Are you looking gift some chocolate this Christmas, but don’t want people far-off to suffer so your friend can have a treat? Perhaps you’ve heard that around 20% of the chocolate on sale in New Zealand this Christmas will be made with cocoa produced by kids who are kept out of school to work? You don’t want to support that, but you’re still looking for something nice to give.
Fortunately, this year there are heaps of options that are certified free of both child and slave labour. We’ve gathered together all the ones we’ve spotted, but there are likely more. If you see anything that has one of the following marks on it, even if it’s not on our list, it’s fine.
(Click here for more information on the certifications referred to. UTZ is currently transitioning to a new logo, so the logos on either side of the arrow mean the same thing.)
Read right through to see all the options we’ve found or click on the table of contents to jump to the section you’re looking for. Also available as both a summary flier and a table.
For further information on slave-free options check out our Christmas meal post - it includes sections on drinks, snacks, desserts, baking ingredients and seafood.
In a hurry? Check out the summary pdf.
Table of Contents
Christmas chocolate: Santas, reindeer, tree baubles etc.
Kitkat is making 29g Rainforest Alliance certified Santas; these are available at The Warehouse and supermarkets for around $1 each.
Milkybar has an 88g white chocolate reindeer made from Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. Widely available at The Warehouse and supermarkets for around $5.
Many supermarkets also have the After 8 Santa, made from Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa - 85g for around $5
The Warehouse has several hollow chocolate Santas with Rainforest Alliance or UTZ certification. The Nice branded ones (in two designs) are 60g for $1.50; Waikato Valley Chocolates has a 100g milk chocolate popping candy Santa for $3 and a 150g milk chocolate surf Santa for $3.50.
The Warehouse has a Christmas teddy with mini chocolate Santas made by Waikato Valley Chocolates; 68g chocolate, $10. As with all their Christmas chocolate this year, it’s made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa.
The Warehouse has the NOMO cookie reindeer, which is a good choice for those with restricted diets - it’s free from gluten, dairy, eggs and nuts, as well as being made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. $3 for a 30g cookie.
There’s also Kmart own-brand Santa and reindeer sets, made up of a plush toy and a set of 6.5g milk chocolate santas or reindeer for $5.50.
Kmart has ’reindeer treats’ in a box you can hang on the tree. 8 pieces of chocolate (52g) for $2.50.
Lastly, Kmart also has 80g Rainforest Alliance-certified milk chocolate gold coins for $3.
Countdown and Fresh Choice also have UTZ-certified milk chocolate gold coins, $3 for 150g.
Moo Free has several dairy-free Christmas chocolate figures: a ‘milk’ Santa, a white snowman and a selection box; all made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. Look for them at organics and health food stores, or buy online from the The Cruelty Free Shop. Around $3 for the Santa and snowman (32g) and $14 for the 80g selection box.
Board Games
Perhaps more of a novelty than a box of chocolates, but The Warehouse is selling chocolate Monopoly and Scrabble games, made with Rainforest Allliance certified chocolate; 90g for $12.
Chocolates
Whittakers
The vast majority of the Whittakers range is now made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. Their bags of 18 squares are a good choice for Christmas, as are their mini slabs and their cocoa pods. All widely available, for around $9-$13.
Quality Street
All the Quality Street boxes and tins are made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. Available widely at supermarkets and The Warehouse.
The Warehouse also has Quality Street branded mint sticks and zingy orange sticks, $4 for a 120g box.
Countdown premium
Countdown has premium own brand cocoa dusted chocolate coated almonds, made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa; $4 for 150g.
Waikato Valley Chocolates
Waikato Valley Chocolates have Christmas tins of scorched almonds, peanuts and raisins made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa; available in two designs, $19 for a 500g tin, available exclusively at The Warehouse.
Waikato Valley Chocolates scorched almonds and fruit and nut are also made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. They come in:
- milk chocolate scorched almonds
- white chocolate scorched almonds
- fruit and nut
Exclusive to The Warehouse; $4 for a 200g box. The milk chocolate ones also come in a 300g tub for $7.50; there’s also a 300g tub of milk, white and dark chocolate almonds for $7.50.
