero waste gift wrapping, they’ll open something that says, “I love you (and animals).”
So, whatever you celebrate this holiday season, consider the following vegan and cruelty free gift ideas.
If this is the first year furry friends have been considered in your list of ethical gifts, take a (gift) bow down to the bottom of the article for tips on how to look for an animal-friendly gift.
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1. Candles
Between baked pies, warm apple cider, and roasting Tofurkey, the holiday season is pretty scentsational.
Add a self care-supporting vegan candle to the mix and you’ve got one of the most affordable cruelty free gifts to give.
Whether it’s for your sister, brother, mailman, or neighbor, carbon neutral brand Siblings is redefining luxury-level scents by offering candle refills.
With a gift of The Starter Set, for example, your loved one will receive a Brass Forever Vessel that can be filled with the included eco-friendly coconut oil blend wax (and subsequent compostably-packaged refills).
Like all varieties, the Bergamot, White Rose, Oakmoss scent is courtesy of cruelty-free fragrance and essential oils.
For a more traditional take on fragrance + flicker, you can turn to vegan, cruelty-free Paddywax and their soy wax Jasmine + Bamboo Candle—just one of the scents that come in a reusable, dishwasher, microwave, and food safe jar.
Perfect as a vegan gift for a green thumb, scents like Ocean Rose + Bay come in a ceramic vessel with a lid and hole at the bottom that transform it into the perfect planter.
2. Perfume
While we’re on the topic of self care and aromatherapy, a non-toxic perfume is a romantic gesture that is hard to equal.
With cruelty free gifts for her, him, or them, Clean Beauty Collective’s vegan, cruelty-free perfumes are also unisex.
The brand’s limited edition Clean Reserve Eau de Parfum set features 4 travel-size roll-on perfumes: Radiant Nectar; Skin; Rain; and Warm Cotton.
The 7 Virtues’ Lotus Pear Eau de Parfum is vegan, cruelty free, fruity, and flirty.
Each whiff will provide a reminder of global giving, as a portion of every sale of this fragrance supports Days For Girls, an international organization ensuring menstrual equity, dignity, and health.
3. Cosmetics
Animal-friendly cosmetics are purrfect as stocking stuffers or cruelty free birthday gifts—just to be sure to include a vegan makeup brush if they don’t have one.
If you want to make(up) someone’s holiday, you can’t go wrong with Flavedo & Albedo’s Velvet Eyeshadow Trio.
Not only is it cruelty free, but the eyeshadow palettes come in infinitely recyclable or reusable aluminum tins. All but the ‘Sky’ shade are vegan, as this one contains animal-derived Carmine (CI 75470).
Your loved one would also be elated to receive something from Elate. Everything they sell is cruelty free and vegan—and comes consciously packaged.
Made of sustainably forested Californian cedarwood, the Long-Wearing Lip Crayon moisturizes as it works as a lip liner, pencil, crayon, and color for cheeks.
Antonym is another one of our favorite eco-friendly makeup brands.
While it does contain beeswax, we love their natural, organic, and Leaping Bunny certified cruelty-free Lola Lash Too mascara—and we’re pretty sure your friend or family member would, too.
4. Personal Care
Applied every morning or night (or both), sustainable skincare products can be the gifts that keep on giving.
And we’ve got a few brands to recommend for a clean conscience.
Their wildlife-inspired name’s a giveaway: everything from Meow Meow Tweet is vegan and Leaping Bunny certified.
It’s the pits when someone receives a gift they won’t use—which is why we’d recommend the brand’s refillable Grapefruit Baking Soda Free Deodorant Cream—which is suitable for all skin!
It’s made with recognizable ingredients, like fair trade coconut oil, and is backed by a brand that’s a Certified B Corp, Plastic Negative, and Climate Neutral
If unique cruelty free gifts like deodorant are too unique, you could go with hair care products instead.
Sneak zero waste shampoo and conditioner into someone’s stocking and they may never go back to unnecessary plastic.
A true Christmas miracle, Ethique has an It’s A Miracle Starter Pack (shampoo + conditioner bar with an in-shower container) that is the perfect support system for the dry hair that comes with cold winter weather.
The plastic-free and ultra philanthropic company is 100% cruelty free and vegan, too.
As a perfect gift for someone deserving of self care, Conscious Skincare has a Spa Gift Set that’s complete with totally vegan, gluten free, and cruelty free body wash, lotion, oil, and body butter.
