Changing the Narrative With Age-Positive Gifts
Can you spread the anti-ageism message in your holiday gifts without seeming preachy? Yes, you can!
One of the things I’ve been thrilled to see emerge in the last few years is quality merchandise with a pro-aging message that celebrates who we are at any stage and age—so consistent with the Crow’s Feet theme of changing the stories about who we are as we get older!
Here I’m sharing a few of my favorites that you can buy online for holiday gifts, or anytime, really. And — if you decide you’d like one for yourself — well, I’m giving you permission :). After all, you’ve been good this year, right?
Jan Golden’s Age-Friendly Vibes
I met Jan in 2018 when she became one of Changing the Narrative’s original Change AGEnts, volunteering her time to increase awareness of ageism and what we can do about it. And we were excited when she turned her design skills — previously used as a web designer — into first creating age-friendly birthday cards, and then a whole suite of products with pro-aging messages.
I can personally speak to the quality of her products and how well they are received. I’ve sent her thank you notecards to a number of people, and people always reach out to me to thank ME for sending them the note — and then want to know how to get in touch with Jan. And when I got together with my college girlfriends this summer for a milestone birthday, I gave them stickers from Jan’s age-positive sticker collection.
Jan’s created a number of holiday-specific products, which you can find on her website.
I’m planning to buy these jotter pens and stickers as stocking stuffers.
You can shop Jan’s full collection here.
Barbara Brooks of SecondActWomen
Barbara is the owner of SecondActWomen, the award-winning business that inspires women age 40+ to succeed in careers and small businesses.
A true force of nature, Barbara’s encore into this business started in her own journey dealing with age discrimination, despite a highly successful marketing career in shopping centers and mixed-use industries.
Corporate’s loss became the gain of next-stage women, who benefit from the workshops and online membership community that Barbara has created.
And Barbara has designed this special Beauty Knows No… tee-shirt that is wonderful for women of ANY age or identity. This is on my list for several people, not just my older friends. Because who doesn’t want to be reminded that they are beautiful? At any age!
The tee, which you can purchase here, expresses Barbara’s philosophy:
At SecondActWomen, Beauty Knows No difference, and that includes age. Full stop.
Edgy Elders by Natasha Ginnivan
In her day job, Australian native Natasha Ginnivan researches age stereotypes and cultural attitudes. That’s her encore career: She has a background in design, a field she worked in for a decade before turning to research.
And she’s applied those design skills to changing the narrative about older people in her Edgy Elders design line. Here is one of my favorite tees, which I plan to give to a friend who is totally annoyed by ageism in any form.
She also has men’s tees, and I love this design on her affordably-priced tote bags. You can browse her collection for your favorite edgy elder here. And a note from Natasha to U.S. buyers (she’s based in Australia):
We can ship to the US, but the postage is a little more. It automatically calculates the postage amount on the website when shoppers check out, and it probably makes better sense to grab a few items at once to justify the extra international postage for buyers.
The benefit of giving gifts that celebrate age?
When you give gifts like these, you are:
- Spreading a hopeful message about aging while countering the ageist rhetoric that surrounds us
- Supporting a small business owner who has taken a public stand against ageism.
- And yes, giving a great gift to someone special in your life!
® Janine Vanderburg, 2023.
