i have two very dear friends (both long-distance friends) who have expressed interest in going vegan. i want to send them each a "vegan care package"… or maybe i should call it a "starter kit"? anyway, i’d like to put together a little packet of goodies for each of them. i’m thinking a combination of information (like leaflets, or veg starter kits, or what have you), treats (like, say, liz lovely cookies, or tings), goodies (like, well, lip balm. heh.), and maybe a list of my favorite brands or something, to help with shopping ideas.
am i weird?
vegan chai 
quite the opposite actually. i would have loved to get such a thing when i started going vegan!
no, I think it’s a lovely idea. I wish someone had done that for me ;)–Really, it’s thoughtful and shows that it’s more than food—and that there are lots of options for living cruelty free.
Kari
That’s wonderful of you do to for your friends! Not weird at all!
I think it is lovely, not weird! I’ve had good luck doing things like that, even when it seemed like more of a risk. (getting cloth diaper for a friend’s baby shower even though she’s really only expressed mild interest! she says she wouldn’t have tried them if I hadn’t made it convenient for her and now she wouldn’t use anything else!)
I think sometimes you can get coupons too. I am not sure exactly how you’d go about this, other than just contacting some companies (like yves and temptation…) and ask them if they’d send you some coupons so you could encourage some friends to try their products. Can’t hurt to ask!
Oh, it might be sort of time consuming, but something I did for a friend (at her request) was make a little cookbook of some of my favorite recipes that I thought she’d probably like. I got one of those little flip photo albums, and put the recipes in there. I’m not creative enough to do anything other than just collect the recipes and this seemed like a fun way to both display them and use them in the kitchen – the paper is protected behind plastic, which is really cool. Did this for my mom too, and she uses it quite a bit! 🙂
No matter what goes into the care package, I think they’ll love it. It’s called a care pacakge because, well, because it is a way to show we care. What’s not to love about that? 🙂
a starter kit is a brilliant idea!
Not weird at all. When any of my friends are considering a change in diet (toward the healthy), I take them on a “tour” of the NFS to help them find things to eat. I know just about every nook and cranny of that place and my friends have really enjoyed it. 🙂
Lovely idea! Another possibility, if your friends live in the right area, is to give them a gift certificate to a vegan restaurant or bakery; then they can have fun picking stuff out.
Lovely idea! Another possibility, if your friends live in the right area, is to give them a gift certificate to a vegan restaurant or bakery; then they can have fun picking stuff out.
oh, wow, thank you SO much for all the feedback! this is totally helpful, and you’ve given me some wonderful ideas i hadn’t even considered. hooray! i’ll keep you posted on the final products!
oh, wow, thank you SO much for all the feedback! this is totally helpful, and you’ve given me some wonderful ideas i hadn’t even considered. hooray! i’ll keep you posted on the final products!
what they all said!
what they all said!
Weird? Heck no. Most people are in the dark about all the great vegan options out there. You’re just opening eyes.
Actually I think it’s very admirable. I am a vegan currently deployed to Iraq and it can be pretty hard. I think that helping your friends with a care package of vegan goodies will make the whole transition easier. I remember first becoming a vegan, I was vegetarian first, and thinking that it would be really difficult to find anything I could have guilt-free and it really isn’t that hard – you just have to know where to look and a lot of things we eat are vegan and can be made vegan really easily. So, keep in touch. I’ll be back to visit soon.
Your pal,
Jeff