It comes with a face mask and an organic cotton face cloth and is packaged in a beautiful fair trade cotton bag.
5. Cruelty Free Fashion
There are few more quintessential holiday gifts than a pair of comfy sustainable pajamas—and Boody can deliver.
A new nightgown or PJ set can help provide one of the best cruelty free gifts around: some well-deserved zzzs.
If instead you’re looking for a perfect gift for families with a budding environmentalist, 100% vegan brand tentree has matching sets for men, women, and kids.
Super soft and sustainable, most of the hoodies, t-shirts, and sweatpants are made with Tencel lyocell or organic cotton.
What better accompaniment to the scent of fresh pine than knowing your vegan gift also plants ten trees?
For gift recipients with a more refined fashion sense, there are few more celebrated names in the world of animal-friendly fashion than Stella McCartney.
Made with organic cotton, the brand’s unisex Stella Logo Denim Shirt is a good look on anyone in your life.
6. Watches
Vegan watch brands can give you a (minute) hand with cruelty free gifts for him and her.
TIVC, or Time IV Change, is a mecca for classy timepieces to impress the best with.
The Unisex Silver Pinatex Band watch is made with a stainless steel face and recycled pineapple, or Pinatex, one of the most tropical vegan fabrics.
7. Handbag Or Wallet
As stocking stuffers or under-the-tree surprises, a sustainable wallet or vegan handbag is a daily essential that would make for perfect cruelty free Christmas gifts.
Portland, OR-based Carry Courage makes use of PETA-approved cork fabric and a linen lining in products like the Giver Card Wristlet.
For gifts so good they could’ve come from a fairy, PETA-approved Pixie Mood also has cruelty-free, vegan handbags.
As an added bonus, some of the vegan purses—like the Bubbly line—are made with recycled vegan leather and a recycled bottle lining.
GUNAS is another brand with the PETA stamp of approval.
Their vegan bag and wallet collection is ethically handmade in South Korea and is massive.
While they offer many options for men and women, for those hard-to-buy-for guys in your life, check out the Woody blue vegan leather wallet.
8. Kicks
Does your love love shoes?
How about unwrapping and lacing up with a new pair from vegan shoe brands.
If salt and snow have proven a worthy match for your mom’s/sister’s/wife’s current footwear, give them an upgraded pair of cruelty free boots from Bhava.
The luxury brand uses vegan leather that is free of formaldehyde, PVC, phthalates, azo-dyes, aromatic amines, and chrome—and it’s what you’ll find in their Rally Combat Hiker Boots.
With conscious Converse look alikes, NAE has unisex Redo PET Black Vegan Mid-Top Vulcanized Sneakers that pair the recycled plastic with a 100% organic cotton lining and organic rubber sole.
They’re trendy, easy to clean, and a perfect gift for animal lovers.
For men, Saola ticks all the boxes with their vegan Wanaka Waterproof Sneaker.
Not only can they handle anything the outdoors throws at them, but they’re saving the great outdoors, too!
Each pair is made of 3 recycled plastic bottles, natural cork, organic cotton, and harvested algae that rids the environment of toxins.
9. Vitamins & Supplements
In anticipation of New Year’s resolutions, you can jumpstart someone’s health kick with vegan vitamins.
Plant People can help your vegan gift recipient ward off seasonal colds and flus with their plant based Advanced Immune Power Adaptogenic Immune Complex.
It blends certified organic functional mushrooms with vitamin C and immune-supporting herbs (read: no animal-derived ingredients).
With a name like Dr. Vegan, we couldn’t not include this UK brand as a go-to for animal-friendly and zero waste vitamins.
Perfect support for the post-holiday slump, the Daily Energy Bundle combines a multi-vitamin for sustained energy with a nootropic to promote better sleep.
10. Slippers
Eco-friendly slippers are often made with wool, but we’ve found some gift-worthy brands that are trading “baa baa” for “naa naa” by leaving animals out of the equation.
Dooeys isn’t sheepish about their leather and wool alternatives, which include a cork insole, sugarcane sole, recycled plastic lining, and vegan apple leather.
Perfect to pair with PJs or business casual attire, their women’s Honey Beige House Mules are all-occasion house shoes—and carbon neutral.
Hemp and cotton specialists, Rawganique makes all sorts of eco-alternatives for the home, including eco-cozy slippers.
