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 above marks on it, even if it’s not on our list, it’s fine.
(Click here for more information on the certifications referred to.)
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.
- For further information on slave-free options check out our Christmas meal guide - it includes sections on drinks, snacks, desserts, baking ingredients and seafood.
Table of Contents
Christmas chocolates - Santas, tree decorations etc.
Santas and other Christmas figures
Kitkat is making 29g Rainforest Alliance certified Santas; these are available at The Warehouse and supermarkets for around $1-$1.30 each.
Kinder has Kinder Surprise Santas in four different colours (100g, $6-$8, available widely). Note that these don’t have any slave-free certification marks on them. Curious? Read why we consider them to be reliably slave free.
Also from Kinder is a plush reindeer toy that comes with 133g of chocolate.
The Warehouse has hollow chocolate Santas from Waikato Valley Chocolates with Rainforest Alliance certification: a 150g milk chocolate Surf Santa $5 and 100g Santa with popping candy - $4-$5 each.
We’ve seen the NOMO cookie reindeer at The Warehouse and Woolworths. It’s a good choice for those with restricted diets, being free from gluten, dairy, eggs and nuts. Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa, $3-$4.50 for a 30g cookie.
Moo Free - a ‘milk’ and “white” combo Oscar the Bear (80g, around $17),made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. Look for Oscar at organic stores.
Christmas tree decorations
Kinder has hanging Santa/Penguin/Snowman packs. Each figurine is 15g; the three-pack is going for around $4, the six-pack for around $6.50. Ferrero Rocher stars (containing 3 Ferrero Rocher chocolates) are also widely available for around $3.50-$5. You won’t see any slave-free certification marks on these. Curious? Read why we consider them to be reliably slave free.
Christmas houses
We’ve seen two suitable Christmas houses available widely.
There’s a KitKat Christmas cabin kit (around $30-$35 for nearly 1kg chocolate). Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa.
Kinder has a Christmas house with 76g chocolate for $6-$7.50. The Kinder house is uncertified but we consider all products from their parent company, Ferrero, to be made of slave-free cocoa and sugar.
Chocolates
Whittakers
The vast majority of the Whittakers range is made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. Their bags of 18 artisanal squares are a good choice for Christmas, as are their mini slabs and their chocolate and cocoa pods. All widely available, for around $10- $20
Guylian
All Guylian products are now made with Fairtrade cocoa (although note that they’re using the ‘white background’ version of the Fairtrade logo. That means that only the cocoa is Fairtrade, not other risky ingredients such as sugar.) Find their classic seashell chocolates 250g for around $18 in Woolworths and New World
Ferrero Rocher and Kinder
Both Kinder and Ferrero Rocher have a range of chocolates widely available this Christmas. You won’t see any slave-free certification marks on these. Curious? Read why we consider them to be reliably slave free. This includes Ferrero’s Raffaello brand.
Nestle
Nestle After 8s (at The Warehouse and Woolworths) are Rainforest Alliance certified; $8-$10 for a 300g box.
Curious as to why we’re recommending Nestle products? Read more.
All the Quality Street boxes and tins are made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. The 220g carton is available at New World and The Warehouse for $6 -$6.50
Woolworths premium
Countdown has premium own brand cocoa dusted chocolate coated almonds, made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa; $4.50 for 150g.
Cupido
Woolworths and Smith & Caughey (amongst others) are stocking the Cupido range of chocolates. Note that we only recommend the orange sticks and mint sticks (each 125g for around $6), as we are confident these are Rainforest Alliance certified. If you see other Cupido products, please check for the Rainforest Alliance logo before buying - many of their products do not use RA chocolate.
Waikato Valley Chocolates
Waikato Valley Chocolates’ candy cane bark and almond and sea salt bark are made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. $9 for 130g, exclusive to 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
- dark chocolate scorched almonds
- white chocolate scorched almonds
- milk chocolate fruit and nut
Exclusive to The Warehouse; $6 for a 200g box.
Lastly from Waikato Valley Chocolates there’s dark chocolate macadamias and milk chocolate cashews, also made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa, $9 for a 90-95g box.
Everything else being equal, we would recommend the macadamias over the cashews as there’s no indication the nuts are slave-free and there are many serious labour issues in the cashew industry.
Belgian
Belgian pralines and seashells, available at The Warehouse, are made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. The pralines are 100g for $4.50; the seashells 250g for $7.50. Note that the chocolates from the same brand that are available at Woolworths are not made with certified slave-free cocoa.
Belgid’Or
Belgid’Or truffles and seashell chocolates are available at New World and PakNSave for $5.50-$8 for 200g-250g boxes. Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa.
Delafaille
The Delafaille chocolates range, available at The Warehouse, is all made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. The range includes seashells chocolates ($4 for 50g), a bottle of cocoa-dusted truffles ($12 for 350g) and boxed pralines ($6.50 for 100g and $12 for 200g).
