CEDAR FALLS - Each year, holiday shoppers are warned to buy early when looking for hot gifts, like this year's Elmo Live.

By the time December rolls around, these hard-to-get toys can be long gone, tucked safely away in closets or going for three times their original price on online auction sites like eBay.

But members of Conscious Living, a group within the Unitarian Universalist Society of Black Hawk County, are hoping they can convince at least a few community members to contemplate the impact their purchases will have on not only their family, but their community and the world, when planning for this year of holiday season.

"We want them to consider if they are supporting a huge corporation that is buying goods from people for very cheap, but don't give them a living wage, or if their purchases are something that supports a sustainable life for the person making it," said Juanita Williams, a Conscious Living member.

Williams helped organize this year's Alternative Gift Fair, where community members can learn about and purchase gifts that are fairly traded and benefit others locally or internationally.

World's Window manager Joyce Caley said the fair dovetails perfectly with the store's mission to promote free trade.

"We want to ensure that the people, either in the United States or overseas, are getting a fair wage for what they have done, that it is not a child or someone working in a sweatshop," Caley said. "That means they are living better, feeding their children better. Some of these people are living in cardboard boxes or under a tarp."

Nativities from around the world, including Kenya, India and the West Bank, all are big sellers during the holiday, Caley added.

Some vendors also will use the proceeds from the sale to benefit local projects. Rose Quirk, president of Quota International of Waterloo, said they use the event to teach others about their organization and network with potential supporters. The group sells nuts purchased in Wisconsin and uses the proceeds to support local programs providing speech and hearing exams, books to police officers to give to children and teddy bears to emergency rooms.

"This is such a wonderful concept. It's the realization of how other people live and how connected we are, and how this thing we can do here helps so many others throughout the world," she said.

Not all purchases made at the fair will be ones that can be taken home, Williams said. Several organizations, like Heifer International and Church World Services, take donations that are then used to buy animals for sustainable living and tools and blankets for refugees, respectively.

"In the U.S. we have so much. Most of the people I know have more than enough," Williams said. "The people I am buying for don't necessarily need more things, so this is just another option."

The fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Nov. 2 at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Black Hawk County, 3912 Cedar Heights Drive. It is free to attend.

Contact Emily Christensen at (319) 291-1570 or emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.