20 Christmas gift ideas guaranteed to spread smiles

Following a recent survey, we  discovered over 8 in 10 Irish people are open to buying a charity gift this Christmas. So we wanted to show you the Christmas gifts we have on offer here at Oxfam Ireland. We are very excited about our gift range this year - these gifts are guaranteed to spread smiles on your family and friends’ faces this Christmas morning!

1. Chocolate - This gift helps people to develop sustainable and secure livelihoods like cocoa farming. For example, you could help support cocoa farmers by providing them with everything they need from cocoa seeds to tools, training and marketing advice.

2. A Share in a Farmyard - This gift gives people livelihood opportunities as part of our Investing in Futures projects. You’re helping communities who rely on animals to make a secure and sustainable living by helping to provide what they need most which may be livestock, agricultural or veterinary or grain banks.

3. Eco-Stoves - This gift helps people to stay safe and warm in emergency and crisis situations. Fuel efficient eco-stoves provide people with warmth and a way to cook food. They also reduce the need for women to venture in search of firewood into areas where they are at risk of attack – and makes it one of the ways we keep women and girls safe after they’ve been forced to flee their homes in an emergency. 

4. School books - This gift will support amazing Oxfam initiatives in Malawi aimed at helping orphans and vulnerable children get into school and to stay there. It will open a new chapter in life for children affected by severe poverty, helping them to access the education they need to learn and grow.

5. Care for a baby - Babies are among the vulnerable people Oxfam watches over when disaster strikes. By giving this gift of care, you’ll help families, from the youngest member to the oldest, survive crisis situations through life-saving emergency aid.

6. Honeybees - This gift helps people to develop sustainable and secure livelihoods like bee-keeping. For example, you could help rural farmers to learn about the latest beekeeping methods and how harvest more honey from their hives.

Some photos from our Season of Smiles Christmas event at Oxfam George's Street featuring Houdini the pig who came along to help us promote our Unwrapped Gift Range including the gift of Three Little Pigs.  Photos: Nathalie Marquez Courtney

7. A Clutch of Chicks - This gift is more than a bit of yellow fluff – you’ll actually be helping to make possible a whole range of life-changing livelihoods projects. By providing communities who depend on animals for their livelihoods with new opportunities, you’ll be supporting them in a variety of ways, including veterinary care for their animals, agricultural training or even village grain banks.

8. Educate a Girl - Girls are more likely than boys to be kept out of school, which denies them life-changing opportunities. Supporting women of all ages to learn and grow is one of the many ways this gift makes a positive difference. This gift is enabling girls to get an education and reach their true potential.

9. Safe water for families - The gift of safe water saves lives and helps families to thrive. With this gift, we can help set up or maintain a safe water supply with pumps, tanks, taps, purification systems or pipes.

10. Fix a Well - This gift can provide labour, tools and other support to maintain a well or water point, or fix a fractured supply. Repairing fractured water supplies and ensuring people have safe drinking water is just one of the ways you can help save lives through our humanitarian work.

11. A Goat - This gift supports people who depend on animals like goats for their livelihood. By donating a goat, you’ll be helping families to develop a sustainable way of living and lift their communities out of severe poverty in a variety of ways, including veterinary care for their animals, agricultural training or even village grain banks.

One of our Oxfam Unwrapped gift cards. There's 15 to choose from starting from as little as €5 / £3. Photo: Keith McManus / Oxfam Ireland

12. Feed 10 Families - This gift supports vital humanitarian work through our Saving Lives programme. Providing food in the aftermath of a natural disaster or in a refugee camp is just one of the ways you’ll help families in the most difficult of times. 

13. A Goat Couple - This gift supports people who depend on animals like goats for their livelihood. A breeding pair will not only produce twice the fertiliser but they’ll also make more goats for either growing the herd or passing on to another family.

14. Three Little Pigs - We all know the story of the three little pigs, but this gift provides a happy ever after for many families by funding a variety of livelihoods projects that develop better farming methods. By purchasing this gift, you’ll be helping people who rely on animals for their livelihoods to lift their communities out of severe poverty.

15. Safe Water for a School - This very generous gift is for those who want to make a big change for many. Large gifts like this can be tailored to the areas of work you’re interested in. For example, you could help set up or maintain a clean water supply for a school with pumps, tanks, taps, purification systems or pipes and help children, teachers, parents and community leaders understand just how important hygiene is to health.

16. An eCard – Maybe you’re looking for something last minute or easy to send overseas? And a goat doesn’t immediately come to mind! All of the gifts listed above are available as a physical card or as a beautifully designed eCard, personalised with your details.

17. An Oxfam computer – The computers available in our online store have been fully restored, tested and given a new lease of life. They have a 12 month warranty, are a fraction of the retail price they cost new and as each sale contributes to our work to end poverty. They really are good computers! 

Pick up a refurbishedor in-store while stocks last. Photo: Brian Malone / Oxfam Ireland

18. A Christmas donation – With your support, we’ll be able to respond immediately during disasters, while also supporting people’s efforts to overcome poverty for the long term. Around the clock and around the world, we’re working tirelessly to right the wrong of poverty and injustice and we can only do it with your help. 

19. A book - Whether it's a fictional adventure to imaginary lands, a biographical piece with lessons from history, or something entirely different, Oxfam bookstores located throughout Ireland contain lots of books that have the power to spark curiosity, introduce innovation, and open opportunity!

20. Something nice for your home - Our Oxfam Home stores offer a superb range of furniture and homewares to suit every budget and home and so make the perfect Christmas gift. As well as helping raise vital funds for our work with communities affected by poverty, buying from Oxfam Home means you’re helping the environment too by recycling furniture that was destined for the local landfill. 

Well there you have it - twenty charitable Christmas gift ideas! The majority of these gifts can also be ordered online, giving you more time to do the things that really matter this Christmas.

For gift card delivery before Christmas, order by Friday, December 18th if you’re buying online or by phone (RoI: 1850 30 40 55 / NI: 0800 0 30 40 55). If you find yourself in need of a last-minute gift, however, don’t worry - you can buy an Oxfam Unwrapped eCard super quick on our online store.