Do you ever get a sinking feeling when someone hands you a gift and says when they saw it they thought of you immediately and they had to buy it? There’s so much pressure when you’re handed a gift like that. What if you don’t like it? What if it’s something that is so not you? What if you can’t make the excitement on your face match the excitement on the gift giver's face?

 

My sister-in-law gave me one of those gifts yesterday, and guess what? I did really like it. All that worrying for nothing. It’s a recycled magazine page trivet. It’s fun and colorful and it not only keeps a casserole from damaging my table, it does poor and disadvantaged women some good.

 

The trivet comes from Mai Vietnemese Handicrafts and is made by women artisans in underserved regions of Vietnam. According to their website, the products are made in compliance with fair trade principles. It doesn’t look like the website is set up for direct purchases, but I found the trivet for sale on World of Good by ebay. It retails for $20.