Waikato Valley also has a party bucket of chocolate-coated pretzels; Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa; $18 for 750g.
Nice
Not all the Nice range at The Warehouse is made with child-labour-free cocoa, but the 500g bag of filled milk chocolates ($7) and the praline-filled assorted shapes (72g for $2) are both made with UTZ-certified cocoa.
Belgian
Belgian pralines and seashells, available at The Warehouse, are made with UTZ certified cocoa. The pralines are 200g for $5; the seashells come in a 250g box for $5 or a 1kg box for $20.
Delafaille
The Delafaille chocolates range, available at The Warehouse, is all made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. The range includes seashells chocolates ($2 for 50g), a bottle of cocoa-dusted truffles ($10 for 350g) and boxed pralines ($5 for 100g and $10 for 200g).
NOMO
Also at The Warehouse (as well as vegan and health food shops) are the NOMO boxed caramel filled chocolate drops. These are made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa, and are a good choice for people with restricted diets: they’re free from dairy, gluten, nuts and egg. $10 for 93g.
Kmart own brand
Kmart own brand milk chocolate Christmas balls and milk chocolate truffles are both Rainforest Alliance. The balls are $6 for a 250g bag; the truffles are $3 for pack of 5.
Trade Aid
Trade Aid have a limited edition dark chocolate dipped mango, 150g for $12.99. Organic and sold in home-compostable packaging. As with all Trade Aid products, it’s certified fair trade through the World Fair Trade Organisation.
Year-round Trade Aid sell 130g boxes dark chocolate coated hazelnuts and milk chocolate coated cashews, both of which are delicious. The almonds are grown by small-scale farmers in Palestine; the cashews by members of the Fair Trade Alliance in southern India; the cocoa is grown by a co-op in the Dominican Republic which is a member of the World Fair Trade Organisation; and the sugar by farmers in Peru who are also WFTO members. Awesome all round! They retail for $9.49.
You can buy the whole Trade Aid range direct from either their shops or online, plus a number of supermarkets and health food shops stock their products.
The Remarkable Chocolate Co
The Remarkable Chocolate Co don’t display the Fairtrade mark on their products, but use Fairtrade certified chocolate in everything they make. This Christmas they are making candy cane peppermint bark ($15 for 125g). Buy online or from selected retailers including all Farros stores and some New World supermarkets.
Also from the Remarkable Chocolate Co are a range of Christmas houses: dark chocolate scorched almonds, milk chocolate scorched almonds and the BIG house (containing milk chocolate scorched almonds and dark chocolate bark with mini marshmallows, toasted coconut and raspberries). $21 for the big house, $15 for the other two. Again, look for them from luxury retailers such as Farro’s and Smith and Caughey’s or buy online.
Vegolino
Vego does Fairtrade certified vegan chocolate hazelnut pralines (around $15 for a 180g bag): look for them at vegan and whole food stores.
Chocolate biscuit sampler boxes
Griffin’s
Griffin’s uses Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa for all their chocolate biscuits except cameo cremes; their sampler boxes all only include chocolate biscuits with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa, although they don’t all display the logo. Widely available.
Lambertz
Most of the Lambertz biscuits for sale in New Zealand this year are made with Fairtrade cocoa, but check for the logo (clearly displayed on the front of the box) just in case - we have seen a few exceptions.
We have seen a 200g biscuit assortment at Countdown ($4) and a 500g assortment at The Warehouse ($6), as well as a 400g bag of chocolate coated Lebkuchen at Countdown ($4)
Kmart
Kmart has an own brand tin of chocolate-flavoured cookies ($9, 155g) and tins of chocolate peppermint cookies ($10.50, 144g, two designs), both made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa.
