Holiday Gift Giving Ideas
Several months ago, before we knew about Kitten’s Kiss from Eldchrist Winery, we wrote to Benefit Wines to inquire about a wine for Black and Orange. We sent photos of our group’s namesakes, our black cat mascot, Butler, and our ornery orange guy, Oswald. Just recently, we received notice that they had created a label for us and the wines can be purchased from their web site.
Butler's wine label (notice his angel wings).
These wines are only available online, but they are available in several varieties featuring our label, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, and a Sparkling White Wine. For every bottle purchased at $19.99, Black and Orange receives $7. There are even sampler and collector’s packages which allow you to purchase several bottles of wine at a discounted price. And we get a portion of the proceeds from those, too. Plus, all of the wines are shipped directly to your home.
Oswald's wine label (so handsome!).
If you would like to learn more or order wine that features Butler and Oswald, please visit the web site: BenefitWines
Benefit Wines works with many, many charity groups to provide them with wine specifically for their organization. Check out all the many charities they support.
As a child, I used to pour over the Sears Christmas Wish Book that would come to our rural mailbox each autumn just as the wind turned chilly. I hardly ever glance at catalogues much any more, preferring to scrutinize online web sites for the perfect gift, as opposed to paper and ink volumes of goodies.
But I received a really neat “catalogue” in my email today and I wanted to share this with everyone who might not know what to get a few people on their holiday gift list.
The Humane Society of Madison County, in London, Ohio, put together their own version of a “Wish Book” for their shelter animals. From tongue twisting named clinic items such as a hemocytometer or a refractometer to surgery packs and even gas for the shelter van, the catalogue offers many, many suggestions to help the humane society animals. You can even “Adopt-A-Cage” for a dog or cat and your donation will care for the animal during their stay at the shelter until they are adopted into a forever home.
A really great idea for the dogs on your gift list is the “Festive Fido Gift Box” which features an assortment of “Beagle Buddies Bakery” treats. These canine goodies are all natural and made with human grade ingredients (no fair cheating and serving these at your Christmas office party to avoid holiday baking), plus a toy. The boxes can be mailed anywhere in the U.S. in time for Christmas, as long as your order gets to the shelter in time to send them by December 14.
Please peruse the catalogue. There is an order form on the final page with information that you fill in to allow the shelter staff to mail a card to the person you are honoring with your donation.
To view the catalogue, click on the link below. When you click on the link, it will take you to a page that just says: “HSMC Christmas Shopping” and shows the link again. Click on the link once more to bring up the catalogue.
You can also view the catalogue by going to the Humane Society of Madison County’s web site: http://hsmcohio.com/
Spend lots of time looking at this very important catalogue and then order something!
Siamese lovers affectionately call their little chocolate and cream bundles of joy “Meezers.” One of the things you can do as a volunteer for Siamese Rescue is transport cats to their new homes, sometimes in adjacent states, driving a leg of the trip and connecting up with the next transporter. The people who act as cat chauffeurs are part of the volunteer chain called The Meezer Express.
Siamese Rescue even has their own shop called “The Siamese Store: For Everything Siamese.” One of the cute things (of many) that you can buy online through their store is a magnet for the side of your car that tells everyone you are part of The Meezer Express.
The Siamese Store has tons of other cool things, too, and all of the proceeds benefit The Siamese Rescue Center. To see all the Siamese items they have for sale, visit: http://thesiamesestore.com/
You can also find out about volunteer opportunities with Siamese Rescue by visiting: http://va.siameserescue.org/
Or check out their adoptable kitties. There is always a Meezer looking for love.
Holiday Stocking featuring a Siamese kitty face for sale at The Siamese Store.
Santa Black Cat Earrings from PJ Publications
I came across this company in a newsletter I receive from Born Free USA, a charitable organization that works to help “end the suffering of wild animals in captivity, rescue individual animals in need, protect wildlife–including highly endangered species–in their natural habitats, and encourage compassionate conservation globally.” The group works for animals in the trapping and fur industry, for captive exotic animals, and those in entertainment and the international wildlife trade.
When you purchase anything from the PJ Publications web site, enter “BFUSA” in the Promo Code Box with your order and 20% of your purchase (minus the shipping and taxes) will go to Born Free USA.
To see cat themed gifts: http://www.pjpublications.com/Category-CatGifts.htm
To see the Holiday gift collection for animal lovers: http://www.pjpublications.com/Jewelry-HolidaysAnimals.htm
And to see the dog themed gifts: http://www.pjpublications.com/Category-DogGifts.htm
Dachshund Santa Earrings from PJ Publications.
Cat Wallet made of Polyurethane from PJ Publications.
The first thing I want to remind everyone about is to use GoodShop this holiday season if you are purchasing gifts online. GoodShop is powered by GoodSearch, the search engine that donates a penny to your chosen charity each time you use them to search for things. It is just like Google, only it gives back to charities when you use it.
The same is true for GoodShop. Each time you use it and select the charity you want to benefit, GoodShop retailers give a portion of the purchase amount to that charity. You can log into GoodShop by going to: http://www.goodsearch.com/goodshop.aspx
Please put in Black and Orange Cat Foundation when it asks, “Who Do You Support?”
GoodShop is great because all your favorite stores are there: PetSmart, Amazon.com, The Apple Store, Macy’s, Sears, and many, many more. There are even coupons on the site that allow you to save even more and each retailer lists how much of the purchase price comes to your charity. Some give 1-2 percent, others up to 7.5 percent or more. Those percentages really add up.
And if you want to buy books, you can choose from Borders, Barnes and Noble, or a ton of others. Just click on the “Books and Media” link on the side bar and you can choose which bookstore to use.
Since books are one of my favorite gifts to give and receive for any holiday, I wanted to tell you about a few new ones, as well as some award winners.
