MNN - Mother Nature Network

If you didn’t finish all of your holiday shopping on Black Friday or Cyber Monday then this pledge is for you.  The ‘Made in America Christmas’ pledge challenges shoppers to commit to spending $64 of their holiday budget on American-made gifts.  With the average shopper expected to spend over $700 during the holiday season, setting aside less than 10 percent of their total budget should be an easy commitment to meet.

 

Buying local is important as it keeps more of your shopping dollar in the community but buying American-made is also important.  If every American shopper spends just $64 on U.S.-made goods, they could help create about 200,000 new jobs.  This is definitely an example of many people making a small change that can have a greater overall impact.

 

The ‘Made in America Christmas’ challenge is an annual program from ABC’s “World News.”  Last year, consumers in Vernon, Vermont committed to spending more than $550,000 on American-made goods.  That may not sound like much money but when you consider the fact that there are only 2,200 residents in Vernon you quickly realize how significant $550,000 in pledges really is.

 

If you’d like to take the pledge, ABC has created a state-by-state database of Made in America companies.  The good news is that many of the companies I found in the database have an online commerce site so you can buy Made in America products even if there isn’t a store in your community.

 

One company in my area that is listed in ABC’s database is Jacob Bromwell, a specialty housewares company.  The Tempe, Arizona-based company sells a variety of kitchen, camping and fireplace goods and is offering flat-rate shipping on domestic orders.  

 

Will you be taking the ‘Made in America Christmas’ pledge this holiday season?

 

Photo: Markusram/Flickr