Literacy Inspired Gifts

Bookmarks from Beautiful Words

Beautiful Words is a bookmark company out of Windsor, Ontario. Their bookmark designs include thought-provoking questions about books. This for-profit social enterprise was created to help people have engaging thoughts and conversations about what they’re reading. There are a variety of bookmarks geared towards different themes and age groups. 10% of the proceeds go to the WindsorEssex Community Foundation to support literacy.

Check them out here: www.wearebeautifulwords.ca.

Items from Out of Print

Out of Print’s products feature popular book covers and literary references. They offer apparel, accessories, and more for book lovers of all ages. Each purchase helps to fund literacy programs and book donations to communities in need. It also supports the authors, publishers and artists who made these iconic works an integral part of our lives.

Check them out here: www.outofprint.com.

You can also buy some of their items locally through London’s own Purple Moose Sock Company!

Items from the YOU store

Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU) is a wonderful organization in the London/Middlesex community. They provide wraparound support to help youth on their journey to success. Whether they are in need of basic needs support, housing, access to physical, mental or dental health care, or education and employment supports, YOU’s services are designed to help youth lead positive lives.

YOU operates several social enterprises in London/Middlesex that support youth in gaining skills and meaningful work experience. All proceeds from social enterprise sales support YOU’s programming. Their products include a variety of yummy jams and sauces from their Mushed by YOU enterprise, and woodworking products from their YOU Made It Woodshop.

Shop the YOU store here: www.store.you.ca/collections/all.

Additionally, YOU has Christmas and New Year meals available for pre-order through their social enterprise YOU Made it Café—wouldn’t it be a great gift to not have to shop, prep, or cook this holiday season!? Learn what’s available and access the pre-order links here: www.store.you.ca/pages/events (meal orders are due by December 21st at 4 PM).

Games

Games are a great way to have fun while enhancing literacy and essential skills! Below are a few family-friendly games we’d recommend.

• Bananagrams
• Quiddler
• Hedbanz
• Boggle

Books and book related items

Of course, we cannot forget the value of gifting a good book or a bookstore gift card. Consider supporting a small, independent bookshop this Christmas by visiting Attic Books, Brown & Dickson Bookstore, City Lights Bookshop, Oxford Book Shop, or any one of the amazing locally owned book stores in your area!

Items that make one’s reading experience more enjoyable are also great gifts. Think reading socks, a warm sweater or blanket, a comfy chair, noise cancelling headphones, etc.

Donations

Do you have someone in your life that doesn’t like to receive gifts? Giving a donation in their name to a literacy related non-profit is a great alternative.

If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll know that we love Kiva. Kiva is an international non profit with a mission to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive. Individuals can loan money to borrowers in need, and when the loan is paid back, you can reinvest that money in loans for others—it is truly a gift that keeps on giving! You can support just about any cause with a Kiva loan. For example, the gift of a loan could help pay for the educational needs of a child that wouldn’t have been able to attend school otherwise.

Learn more here: www.kiva.org.

Thanks for reading! Do you have suggestions for literacy inspired gifts that we didn’t mention? Add them to the comments below! From all of us at Literacy Link South Central, we wish you a safe and happy holiday break!