Christmas is coming: maybe you’re looking for a chocolate Advent calendar to help the kids count off the days? But you’ve heard that 20% of all the cocoa in the world is produced by children; and you don’t want a child overseas to suffer just so your child can have a treat! Fortunately, there are a number of slave-free chocolate Advent calendars for you to choose from :-)
We particularly recommend the Tonys Chocolonely Christmas Countdown Calendar (available from Ballantynes - $48 for 255g chocolate). It’s fully Fairtrade certified, meaning that all risky ingredients (cocoa, sugar, vanilla, hazelnuts etc.) are slave-free. In addition, Tonys Chocolonely pay farmers Fairtrade’s ‘living income reference price’ - which is more than the Fairtrade minimum and means farmers can make a living income.
The Warehouse is selling a traditional nativity calendar for $2.50, made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa (50g of milk chocolate in the calendar).
Countdown, Kmart and The Warehouse are all stocking Kinder-branded Advent calendars. These don’t have any slave-free certification marks on them but we are confident they are made with both slave-free sugar and child-labour free cocoa. Kinder’s parent company, Ferrero, uses Bonsucro certified sugar for most of their cane sugar (with the balance also slave-free) and all their cocoa is also all independently certified, mostly through Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade. The Kinder Advent calendar contains 141g milk chocolate and sells for around $10-$15; the Kinder ’choc + biscuit’ calendar sells for around $21 and contains 203g of treats.
Do you have allergies in the family, or are you looking for vegan options? We have four calendars to recommend to you this year.
The Warehouse and Countdown are both stocking NOMO calendars this year. NOMO chocolate is all free from dairy, gluten, eggs and nuts; it’s also made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. The calendars contain 12 creamy chocolates and 12 sea salt and caramel chocolates for a total of 96g chocolate. Retails for around $15.
Moo Free also has two dairy-free calendars out this year, one with ‘milk’ chocolate and one with white chocolate. Moo Free chocolate is Rainforest Alliance certified. Look for them at vegan, organic and health food shops - around $13-$20 for 70g chocolate.
If none of those suit, why not put together your own? Trade Aid is selling an Advent calendar with pockets for you to insert your own treats. Like all Trade Aid products, it’s certified fair trade through the World Fairtrade Organisation. It’s also reusable :-) Check out our cocoa list for child-labour free chocolate sweets to fill it with.