Christmas
With our top tips for a cruelty-free Christmas, it really is the season to be jolly!
1st December
First thing's first - advent calendars. You can, of course, buy the old fashioned kind, where there's a picture of a bell or a lamb behind the windows, but no chocolate. Or you could make your own and put vegan chocolates behind each of the windows and give them to your friends as a special Christmas treat. But if you're not feeling very artistic, and you definitely want chocolate, then help is at hand! Vegan Store have wonderful reusable advent calendars that come with 24 vegan treats - go on, spoil yourself!
12th December
Time to be thinking about decorating the Christmas tree... Baubles and tinsel are simple enough, but what about those chocolate, foil-covered snowmen that the kids love? Once again, it's Veganstore to the rescue. They have bags of 6 snowmen to hang from your tree (if you can resist them for long enough!)
Christmas Eve
Rudolph and the gang are happy enough with carrots, but we all know that Santa Claus enjoys a bit of Christmas cake and a little sip of something to warm him up on a cold winter night. We've got a wonderful recipe for vegan Christmas cake that's guaranteed to get you onto Santa's 'nice' list, but if you're pressed for time and want to buy a cake try Pantri Nolwenn's Cognac Fruit Cake - Christmas cake with a kick! - or Paul's Tofu have gluten-free and organic Christmas cakes. Santa will want to wash that down with a wee dram, so check out our alcohol list to find out what's vegan.
Christmas Day
So the day's finally arrived and the relatives are on their way - but what do you feed them?! You know they're just waiting for the opportunity to say 'but Christmas just isn't the same without turkey' and you really don't want to end up in another argument about the horrors of poultry farming, so you have to make sure dinner is so delicious that they'll never want to eat turkey again.
Redwoods have the answer. For the perfect Christmas dinner try their Celebration Roast with steamed cabbage, carrots, brussels sprouts and roast potatoes - smother it all in gravy (which Redwoods have thoughtfully provided) and serve with a dollop of cranberry sauce. Just make sure you make plenty of it since even your most carnivorous relatives will be demanding seconds!
If you prefer to do a spot of home cooking, then try one of our delicious Christmas¬?recipes¬?- there's plenty to chose from!
Ah, but the fun's not over yet... Next, they'll be demanding the cheese course, so make sure you've got some delicious Redwoods Mature Cheddar Style Cheezly with Cranberries, or try Bute Island's Blue Scheese with biscuits.
By now, they'll all be in such a good mood that it won't be long before they start singing 'bring us some figgy pudding...' You can now buy vegan Christmas pudding in most supermarkets, and almost all local healthfood shops - check out the Animal Free Shopper for stockists. Paul's Tofu sells organic and gluten-free varieties and good old Veganstore stock a couple of different brands. If you prefer to make your own, we've got a rather nice recipe you can follow. Whatever you do, don't forget the brandy!
As if all that food weren't enough, there's still the mince pie course to go. Again, you can make these yourself or they can be found in most food shops. We recommend you treat yourself after all your hard work with some of the unusual varieties available from Paul's Tofu - roll on next Christmas!