I usually have mixed feelings about halloween because it’s the day before my birthday. Suddenly it strikes midnight, and everyone’s wishing happy birthday to you, dressed as smurfette. It’s an odd way to start a year.
But yes, I was born on All Saint’s Day, though I hear from my exes that that doesn’t necessarily make me a saint. Whatev. Here’s my new froogle wish list. No reason — Just as an FYI –
In anticipation, I’ve gone ahead and bought myself an early present: Fair trade Trick-or-Treat Chocolates, now avaliable from Global Exchange’s e-store. I know you’re actually supposed to give these to kids, but I’ll enjoy them so much more if I eat them myself…
Cost: $7.49 for 36 pieces of crispy milk chocolates wrapped in 100% biodegreable cellophane, plus tax and shipping, which brings the total to $12.08. A little pricy, unfortunately, considering the “get 3 bags of bite-size snickers for $2″ type halloween deals.
Then again, those bargain chocs are made through child slavery and destroying habitats. I’ll consider the fair trade stuff gourmet, which makes it quite a bargain — 36 pieces of halloween chocolates from Godiva cost $40.
We really need to get these in stores so I’m not forking over $3.95 in shipping fees every 28 days –
**Update, 9/21/05: The chocolates arrived, along with a complimentary copy of the fall 2005 issue of Global Exchange’s newsletter! I read while gobbling chocolates — They’re super cute, yummy, and quickly disappearing –
**Update, 9/24/05: Global Exchange has come up with a whole Trick or Treat Kit, complete with these chocolates, a poster, and postcards about fair trade. I’m gonna skip on it, because I feel that the fair trade “message” would be lost on the kids — I don’t wanna be thought of as the stingy bitch that gave them one lousy chocolate and a postcard. Such messages, I think, are better reserved for the adults — and I don’t wanna alienate the kids trying to reach their parents…
**Update, 9/27/05: Well, that was fast — The fair trade trick or treat chocs are all sold out, 10 days after they went on the market, despite the rather high shipping fee. You can, however, get more fair trade halloween candy here. Nothing’s really like chocolate though –
Filed in: fairtrade chocolate environment globalexchange organic
i can’t believe it is almost halloween again! it seems like just yesterday i was spending hours searching for fair trade, vegan halloween treats that trick or treaters would enjoy. this is what we ended up giving out:
for those who want to give out VEGAN fair trade chocolate, there are bug bites from endangered species chocolate. no cute halloween-themed wrapping, but kids love the little bug trading cards included with each bug bite.
another “fair trade” vegan treat that the kids love is temporary tattoos. they are made in the usa, which i generally consider to be “fair-enough” trade unless i have reason to believe otherwise.
both treats were very popular with the kids. i guess i better get going ordering our supply for this year!
Comment by jen — September 20, 2005 @ 8:28 am
I can’t afford the halloween chocolates to hand out to kids, which is a shame. That’s just way too much per bag. I can’t afford to think of it as gourmet, I can’t afford to think of it as a “fair” trade and I hate that because I’d really like to support it.
While we’re getting things certified, we also need to let the people SELLING them know that Fair Trade does not need to equate to “gourmet, so pay WAAAY more.” because honestly, if you look at folks like TJ’s, Monkey and Sons, other chocolate vendors, you see that it is possible to market Fair Trade goods at a reasonable price. They’re doing it. It’s like the way they overprice green cotton and enviro friendly household cleansers. It isn’t necessary to DO that. You don’t HAVE to make 600% on the mark up and not everyone who wants to buy Fair Trade is a yuppy trendanista.
I’ll pay more? But I’m not rich and I can’t afford to be stupid in the name of ethics. Make it reasonable and more people will come. There is a balance to be struck between 3 bags of snickers for $2 and nearly $8 for a bag of 36 chocolates. So while we’re agitating for certification and availability, we need to agitate for reasonable and fair pricing, too.
Comment by Will Pillage For Yarn — September 20, 2005 @ 12:42 pm
Don’t get me started on Godiva. My fiancee paid $6 for a choclate covered strawberry. If chooclate is on the commodities, it’s time to sell.
Comment by MyManMisterC — September 20, 2005 @ 12:53 pm
Gosh, why would you need a bag of chocolate every 28 days??? Sigh… it’s sad but true!
Comment by Andrea — September 20, 2005 @ 3:05 pm
Mmm, chocolate. Being socially conscious never tasted so good. Thanks for the info. I liked the ideas that Jen offered above too.
Comment by Stephanie — September 20, 2005 @ 4:44 pm
Hey Pillager — I totally agree that the fair trade chocolates seem rather pricy — These are the instances when I think Starbucks did do some good for fair trade coffee, getting us all used to paying $4 for a latte. Because you can get a huge can of Folgers for $4 — but a lot of people now know that that’s pretty shitty tasting coffee. It wasn’t hard, then, for people accept the higher prices for fair trade coffee.
With chocolate though, this hasn’t happened, and we still feel we should be able to buy lots of chocolate at v. low prices. Most people’s tastebuds aren’t refined enough to shun snickers as crappy stuff, for one.
Because I don’t know the nitty gritty economics behind chocolate production, I really don’t know if companies are unfairly jacking up prices of socio-eco-conscious chocolate, or if this IS what socio-eco-conscious chocolate really costs. Either way, the only way at the moment to avoid endorsing chocolate production’s slave labor policies is to buy the expensive stuff.
I’m wondering if this may be a time to rethink some of our halloween traditions — our tradition of greeting each trick-or-treater with a handful of cheap chocolates, to be consumed in rather unhealthy doses for the following weeks. Perhaps handing each child a single, gourmet, eco-friendly, slave-labor free, biodegreable-cellophane-wrapped fair trade chocolate can help us reconceptualize what we consider “treats” in our consumer culture.
Comment by Siel — September 20, 2005 @ 5:03 pm