We particularly like their unisex TOKYO Organic Cotton House Slippers and OREGON Unixex Organic Hemp Clog Sandals which are both on-point for indoor and outdoors use.
11. Comforters
Cruelty free gift ideas for new homeowners don’t get much better than this. Certified B Corp Newly sells blankets made with 100% recycled materials.
Like everything in their blanket range, the black and white Circo Massimo Throw Blanket is made in a chemical-free process using a 100% recycled blend of cotton, acrylic, and 12 plastic water bottles!
If you’re spending the holidays apart, you can send a loved one a comforting hug via a weighted blanket from Bearaby.
Sustainable and vegan materials provide the blissful cuddle in these fair trade cruelty free gifts.
When they wrap up in the Cotton Napper, your sweetie will nap peacefully knowing that non-toxic OEKO-TEX and Fairtrade certified organic cotton is lulling them to sleep.
Similarly, animal-free GOTS certified organic cotton is the only material in Saatva’s Organic Velvet Diamond Quilt.
Hint: gift it to a loved one and then you can curl up in it after a big holiday meal and a glass too many of vegan eggnog.
12. Gift Baskets
Helping you out with the best vegan cruelty free gifts when the holiday season has you feeling a little clueless, an animal-loving gift basket is just the trick.
Those from Etsy-based Pop-Up Poetry Shop come in a few different options and feature sustainable, eco-friendly, plastic free, and cruelty free gifts, like soap, bath bombs, teas, and jokes or poems.
The hampers are packaged in eco materials like washi tape and recyclable cardboard. And they’re affordably priced between $24 and $55.
With zero waste kits for animal lovers, Santa (err.. EarthHero) can surprise and impress your loved one—especially with the Self Care Gift Box.
Just over $80 will provide all the sustainably made and Leaping Bunny certified essentials for a conscious day of relaxation: detoxifying soap, a herbal lotion bar (contains organic beeswax), bath salts, a clay mask, an agave washcloth, and a USA-grown soy candle.
13. Snacks & Meals
What’s the fail safe gift above all others?
That’s a rhetorical question, surely.
Cruelty free and vegan snacks from sustainable food brands put the yu(m) in yuletide.
You can satisfy a sweet tooth sweetie with a decadent gift from The Raw Chocolate Co.
When they “accidentally” eat a few bars from the Chocolate Bar Selection Box, they can feel good knowing that they’re devouring raw, vegan, organic, soy-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free ingredients.
When multiple biodegradable wrappers are tossed in the compost bin, they don’t even count, right?
And for people constantly on the go, GoMacro can fuel them with 100% organic, 100% delicious, certified vegan, clean, dairy-free, FODMAP friendly, and cruelty free ingredients.
The cherry on top of their Sunny Uplift Cherries + Berries Snack Bar is that it’s produced with 100% renewable energy and is carbon neutral, too.
You can also consider spreading good food cheer with a gift from No Evil Foods.
Their meat is plant based and we happen to think that The Pardon (their take on a roast) will help to carve out a new holiday meal tradition.
And your recipient will, too, once they know that a portion of proceeds will support turkeys at Full Circle Farm Sanctuary.
If your loved one is more of a create-a-meal-from-scratch kinda chef, give them the gift of a MICHELIN Star 6 Bottle Oil & Vinegar Tasting Kit from Saffi Saana.
The foodie in your life will sip and drizzle their way through some of the tastiest, most transparently-sourced oils and vinegars from the US, Chile, Mexico, and Spain. The included $20 gift card might earn you a spot at one of their future dinner parties, too.
14. Gift Cards
If, after checking out these and more gift ideas, you aren’t feeling absolutely pawsitive about a potential hand selected present, turn to the most infallible option (after food): a gift card.
The best cruelty free gifts, after all, are those the recipient can choose themselves.
EarthHero has a nearly limitless range of sustainable and ethical goodies—from audio and tech to clothing, pet, and travel essentials.
Plastic waste-free and ready to please, an EcoRoots e-gift card ($25-100) can be sent by e-mail to help jumpstart someone’s sustainable living journey.
Or just hook them up with a non-expiring way to keep their favorite cleaning, kitchen, and personal care products well stocked.
15. Unique Etsy Vegan Gifts
Every Etsy gift is a gift to the world, as the platform carbon offsets all shipping—which accounts for 98% of their entire footprint.
Plus, it gives small businesses a ho-ho-home to sell their goods to a global base of consumers!
Talk about the gift that keeps on giving.
