Get Ready for Valentine’s Day!

If you are looking for a great opportunity to host your first Fair Trade event of the year then Valentine’s Day may be your best bet. Now is the perfect time to begin reaching out and planning your Fair Trade Valentine’s Day Celebrations. Below we have compiled a number of ideas and resources to help make your Valentine’s Day easy and impactful.

Event Ideas:

• Film Screening: Host a screening of the “Dark Side of Chocolate”! Green America sells DVDs for only $6 and has put together a great toolkit to help groups host successful screenings.
• Cocoa Lesson Plan: Do you have contacts at any of the local schools? Equal Exchange has a series of fun and interactive Fair Trade Cocoa lesson plans perfect for the elementary grade levels.
• Fair Trade Rose Sale: Make sure your friends, family and community members are buying Fair Trade flowers this year. Ask your local florists about Fair Trade Roses, if they don’t have any in stock think about buying in bulk from One World Flowers and hosting your own sale!

Fair Trade Products:

• Chocolate: Check out Equal Exchange, Divine Chocolate or Alter Eco for some tasty goodies perfect for friends and family with a sweet tooth.
• Fair Trade Flowers: Whole Foods, Natural Foods and Independent Grocery stores are your best options locally and at FTD Flowers and One World Flowers you can purchase online.
• Fair Trade Jewelry, Teddy Bears and Cards (oh My!): For that special someone think about the Leakey Collection. Or for something a bit more warm think about Teddy Bears from Global Goods Partners. Finally consider an adorable card from Good Paper.

Educational Resources:

• Educate: Present on the basics of Fair Trade Cocoa (suitable for adults and college students).
• Equip the Kids: Global Exchange has some fun and educational Fair Trade Valentines inserts for handing out in classrooms.
• Learn up: check out this Chocolate Scorecard put together by Green America.