Chocolate blocks
Tonys Chocolonely
Tonys Chocolonely is one of two brands that we’ve seen which have brought out special chocolate blocks for Christmas. They are a Dutch company on a mission to make 100% slave free chocolate and they also have Fairtrade certification. For Christmas they’ve brought out a dark chocolate peppermint candy block and a milk chocolate gingerbread one, both of which have a Christmas tree shape in the block. Buy online or from health food shops. Fairtrade certified, around $10 for a 180g block.
They also have the following 80g bars available year round:
- White Chocolate Raspberry Popping Candy
- Milk Chocolate Hazelnut
- Extra Dark Chocolate
- Dark Chocolate Almond Sea Salt
- Milk Chocolate Caramel Sea Salt
- Milk Chocolate
- Dark milk pretzel toffee
Order online or buy from New World, Farro or specialist European grocers. Around $8 per block.
Whittakers
Whittakers has also brought out a special Christmas chocolate block: their is gingerbread in milk chocolate, made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. Available widely.
All Whittakers chocolate blocks except their Nicaraguan single-origin block are made with slave-free cocoa. Most are made with Rainforest-Alliance certified cocoa from Ghana; the remainder are made with Samoan cocoa, which is also slave-free. Their speciality blocks would make particularly nice Christmas gifts.
Trade Aid
Trade Aid sells 100g blocks of delicious chocolate for $4.99. My favourites are dark raspberry and mint crisp, but they also do passionfruit, salt toffee crisp, hazelnut, milk, dark and extra dark chocolate. The milk and dark varieties are also available as 200g blocks for $6.99. The wrappers are home-compostable and all but the milk and hazelnut flavours are vegan. The cocoa is grown by a co-op in the Dominican Republic which is a member of the World Fair Trade Organisation, and the sugar by farmers in Peru who are also WFTO members. Awesome all round!
You can buy the whole Trade Aid range direct from either their shops or online, plus a number of supermarkets and health food shops stock their products.
Wellington Chocolate Factory
Wellington Chocolate Factory sources beans from around the world and crafts them into chocolate at their Wellington Factory. All their products are Fairtrade certified. You can buy their products in pre-set gifting bundles, design your own bundle, or buy them individually. Their flavours include:
- salted caramel milk
- coffee milk
- raspberry milk
- original milk
- coconut milk
- salted caramel dark
- Peru single-origin (dark)
Blocks are 75-85g for between $10 and $15.
The whole Wellington Chocolate Factory range is certified Fairtrade and organic, and many of their products are vegan :-)
You can buy WCF chocolate direct from them either online or from the factory in Aro Valley; they are also stocked by high-end supermarkets and organics shops.
Bennetto
Bennetto Natural Foods make delicious vegan, organic chocolate using cocoa from a Fairtrade co-op in Peru. They do 100g bars in:
- amaranth and sea salt
- salted caramel in dark
- raspberry in dark
- toasted hazelnut
- mint and cacao nibs
- orange with chilli
- coffee in Madagascar
- original dark (supporting Bird of the Year)
- intense dark
- exceptionally dark
They also have mini bars, discussed under ’stocking stuffers’
Bennetto chocolate is available at organic and health food stores as well as many New World, Four Square and PakNSave supermarkets, where the 100g bars sell for around $8. You can also purchase their chocolate by the carton direct from Bennetto. Note that only their bars are Fairtrade certified, not their hot chocolate.
Belgian
Belgian chocolate blocks, available from The Warehouse, are made with UTZ-certified cocoa. Available in milk, white and dark chocolate, $2.90 for a 200g block.
Stocking stuffers
Nestle
If you want stocking stuffers or other small gifts, one good option is Nestle ‘fun packs’: bags containing 11 small packets of either smarties, kit kats or milky bars for around $3.50-$5. Smarties and Kit Kats are made with Rainforest-Alliance certified cocoa and milky bars are cocoa free! You should be able to find Nestle fun packs in any supermarket.
*check the back to make sure that’s true - there’s a chance you’ll find imported ones that aren’t. You’re looking for either a Rainforest Alliance logo or the old UTZ logo, or a statement saying that Nestle works with Rainforest Alliance or UTZ.