To pull you out of Etsy’s limitless rabbit warren of unique cruelty free christmas gift ideas, we’d recommend Mind the Cork, one of our favorite Black-owned Etsy shops.
They have one of the best gifts for plant parents: the Aurora Large Cork Planter.
The planter’s simple, minimalist look makes it perfect for any home decor style and you can feel good knowing that cruelty free cork is sustainably grown and compostable.
For the jetsetter in your life, PML Studios has a US-made and vegan Fruit Travel Journal: A6 Dot Notebook that is made with recycled paper, mulberry paper (not to be confused with mulberry silk), and wax thread.
And if you’ve got a cousin that could easily binge sci-fi movies all day every day, you may want to turn to the UK shop The Cardboard Boutique and their UFO Pendant Cardboard Lampshade.
Inspired by mid-century design and the atomic age, the recycled cardboard light fixture is treated to be flame retardant and comes with a B22 or E27 fitting.
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How To Find Vegan And Cruelty Free Gifts
Just how can you be sure you’re spreading the love with truly cruelty free moisturizers?
Is there a way to be sure that vegan and cruelty free perfume won’t turn up the nose of your animal sanctuary-volunteering relative?
The building blocks (or should we say barks?) of getting an animal-friendly gift starts with understanding the difference between cruelty free vs vegan.
It’s absolutely possible to find that perfect present that ticks both boxes, but you should realize that vegan doesn’t necessarily mean cruelty free, and vice versa.
Take for example a few of the gifts on this list.
Some products may contain organic or ethically sourced beeswax (making them non-vegan), but can be completely free of animal testing, making them cruelty free.
What does ‘cruelty free’ and ‘vegan’ mean?
These pro-animal terms aren’t legally defined, so the safest bet is to not assume they mean the same thing but rather are delineated as follows:
- Cruelty-free means that the products and the ingredients used were not tested on animals at any stage—from sourcing to shipping of the final goods.
- Vegan means that the product is totally free of animal ingredients and animal byproducts.
This opens up a whole new can of (gummy) worms.
How to spot non-vegan ingredients:
Some animal ingredients are pretty easy to spot, like wool, honey, beeswax, yogurt, and gelatin.
Animal by-products, however, are a different story.
You may unknowingly buy something that contains squalene or ambergris, only to find out that you’ve just surprised a vegan with shark liver oil or whale intestines.
Here are some other possibly animal-derived ingredients commonly found in cosmetics, food, and other products:
- Albumen / Albumin
- Alpha-Hydroxy Acids (Lactic Acid)
- Biotin
- Caprylic Acid
- Carmine / Cochineal / Carminic Acid
- Castor / Castoreum
- Chitosan
- Civet
- Collagen
- Elastin
- Guanine / Pearl Essence
- Hydrolyzed Animal Protein
- Keratin
- Lipase
- Monoglycerides / Glycerides
- Musk
- Oleic Acid
- Pepsin
- Sable Brushes
- Shellac / Resinous Glaze
- Tallow / Tallow Fatty Alcohol / Stearic Acid
Check out this PETA article for a more complete list.
To make it easy, some companies and products may bear a logo from one of the big vegan certifying bodies:
- Vegan.org (internationally recognized)
- Vegan Society UK (based in the UK but internationally recognized)
Avoiding animal testing
As with all conscious consumerism, transparency is a key thing to look for when it comes to animal-friendly gifts.
Many brands have started to share their position on animal testing or sourcing 100% cruelty-free products.
A company’s FAQ or About Us page is a good place to look.
Even easier, there are three trusted certification bodies to look out for:
- PETA (us based but recognized internationally)
- Leaping Bunny (internationally recognized)
- Choose Cruelty Free (an Australian based certification)
However, even with these certifications, you may only have a finished product that is cruelty free—not one that has been made with cruelty free ingredients/materials.
When in doubt, put your socials scrolling to good use by reaching out to a brand on their Instagram or Facebook account.
Final Thoughts On The Best Cruelty Free Gifts Gifts
Pat yourself on the back for looking for a gift that isn’t just sustainable and useful, but also aligns with your giftee’s ethical values.
Nothing says, “I care about you” more than a gift that also says, “I care about animals.”
We hope this list has provided some useful vegan gift ideas and cruelty free present inspo.
If friends or family are looking for gifts that will leave someone feeling warm and fuzzy (while protecting our furry friends), pass this along to them.
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