Organic

"Vitality MOT" from Neal's Yard Remedies
Price £30.00 per session

The Vitality MOT uses 4 Plant Vitality Types (seeds, roots, shoots and flower) to tailor a diet / treatment programme to your individual needs.

Before going along to my local Neal's Yard Remedies store for my consultation I was asked to take their Vitality Quiz online - it only took a couple of minutes to answer 13 questions about myself, the conclusion of which was to tell me my dominant vitality type, which I advised to my practitioner at the beginning of my session. NB do remember to make a note of your axis 1 and axis 2 scores, as these help the practitioner to refine her advice to you.

Your therapist will then develop a tailored four-week programme which will include suggestions for appropriate essential oils, flower remedies, herbal preparations, combined with diet and lifestyle advice to fully restore your vitality.

Ecological

"Solar Business Bag" from eCharger
Price £45.00

Laptop bag with additional document storage section and various pockets for pens, mobile phone etc. The bag itself is not made of eco-friendly materials, but it does have the addition of a solar panel for charging your phone, MP3 player etc.

The instructions included with the bag are not the easiest to follow. However, all you really need to know is that you will need to purchase 4 AAA rechargeable batteries to put into the power box, which you then connect to the wire attached to the solar panel. Then stand the bag upright, with the solar panel in full sunlight to charge the batteries, and attach the device you want to charge to the 6v or 19v outlet using the appropriate adapter (adapters are included for various phones, cameras and games consoles, and additional adapters can be purchased separately if required).

I tried it on my Nokia 6300 phone on a sunny day in October, and 2 hours in the sun charged it to about 20%, so I would suggest the solar panel is handy to use in an emergency if you can't get to a fixed power supply to charge your phone, but may not be suitable for regular charging.

Ethical

"Cala Silver Filigree Earrings" from La Nativa
Price £14.99

Fairtrade sterling silver filigree earrings, individually handcrafted in Paraguay. A beautiful filigree cala flower hangs beneath a delicate spiders web.

The earrings measure approx 3.5cm long and are presented in a strong cardboard gift box.