The 2023 SVZ Holiday Gift Guide!

Struggling to find those last few gifts for the 'hard to shop for' folks on your list this holiday season? Look no further - the SVZ has you covered!

By: Nabiha Baki

December 15th, 2023

Don’t look now - we’re already halfway through December! We here at the SVZ know how hard it can be to find that perfect gift for everyone on your list, especially with a time crunch. That’s why we put together the 2023 Social Ventures Zone gift guide! Our currently incubated startups and alumni offer a massively diverse selection of products, making it easy to find the perfect gift for everyone on your list; even the “impossible to buy for” types.

Hope Pet Foods

HOPE Pet Foods is ready to prepare pet parents for a more sustainable 2024, with natural and nutrition-rich food and treats for their furry family members. HOPE works to bridge the gap between nutrition and sustainability, aiming to drastically reduce the environmental footprint of the pet food industry and society’s reliance on factory farming by providing sustainable meat-free pet food products.

Do Good Donuts

Multi-award winning SVZ venture Do Good Donuts provides a work-based training program for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities, creating valuable experience and fighting indicators of later life unemployment. You can support the creation of their very first brick-and-mortar location by ordering their specialty cookies and donuts as the perfect social treat to share with your friends and family for holiday get-togethers. Help them bridge the gap between being able to find employment and being prepared enough to be hired by those who see their lack of experience as a barrier for hiring.

Comeback Snacks

Get ready to elevate your movie nights in 2024 with Comeback Snacks’ specialty popcorn! This startup aims to create opportunities for those seeking second chances after facing difficulties with the Canadian legal system. Comeback snacks not only raises awareness for second chances, but also supports reintegration programs to make coming back to society easier. Order popcorn that's so good, it's criminal!

Eat Impact

Save money and fight food waste with Eat Impact this holiday season. Eat Impact works with their expansive list of local partners to rescue fruits and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste due to not meeting the cosmetic retail standard (rude!). The startup aims to encourage a movement to fight climate change through fighting food waste. Order your imperfect perfect fresh produce for your holiday meals now!

NIKU Farms

For your favourite carnivore, a delivery box of high quality, organic, and non-gmo meat! Eat clean with delicious cuts supplied from local farmers who raise their animals the natural way on pasture. NIKU wants to improve the access that people have to ethically raised meat. The meat in the grocery stores is not what it used to be, and we all have the right to know where our food is coming from - the farmers that are raising the animals the natural way are the future, and they need our help!

Kind Karma Company

Give the perfect handcrafted holiday gift from Kind Karma Company. This SVZ startup creates gorgeous handcrafted jewellery and works to break the cycle of poverty by providing paid working opportunities for at-risk and homeless youth. Their aim is to enable them to learn and develop skills to prepare them for the career industry. Prepare to be captivated and shop for your handcrafted jewellery needs like never before!

Spent Goods

Eat, drink, and be merry while working to fight climate change! Spent Goods works to break the cycle of food waste by upcycling food ingredients into jams, soups, bread, pretzels, cookies, crackers and pet food. Reduce your climate change impact and shop for your food needs organically to spend good.

Wastenot Farms

Something for the green thumb in your life! Wastenot Farms creates high value soil additives from waste. These provide a sustainable all-natural alternative to synthetic fertilisers. Help your favourite gardener reduce their environmental footprint this holiday season!

Mayana Geneviere

Give the gift of comfort while not compromising the gift of style this holiday season by shopping at Mayana Genevieve. Their line creates a perfectly designed and fitted lingerie line for a wide range of sizes from XS - 3XL, A - H cup. Exclusive to their label is the innovative patented ALUXTRA® Clasp-Free Technology; they’ve created the only bra in the world to offer dual functionality, providing the option to transform from sexy and supportive to a discrete one-handed nursing wonder.

Brave Soles

For the shoe lover: start next year in style with Brave Soles’ ethical, upcycled, and sustainable handmade leather shoes made from upcycled tires. Brave Soles aims to repurpose waste to provide employment opportunities for vulnerable community members!

Bonus: Laughing Cat Productions

Elevate up your holiday movie nights with Laughing Cat Productions originals. They work to publish bold and forward thinking social impact stories through the lens of highly-inclusive, women-focused, intersectional feminist viewpoints. They believe that how individuals are represented in the media is how people learn to respond to them in the real world. Rent one of their original stories today!