If you haven't yet stumbled into a Ten Thousand Villages store, you absolutely MUST! It is my favorite place to shop for a number of reasons. First of all, the stuff! They have gorgeous, handmade items from all around the world - jewelry, handbags, scarves, blankets, dishes, decorations for the home, rugs, baskets, even chocolate, coffee, and tea. Secondly, but more importantly, everything they sell in their stores is fair-traded, so that hard-working groups and individual artisans can actually make a fair, livable wage for their work. Finally, the store nearest me, in Ephrata, PA, has a cafe, and it is a lovely, little cafe' to meet up with friends for lunch or listen to live music on Friday nights.
So I must give a plug for their 18th Annual International Children's Festival which is tomorrow! Our family went last year for the first time, and we loved it. The kids made crafts, took a rickshaw ride, learned how to gather water from a village pump, and played games from other cultures.
So if you're in the Lancaster/Reading area and you don't have plans tomorrow, I'd highly recommend spending an hour or two at the festival. It's a great opportunity to widen our children's eyes to the richly diverse world in which we live.
That looks like fun! I do love Ten Thousand Villages...if I actually made any mulah I would definitely shop there!
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