Anthon Berg
We’ve seen Anthon Berg’s Baileys marzipan chocolate treats at The Warehouse; $15, 175g, Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. Note that we have seen many other Anthon Berg chocolate liqueur treats but this is the only one we’ve seen with certified child-labour free cocoa.
The Warehouse own brand
The Warehouse has an own brand 80g tin of truffles, Rainforest Alliance certified, $5.00, various tin designs.
Bennetto Natural Foods Co
Bennetto Natural Foods Co produces 8g truffle-filled dark chocolate squares. Look for them both individually and in boxes of 20 at health food shops or The Vegan shop $16.98. Buy in bulk online ($108 for 120 squares). Available in mint and raspberry, as well as mixed boxes of raspberry and passionfruit; all Fairtrade certified, organic and vegan.
Nomo - allergy-friendly
Allergies in the family? Check out the Nomo mini bars sharing box. Nomo products are all free from gluten, dairy, eggs and nuts; they also always use Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa. At Woolworths, around $15 for 130g.
Noshu - low sugar
Noshu has recently released three flavours of chocolate balls: white chocolate raspberries, dark chocolate cherry and coconut and milk chocolate wafer crisp. As with all their products they’re formulated to be low sugar; these are also made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa (note that most Noshu chocolate products are not RA certified). We’ve only spotted them at Low Carb Haven but they may be available at other similar retailers.
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, priced between $13 and $23.Wicklein
Wicklein Lebkuchen are available at selected New World supermarkets and online through a mixture of outlets- around $12 - $14 for 200g, Fairtrade certified cocoa. Note that Wicklein seems to sell products with Fairtrade certification, with Rainforest Alliance certification and with no certification at all. Before you buy any of their biscuits, check for either a Fairtrade or RA logo.
Chocolate blocks
Tonys Chocolonely
Tonys Chocolonely is one of a handful of brands that 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, speciality shops and some supermarkets. Fairtrade certified, around $11 for a 180g block.
They also have the following 80g bars available year round:
- Ben & Jerry’s White Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake
- Milk Chocolate
- Milk Chocolate Hazelnut
- Milk Chocolate Caramel Sea Salt
- Dark Chocolate Almond Sea Salt
- Dark Milk Pretzel Toffee
- Dark Chocolate 70%
Buy online or from selected supermarkets and specialist European grocers. Around $9 - 10 per block.
La Petite Artisan Chocolate
Lastly for Christmas blocks are the gingerbread spice milk and dark chocolate blocks from La Petite Artisan Chocolate, $14 for 70g. These don’t have any slave-free certification marks on them, but they are made with Fair For Life certified cocoa. This is a European certification that we rarely see in New Zealand, but we feel it is very similar to Fairtrade (read more) and consider it a reliable slave-free certification.
They also have a wide range of other flavours, including a number of award-winners; for $40 they’ll also pack your choice of three flavours in a linen gift bag, which would make a nice present.
Whittakers
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.
Bennetto Natural Foods Co
Bennetto Natural Foods make delicious vegan, organic chocolate; all flavours are made using Fairtrade cocoa and sugar
This Christmas they’re selling gift packs of raspberry in dark, dark salted caramel and coconut flakes (3x 80g bars for $30). They also have two different 6x 80g sets for $50 each.
Year-round they also sell 80g blocks in the following flavours:
- amaranth and sea salt
- dark salted caramel
- toasted hazelnut
- dark mint
- pistachios in dark (this is the Samoan cocoa one)
- dark coffee
- original dark (supporting Bird of the Year)
- coconut flakes
- 70% dark
- 82% dark
- exceptionally dark
Bennetto chocolate is available at organic and health food stores as well as many New World, Four Square and PakNSave supermarkets, where the 80g bars sell for around $7-9. You can also purchase their chocolate by the carton direct from Bennetto.
Guylian - no added sugar
Guylian has both milk and dark chocolate blocks with no added sugar. Made with Fairtrade certified cocoa (and sugar free!), available widely, around $5 for a 100g block.
Trade Aid
Trade Aid used to sell a wide range of 100g blocks of chocolate. The factory closed in July 2024 but the top seller Dark Raspberry is still available at $5.49 online and in the few Trade Aid retail stores that are still open. They may also still be available in Organic and specialty/wholesale grocery stores.
The wrappers are home-compostable and most 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!
Wellington Chocolate Factory
Wellington Chocolate Factory sources beans from around the world and crafts them into chocolate at their Wellington Factory. Many of their products are made with Fairtrade certified cocoa but not all - always look for the logo. You can buy their products in pre-set gifting bundles, design your own bundle, or buy them individually. Certified flavours include:
- original milk
- coffee milk
- blueberry milk
- coconut milk
- salted caramel dark
- salted caramel dark
Blocks are 75-85g for around $9 - 11. You can buy WCF chocolate direct from them either online or from the factory in Aro Valley; they are also stocked by selected supermarkets and organics shops.
