When purchasing gifts for friends and loved ones this holiday season, consider supporting people and businesses that enlighten us about and celebrate the mixed roots experience. Here are a few of our favorite mixed roots gift ideas for you to consider. We’ve included their social media info so you can follow and support them year round too!
In no particular order:
Mixed Up Clothing
“Founded in 2010, Mixed Up Clothing
is a multiethnic children’s clothing line inspired by the textiles, cultures and people of the world, to develop friendships through fabrics. Mixed Up Clothing is an ethnic-inspired baby/children’s fashion line that celebrates diversity. The textiles, fabrics, and embellishments from all over the world inspire your mini global citizen to embrace and appreciate the beauty of the 21st Century’s Americana family.”
Gift Ideas: Unique and fashionable clothes for all the littles (N to size 7) in your life.
Twitter @mixedupclothing
www.facebook.com/mixedupclothing
Belle
If you haven’t heard of the movie Belle, it is time you did! Now you can own it and share with everyone you know!! The Mixed Roots Stories team saw the movie in the theaters. You can find our reviews here.
Gift Ideas: Belle is available on DVD to share with friends, family, and more!
https://www.facebook.com/bellethemovie
Eighth Generation
“Louie [Gong] is the founder of Eighth Generation, through which he merges traditional Coast Salish art with icons from popular culture and influences from his mixed heritage to make strong statements about identity.”
“The name “Eighth Generation” references the inter tribal value of “Seven Generations”, which suggests that we consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations. By naming my business Eighth Generation, I embed respect for the previous generations all my work and recognize that my successes are a result of our collective effort. Eight is also a lucky number in Cantonese because, when spoken, it sounds the same as the word for prosperity.” –Louie Gong
Gift Ideas: With a wide array of goods, you can probably find something for everyone on your list from this Canadian mixed roots artist. Visit his site to see the variety of goods: jewelry, clothing, bags, pillows, blankets, skateboards, greeting cards, shoes, phone cases, notebooks/journals, and art work:
Twitter @8thgen
www.facebook.com/EighthGenerationbyLouieGong
The Singer and the Songwriter
Formerly Ampersand, The Singer and the Songwriter brilliantly fuse together pop, jazz, folk, and blues creating a unique new classic and sophisticated sound. “Their music is a stylistic hybrid, reflecting their diverse musical and cultural backgrounds.” Listen to our interview with them HERE.
Gift Ideas: A great stocking stuffer or maybe a gift for yourself: their debut album What a Difference a Melody Makes is a gift that will keep on giving.
Twitter @thesingthesong
https://www.facebook.com/thesingerandthesongwriter
instagram.com/thesingerandthesongwriter
6 Degrees of Hapa
“6 
Degrees of Hapa is a family-owned business that’s all about celebrating mixed cultures and spreading a little Hapa pride. What we think of when we hear the term “haps”: To us, hapa means that you’re a mix of cultures, you might be Asian, Pacific-Islander, or Hawaiian (or maybe even a combination!). But… We like to think that everyone’s got a little Hapa influence in their lives, which is why we decided to name ourselves 6 Degrees of Hapa.The idea for 6 Degrees of Hapa came about when our family and our friends, who are also a Hapa family, started discussing how there weren’t many brands that were created for and by Hapas. Think about it–we’re a very large and diverse community with our own cultures and subcultures, so why not celebrate it?”
Gift Ideas: For unique handmade jewelry, screen printed t-shirts for all ages and more check out 6 degrees of hapa!
Twitter @6degreesofhapa
www.facebook.com/6DegreesofHapa
Meditating Bunny/One Big Hapa Family/Mixed Match
“Meditati
ng Bunny Studio Inc. was founded in 2001 by filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns. Based in Vancouver, BC, this Webby award-winning and Emmy® nominated boutique animation studio specializes in the creation of animated, documentary, and experimental films aimed at both children and adults that combine different philosophical and social elements together to create humorous inspiring stories.”
We are big fans of Jeff’s ink drawings…Chandra has a set of his owl drawings framed in her living room! Many of #inktober drawings were mixed animals, like this rhino/unicorn. Though these drawings are only being sold at select events, follow Meditating Bunny throughout the year to see when you can get your pictures to hang throughout your home!
Gift Ideas: In the mean time you can support his work, specifically his current project, Mixed Match, by purchasing any of his number of films already produced: Yellow Sticky Notes/ CanadianAnijam, Ode to a Post-It Note, Yellow Sticky Notes, One Big Hapa Family, or “What Are You Anyways?”. These movies are great teaching tools!
Twitter @meditatingbunny
www.facebook.com/meditatingbunny
MAVIN
“MAVIN builds healthier communities by providing educational resources about Mixed Heritage experiences.”
One of the resources that MAVIN has created is the Multiracial Child Resource Book. With the self-identified multiracial community continuing to grow, this book remains relevant and just as important as ever.
Gift Ideas: The Multiracial Child Resource book is a great gift for educators, community workers, youth workers, librarians, parents, etc. and only $15 (including shipping!).
http://www.mavinfoundation.org/new/multiracial-child-resource-book/
https://www.facebook.com/mixedheritage
Mixed Roots Stories
“We are a non profit that believes that stories have the power to strengthen communities. We support mixed roots storytelling through producing events, and through online, in-person and educational outreach.” Donations assist in supporting and bringing workshop facilitators, films and filmmakers, live performances and performers, educational programming, authors, and other artists to conferences and events near you.
Gift Ideas: Consider giving the gift of a donation in a family’s or friend’s name for the holidays. All donations are tax deductible and makes our work possible.
www.mixedrootsstories.com/donate
Twitter @ourmixdstories