How to Buy or Make a Vegan Gift Basket

Making a vegan gift basket can be tricky because animal-derived products can be present in foods, cosmetics and personal care items in non-obvious ways. Fortunately there are large websites dedicated to vegan shopping so you you don't have to do your own research. Here are some suggestions for items to include in the vegan gift basket, and some sources for buying them.

Step 1 If you are looking for the easiest way, buy a vegan gift basket at Pangea. They have a nice selection of personal care and food-based vegan gift baskets, including chocolate lover gift baskets.

Step 2 Visit the Chocolate Decadence website and pick out a selection of chocolates and other sweets. Or buy one of their gift baskets.

Step 3 Add vegan wine or a non-alcoholic sparkling beverage like Martinelli's Sparkling Cider or Sparkling Pomegranate Juice. Frey Wines is a good source for vegan organic wines. You can find other brands in the vegan alcohol directory on the Barnivore website.

Step 4 Add gourmet food items to a vegan gift basket, such as: gourmet dried musrooms like maitake or porcini mushrooms, coconut jerky, goji berries, agave nectar, and white tea.

Step 5 Fill an inexpensive vegan gift basket with items like Martinelli's Sparkling Cider, small candies such as Endagered Species Bug Bites chocolate or Sunspire Earth Balls, and a bag of vegan baked vegetable chips. If you want to add a little something else, put in a small bottle of essential oil such as lavender or palmarosa.

Step 6 Fill a woman's vegan gift basket with vegan cosmetics and personal care items. Most mineral makeups are vegan, and there are many companies with full cosmetics lines that are vegan. For someone who likes to make their own cosmetics at home, jojoba oil, rosa mosqueta oil, shea butter and essential oils are all vegan and make great products for a vegan gift basket. For more details on finding vegan cosmetics, see the Resources section below for a link to the article, "How to Buy Vegan Natural Cosmetics."

Step 7 Fill a man's vegan gift basket with soap, shampoo, shaving cream and after shave.

Step 8 Find more things to add to a vegan gift basket at vegan shopping sites such as Vegan Essentials and Pangea.