Every year the stress sinks in. On top of your already busy day, you now feel the pressure to find the perfect gift for everybody on your holiday list. While you love the joyous expression on each recipient’s face as they open your gift, do you feel good about it?

This year, empower the women in your life or contribute to good causes to help women in the U.S. and around the world. While we can’t cover all of the products and empowering brands out there, we have chosen a few inspiring ideas. Below are some share-worthy ideas and examples that we have found.

Gifts for Children:

Many companies are beginning to produce toys that promote STEM fields and allow girls to explore the areas in fun ways. The goal is to peak an interest and unleash a new generation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians and tech experts.

• New York City startup, littleBits produces toy kits that allow children to explore power sources, create magnetic circuits and come up with thousands of inventions. Kits range from starter levels to others for those that are more advanced. Some even allow you to connect to your smart home or community.
  

  [Image from Pixabay]

• GoldieBlox is another company setting out to change the game. They offer award-winning construction toys for girls. Their mission is to get young girls building with the help of their toy sets to inspire more female engineers and architects.
• The mBot has also gained a lot of attention this year and is only one of the toys in Maker Shed’s inventory. The toy helps children to learn robotics, programming and electronics.

There are more gift options other than those promoting STEM fields. Rad American Women A-Z is a book aimed at children ages 7-10 that educates children on powerful women who have defied stereotypes and influenced history.

Two women, and moms, displeased with choices in the toy market, created IAmElemental offering female action figures, activity pages and books. These products allow young girls to envision themselves as powerful, courageous and fearless.

Teens and Young Adults

These toys aren’t only for children. Many of the sites listed above, as well as many others, are suited for a larger range of age groups.

Other ideas include books, posters, TV series and movies starring strong female leads – think Hunger Games with Jennifer Lawrence the new hit Supergirl.

You can also go the route of apparel. Chase Infinite believes in the power of people, but primarily focuses on inspiring women and sells athletic shirts with phrases such as, “Strong Women Empower Women” and “Strong Women Raise the Bar.” Another clothing line, A Mighty Girl features empowering clothing for the whole family in different colors, phrases and products.

Gifts for Any Age

What about giving gits that offer to help women in need or support female-owned companies? The Huffington Post put together a post last year full of cool and creative gifts that do just that.

There are many companies and organizations that help ambitious women around the world as well as donate proceeds to women’s causes. Jewelry handmade in Cambodia for The Brave Collection provides work for artisans and proceeds are also put towards the fight against human trafficking in the country. They also partner with other organizations to empower vulnerable young girls living in Cambodia. Another example of this is a brand you may have heard of, Lokai. A portion of the proceeds of Lokai bracelets are donated to charities, two of which include the Kind Campaign, which brings awareness and healing to the negative effects of girl-against-girl bullying and Susan G. Komen for breast cancer research.

On that note, you can also give gifts that benefit research for diseases that affect women such as breast cancer or heart disease, which is the number one No. 1 killer of women. There are many products that support research for these tragic diseases, as well as brands that partner with them on product lines, such as the American Heart Association partnering with Macy’s.

These are only a few ideas of gifts that will empower the women and girls in your life and around the globe. To find others ask around in your community. You may want to try the local toy store, boutique or even a simple Google search.

Good luck with your shopping! We would love to hear about the amazing and empowering gifts that you give to the leading ladies in your life – please share with us in the comments section below.