Gifts that matter from the brafe.space community

Only 10 days to go and still so much to do? For those of us celebrating Christmas, this is a yearly dilemma. I personally love this time of the year and try to carefully choose presents for my family and a few friends. But it is a delicate balance between buying a gift just because it's christmas and really choosing one in a mindful way. A true gift transports much more than its material value. It creates space - it enlarges the receiver, it weaves a relationship, it extends the material sphere into the realm of love and spirit. Many folktales describe this alchemistic transformation, as when coals turn into gold, when received as gifts.

So here is a selection of inspirations for potentially meaningful gifts from the brafe.space community. They range from small to large, covering all ages and a whole range of topics.

LET’S START WITH THE „USUAL SUSPECTS“ -  BOOKS.

The brafe.space community is full of talented authors and there are many pieces we haven’t even discovered ourselves yet, but here is a handful of books Anna has indulged in throughout the year and can warm-heartedly recommend for this festive season:

• Unlearn Patriarchy by Lisa Jasper

• Aufbrechen by Jeannette Gusko

• Wer Inklusion will findet einen Weg. Wer sie nicht will findet Ausreden by Raul Krauthausen

• Das Ende der Ehe by Emilia Roig

NOW, EVERYONE ENJOYS SOME QUALITY TIME

Be it with yourself: Another meaningful gift, which I myself have gifted already to a few friends, is the Upon meditation bench, designed and handcrafted by Mike in Berlin. Check it out here: https://uponbench.com.

Or with others: It’s gray outside, so why not gift an amazing energetic experience to look forward to next summer. Brafer Stefan Reichmann is the founder of Haldern Pop and a number of us (me amongst them) have already been attending this amazing intimate, rural and very special music festival. You can buy tickets here: https://festival-tickets.haldernpop.com/

Also In this category, Brand New Bundestag adds some humor and joy into a rather depressing political scene with their board game “Mensch ärgere die AfD”-Brettspiel im Angebot: https://brandnewbundestag.de/mensch-aergere-die-afd/ The game will be produced after they receive your order and is expected to be delivered in April 2024. So that you can annoy the AfD at Christmas, they will send you a print-and-play version to print out and play immediately after your order!

PAVING THE WAY TO EASY & ACCESSIBLE BANKING:

A caring gift, especially for older parents and friends is a voucher for Brygge, Cornelia’s App for digital banking. The App provides a friendly and stress-free initiation into a more active and secure financial management.

https://www.gurado.de/brygge

CONTRIBUTING THROUGH A DONATION:

Thanks to Carolin, you can donate to Viva con Agua and support the work for clean drinking water worldwide. It comes with a beautiful donation certificate to send digitally or print out at home. https://www.vivaconagua.org/deine-spende-als-geschenk

Continuing with the donations, this time for Acker https://www.acker.co/  you can help bring agriculture back into schools. Food and education combined are highly relevant for our society and this is a beautiful year-end family charity project. The fantastic founder, Christoph, and also part of his team, Saskia, are part of brafe.space.

And if you feel generous you can donate to all of them and found your own foundation at the same time. That’s what bcause is offering, co-founded by Susanna and part of my betterplace community of companies. You could also gift someone their very own foundation. Go this way: https://start.bcause.com/home

BEAUTIFUL STORES, WITH HIGH QUALITY PRODUCTS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE NOT JUST FOR YOU:

And last, but not least, here are three online stores, run by brafers, whose products are beautiful in and of themselves and create meaningful change in the world:

Lisa’s Folkdays https://folkdays.com/, where I recently bought this beautiful bath mat

https://folkdays.de/products/cotton-carpet-with-geometric-pattern-beige-blue-orange-pink-small

Project Tres, founded by Carla, works with victims of domestic violence, who design and craft lovely accessories, toys and other gift, such as this cute elephant. https://projecttres.com/collections/kids/products/chetan-elephant-pillow

And if you are searching for any presents for children, please consider buying them at Tebalou, the online store for diverse games, books, toys and handicrafts founded by one of our brafers, Tebbi. For my godchild I bought this book (co-written by Tebbi) https://tebalou.shop/produkt/so-schlafe-ich-und-wie-schlaefst-du/

P.S. If you want to immerse yourself in the nature of The Gift itself and how the creative spirit transforms the world, I recommend Lewis Hyde’s deep book The Gift.

Happy Holidays to all of you!

From Joana