Stocking stuffers
Chocolate share packs
Chocolate sharebags can be a good option, either whole or spit up.
This year Kinder has put out a Christmas-themed share pack that we’ve seen at Kmart (128g for $8), as well as the various Kinder and Bueno sharepacks available year round. You won’t see a certification mark on these - see here for why we recommend them.
All the Nestle fun-packs (kitkats, smarties etc.) are made with Rainforest-Alliance certified cocoa* - available widely for around $4-$7 for 11 - 12 pieces. If you’re concerned about Nestle’s ethics, see here for why we are happy to recommend their products.
*check the back to make sure that’s true - there’s a chance you’ll find parallel imported ones that aren’t. You’re looking for either a Rainforest Alliance frog logo or a written statement saying that Nestle works with Rainforest Alliance.
Mars bars are also Rainforest Alliance certified, so their ‘fun size’ are also a good option - around $5-$6 for 12 pieces.
Whittakers does sharepacks in a wide range of flavours; there’s also a sharepack of ‘tweets’ - creamy milk chocolate moulded into the shapes of native birds. Rainforest Alliance certifed, around $6-$7 for 12 pieces.
After Eight London Icon shapes with Rainforest Alliance certification have also been spotted on the Crackerjacks website and in stores for those who would like a touch of England this Christmas. Individually wrapped pieces $4 for 6 pieces for a total of 57g.
Bagged chocolates
Small bags of chocolates seem to mostly be available at The Warehouse. a range of Waikato Valley bagged chocolates (chocolate almonds, chocolate raisins, hokey pokey clusters etc.) for $4. All Rainforest Alliance certified.
Small chocolate blocks and 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. Available widely.
Tonys Chocolonely has recently started selling mini blocks of both their milk chocolate and milk chocolate caramel sea salt flavours. Look for them at health food shops or buy in boxes of 35 online. Fairtrade certified.
Hot chocolate
Samoan hot chocolate
Samoan cocoa is always slave-free so it doesn’t need a certification. Mix it with slave free sugar and you have delicious Samoan hot chocolate! there are two options where you could buy a nice gift packet.
- Aunty Tommy’s sells online drinking chocolate pods ($12.50 for 200g) and drinking chocolate blocks ($10 for 180g and $6.50 for 130g)or a bundle them together ($20 for 400g)
- Under the bird sells Koko Loa drinking chocolate ($15 for 200g). Available in store or online.
Samoan cacao husk tea
Not quite hot chocolate, but Samāori is selling cacao husk tea made from Samoan cocoa husks. Samoan cocoa is always slave-free so it doesn’t need a certification. A delicious low-calories alternative to hot chocolate! Buy from their website, $14.50 for 60g. They also sell a range of other Samoan cocoa products.
La Petite
La Petite artisan chocolate has a Christmassy gingerbread spice drinking chocolate; $16.50 for 200g. They also sell a range of other drinking chocolate mixes.
La Petite’s products don’t have any slave-free certification marks on them but they are made with Fair For Life certified cocoa. This is a European certification that we rarely see in New Zealand, but we feel it is very similar to Fairtrade (read more) and consider it a reliable slave-free certification.
Other
In addition, Just Kai’s cocoa list 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 from many whole food retailers. They start at $13.50 for 250g, come in dark, dark deluxe, peppermint, caramel and mayan chilli. There are two gift sets to choose from
- Trade Aid drinking chocolate (WFTO certified): buy from their own online or from health food shops and some supermarkets. $7.49 for 300g, $30.49 for 2kg or $68.99 for 5kg.
- Kokako drinking chocolate (Fairtrade certified) is available online or from health food shops; $10.50 for 250g or $50 for 2kg.
- Wellington Chocolate Factory sells Fairtrade certified hot chocolate through selected New Worlds and many higher-end retailers. from $12.39 for a 250g bag - organic, vegan and in home-compostable packaging.
- 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. $15.90 for a 250g tin. It comes in ’classic’, ’dark’ and ’spiced‘.
Toiletries and cosmetics with cocoa butter
Not exactly chocolate, but toiletries and cosmetics often contain cocoa butter or other cocoa products.
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. Their 2024 Christmas range includes limited edition bath bombs, shower products, gift sets and more.
LUSH sources Fairtrade certified cocoa beans from the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó (in northwestern Colombia) and processes this themselves in to cocoa butter and cocoa absolute. They also use many other Fairtrade certified ingredients.
Find your nearest LUSH store here.
The Body Shop sell a range of bath, body, face and hair products, many of which contain cocoa and cocoa butter. The Body Shop doesn’t have certification marks but source from Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union, who are themselves a Fairtrade certified supplier.
They’re not doing a Christmas range as such, but do have a gift ideas section on their website.