I’ve put together this Etsy folder full Black Santa and other Christmas ornaments and accessories with Black people.
The truth is, I’d never really considered a brown skinned Santa Claus or more popularly called a Black Santa. Even as a child living in Lagos Nigeria where pretty much everyone was brown skinned, most of the Santa images on TV were white. Nonetheless, that was fine because the colour of our skin was never an issue.
Currently, as a mum living in the U.K. with young toddlers and very conscious of racial / ethnic diversity I still didn’t think I was deliberately going to hunt down brown skinned Santa or elves . This was until I saw a comment on a friend’s Instagram page saying “what! Santa is Black now?”.
That infuriated me.
The back story is simple: Debs who runs Colour Celebrations a luxury children’s shop promoting diversity created some amazing Black Santa dolls our kids can relate to – which was for the most part wonderfully received. But then, a white lady left a comment saying “Santa is Black now??”
That didn’t make sense to me. It seemed like gatekeeping a fictional creation so much that you think Black children shouldn’t see this representation.
Anyway, I decided at that moment on to intentionally search, promote and shop Brown skinned Santa’s and related Christmas decor especially within the UK. Because you know what, our kids deserve a Christmas that looks like them. These range from and include:
Here’s where to find them:
I found quite most go the items on Etsy, and so I’ve created a folder just for that. Shout out to these independent sellers making a difference.
If I come across more, I’ll keep updating the folder. If you know any more that should be added to this list, please send them my way! Please note that some of these sellers on Etsy have more than one product, and I may have only picked one. So it’s best to check out the individual sellers and see what else they’ve got in their shop! Eg a number of shops have different designs for the Christmas cards and wrapping paper.
Other than independent sellers on Etsy, I found a couple of other shops that stock a few Black Santa and related items.
I love the mission and ethos of Colour Celebrations! I’ve been a huge fan of their baby milestone cards which I highlighted in this new baby post, and now they’ve introduced a few Christmas items to promote diversity. The Black Santa plush doll looks amazing and the wrapping paper as well which comes in two colours.
Check out the Colour Celebrations Christmas Shop.
March Muses have created Christmas decorations of colour in the UK, ranging from Black angels, Black choir boys, Black Nativity sets and much more. It’s definitely an exciting shop with a lot to pick from. Both founders who are also mums to little girls founded the shop when they struggled to find Black fairies and ornaments for their Christmas tree.
Check out the March Muses website here.
Kitsch Noir is a Black greeting card and stationery brand founded in 2017 to fill the gap in the lack of diversity in the greetings card industry. Their Christmas line has some really exciting cards and also includes figurines and ornaments.
Check out their Christmas shop here.
I hope you find this helpful and consider purchasing one or two items! Which of the items are you likely to purchase?