If you’re concerned about Nestle’s ethics, see here for why we are happy to recommend their products.
Aero snow bubbles (available at many supermarkets) are another good option; around $4 for 80g.
Another option, also from Nestle, are their various chocolate bars. All varieties of KitKats should be Rainforest Alliance certified (check the back to be sure), as are Pixie Caramels, Chokito bars and Aero bars. Milky bars are cocoa free.
Waikato Valley Chocolates
Available at The Warehouse, Waikato Valley Chocolates have 150g bags for various chocolate-coated treats (pretzels, hokey pokey, raisins, popcorn etc.) for $3; made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa.
Trade Aid
Trade Aid sells 50g bars of both milk and dark chocolate for $2.49. As with all Trade Aid products, they are certified fair trade through the World Fair Trade Organisation. Buy online, from their physical shops or some health food shops.
Bennetto
Bennetto sells three flavours of Fairtrade certified vegan organic chocolate in 30g bars:
- coconut
- raspberry
- coffee bean
These are available online in boxes of 21-23 bars for about $63-$66, or singly from health food stores, RRP $3.50.
Wellington Chocolate Factory
Wellington Chocolate Factory sells 25g Fairtrade certified chocolate bars in the following flavours:
- Peru (vegan, gluten free, certified organic)
- Raspberry milk (gluten free, certified organic)
- Salted caramel (gluten free)
They retail around $4; look for them at organic shops and cafes. You can also buy them singly or in cartons online.
Hot chocolate
Kmart
Kmart own brand has a number of Christmas-themed hot chocolate products this year, including:
- gift set of 6 mini boxed hot chocolates, $12
- mug and milk chocolate cocoa bomb gift set, $9, various designs
- 3 pack hot chocolate cocoa bombs, $8
- 4 pack milk chocolate spoon with mini marshmallows, $10.50
These are all made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa.
Other
In addition, Just Kai’s cocoa guide has a great many hot chocolate options. The ones most suitable for gifting are:
West Coast Cocoa (Rainforest Alliance-certified). Buy directly from them online or see here for stockists. They are $3.99 for 50g, $13.50 for 250g, $24.25 for 500g, $49.95 for 2kg. West Coast Cocoa comes in the following flavours:
- deluxe
- dark deluxe
- peppermint
- caramel
- mayan chilli
Trade Aid drinking chocolate (WFTO certified): buy from their own shops, online or from health food shops. $5.99 for 300g, $24.50 for 2kg or $55 for 5kg.
Kokako drinking chocolate (Fairtrade certified) is available online; $9.50 for 250g or $48 for 2kg.
Devonport Chocolates (Fairtrade certified) hot chocolate mixes can be purchased online or from their stores in Devonport and Queens Arcade in Auckland, or through many higher-end retailers. $13.90 for a 250g tin. It comes in ’classic’, ’dark and decadent’ and ’spiced‘.
Wellington Chocolate Factory sells Fairtrade certified hot chocolate online or through many higher-end retailers. $12.50 for a 250g bag - organic, vegan and in home-compostable packaging.
Toiletries and cosmetics with cocoa butter
Not exactly chocolate, but toiletries and cosmetics contain cocoa butter surprisingly often. Here are some options with slave-free cocoa.
LUSH make a wide range of toiletries and cosmetics which are all handmade. Many of them are packaging free or come in re-fillable packaging; all their products are vegetarian and many are vegan. This year they have a Christmas range including cinnamon bubble bath, a Santa sleigh bath bomb and varioius gift sets.
Many of their products contain cocoa butter, and in the vast majority of cases this cocoa butter is Fairtrade. However, a few of their products are made with regular cocoa butter, so always check the ingredients list to be sure: if it’s Fairtrade it will say :-) None of their other cocoa is Fairtrade, so avoid products with cocoa liquor or cocoa powder.
Find your nearest LUSH store here.