The first books are for children. The ASPCA always awards the Henry Bergh Children’s Book Award each year to authors who make “a contribution to humane children’s literature.” These are the best of the best for animal loving kids (and adults).
To find the list of the 2008 winners, go to: http://www2.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=edu_bookaward_2008_list
All of these books can be purchased on the ASPCA web site or through Amazon.com. By purchasing them on Amazon.com, you can also support us through GoodShop!
To see all the books in the ASPCA bookstore, including the yearly award winners, go to: http://www.aspcaonlinestore.com/index.php?categoryID=104
And finally, Nathan J. Winograd has a new book out as a follow up to his huge hit, Redemption, The Myth of Pet Overpopulation & The No Kill Revolution in America. Called Irreconcilable Differences, The Battle for the Heart and Soul of America’s Animal Shelters, the new book looks at how animal lovers everywhere are standing up to the excuses given by many high kill animal shelters to justify killing.
Winograd’s earlier book Redemption won numerous awards for its groundbreaking ideas, including debunking and challenging the myth that “killing animals in U. S. shelters is an act of kindness.”
To learn more about these books and to purchase them, please visit Winograd’s web site: http://www.nathanwinograd.com/
Both are available at Amazon.com. I just bought my copies through GoodShop and picked B and O as my charity! Hurrah!
Very soon I will be announcing a new wine that is going to feature rescue kitties that Black and Orange Cat Foundation helped. The wine, produced by Eldchrist Winery here in Plain City, showcases B and Mittens, feline brothers who went through one of our clinics. The owners of the Winery wanted to give back to us, so a portion of the proceeds from the sale of their “Kitten’s Kiss” wine will go to Black and Orange to help support our sterilization efforts. We’ll let you know more about that as soon as the wine is released. We have tasted the wine and it is SUPER!
But for now, we want to tell you about these wines by Carivintas Winery which honor the Vicktory Dogs, the dogs used in Michael Vick’s dog fighting horrors. The wine labels showcase portraits of the various Vicktory dogs, as well as an inspiring story about the featured dog. Because Best Friends Animal Sanctuary helped save the Vicktory dogs and found homes for them, the Winery is offering a Vicktory Dog Wine of the Day at a discounted rate with 25 percent of the proceeds going to Best Friends.
To see all of the Vicktory Dogs Wines and order yours, go to: http://www.dogloverswineclub.com/vicktorydogs?orderby=PXPC.DisplayOrder%20Asc,%20P.ProductName%20ASC&startrow=1
You can also become a part of the Wine Club and have wines shipped to you monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly. The Carivintas Winery not only has a Vicktory Dogs Wine Club, but one for Dog, Cat, and Horse Lovers. I entered our neighbor in the Dog Lovers Wine Club last year (and again this year) and it was probably the best gift she has ever received. She is always so excited now when the mail comes (even if it isn’t time for her wine shipment)! The Winery supports animal shelters and rescue groups across the country and proudly touts this on their site.
You can also order art prints of the animals that were featured on wine labels or create your own label featuring your companion animal. How cool would that be? To have a bottle of wine with your fluffball’s face peering out at you!
And check out their other merchandise, including a weiner dog wine holder: http://www.dogloverswineclub.com/index.cfm?method=storeproducts.showList&productcategoryid=adca6e43-f484-6de8-3a4f-b8cb3c0aada6
For all of us here in Ohio who are fighting the Puppy Mill fight, I love these t-shirts. And not only are they cool and express all our thoughts on puppy mills, $5 from the sale of each t-shirt also goes toward the Best Friends’ Puppies Aren’t Products campaign.
To purchase your own t-shirt and others, with slogans such as “Fairy Dogmother” and “Mom-of-A-Bitch” visit the Fleas Please web site: http://fleasplease.com/
And to read more about Best Friends’ Puppies Aren’t Products, visit: http://network.bestfriends.org/campaigns/puppymills/default.aspx
I thought that since we are coming up on the holiday gift giving season, I would try to alert everyone to unique gift items that I come across that not only would be very appreciated by any animal lovers in your life, but would also give back to various charitable rescue organizations. Not only do you give a great gift, but you also support rescue work. It is a winning situation for everyone.
The first place I’d like to direct everyone to is the Dogs Deserve Better web site. They have a ton of cool and very uplifting items for sale that help them promote their work of getting dogs off of chains and into homes. I had a very nice email from Dawn Ashby who is the Illinois rep for the group. She had read the story I posted about Squanto, the chained deaf dog who was killed when he was run over by a grain semi. She thought many of us might be interested in Dogs Deserve Better’s new book, Unchain My Heart, Dogs Deserve Better Rescue Stories of Courage, Compassion, and Caring. The book is edited by DDB Founder Tamara Ci Thayne and Dawn. It is made up of happy endings–all the joyous rescue stories DDB has been able to help with. I have already ordered my copy, which I will pass along to our area library when I have finished reading it. And I also bought one for my friend who helped me try to save Squanto’s life.
To order your copy go to: http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/unchainmyheart.html
Besides this wonderful book, the site also offers other lovely stuff for those involved in rescue work, such as the “Release Your Joy This Holiday Season” greeting cards (I used this image in the story about Squanto) and Rescue Angel Temporary Tattoos.
To order the tattoos: http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/rescuetemptattoos.html
Or the greeting cards: http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/rescuetemptattoos.html
There are lots of other great gift items in the Dogs Deserve Better store, including shirts, hats, and children’s books that we know the dog lovers (and cat lovers) in your life will enjoy. And your purchases will help this group continue their important work.
To see everything in the store, including one of my very favorite children’s books, Buddy Unchained, the story of a chained dog who finally gets to experience life in a home, go to: http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/store.html
