And switching gears now, perhaps the only silver lining of the COVID pandemic has been that more and more small businesses have been popping up - and with borders closed, Belizeans were forced to spend their money at home. But this allowed these businesses to thrive in a time of a collapsing economy. And with their newfound popularity, this Christmas season, more residents are shopping local.

And like last December, we went on a hunt for some of the best Belizean-made gifts. Courtney Menzies has part one of this story.

Christmas is around the corner and if you're still shopping for those on your "nice" list, then you might find what you're looking for right here in Belize.

Small businesses have been gearing up for Christmas since a lot of residents are shopping locally this year. One skincare business, Baby Earth, said they sold out last year, but this time around, they're prepared.

Madeleine Guerra, Founder, Baby Earth
"We actually just launched our Christmas collection, it includes a lovely gift set which makes it super easy for gifting this Christmas, you get it package in a Baby Earth pink box with a beautiful gorgeous ribbon that looks very Christmas-y and for $50 you get our Christmas room spray, you get a Christmas scented candle and you could get that in Candy Apple, Winter Wonderland or Christmas Latte and you also get a Christmas hydrating oil and so all of those to us really ensure that you take Christmas to another level when you buy these products."

"People are really interested in a lot of our room sprays, we have a lemon grass room spray which is basically what I like to tell people, it's Belize in a bottle, it's like fever grass, it's like tea, and you spray that, it's extremely calming it's a great gift I would recommend to somebody who is abroad or if you want to give somebody who is a foreigner and we also have our face serum which is an excellent item because people are interested in ensuring that their skin is hydrated, that it's taking care of and the whole point of Baby Earth is to ensure that all our products are all natural."

And like Baby Earth, Zest Handcrafted also got into the Christmas Spirit this season. They specialized in jewelry - particularly earrings, and they've got a wide selection this year.

Aesha Garel, Owner, Zest Handcrafted
"Here we get very festive so I like to make different shape in Christmas earrings, I also do some very special hand painted thing for every season as well. For Halloween we did sugar skulls, this year we have our hand painted nutcrackers, we have some Christmas tree dangles, and some snowflake dangles as well and some ornament dangles so you have a big selection of earrings, we also have smaller ones for the kids that come with plastic backs so it's easy for them if they have metal allergies that won't be a problem. So we have a really wide selection of bigger earrings, smaller earrings and then all year round earrings as well."

"Because of the name, Zest, you know we try to be very different and add that special something to your outfit and they're very affordable, COVID has made things very difficult for people here so we have studs starting at $5 up to $50 so we really have a good range for anyone's budget and we do free giftwrapping or if you want an extra something we do gift box for you very easily and we do have a very wide selection so you can definitely find something for everyone here."

And you can pair those earrings with embroidered tote bags and pouches. Like Zest, The Sun and Sof was born out a hobby. It's a relatively new business but one that's getting a lot of attention.

Sofia Murray, Owner, The Sun and Sof
"When you go on my page, you're going to see regular tote bag, embroidered tote bags, pouches, I've done like wine sectional bags for some people, I've also done like pocket little bags, I call them pocket bags but they just have pockets on the outside and the inside is just open but you have pockets to put your belongings, mostly for people who do arts and crafts I noticed."

"I do, well, we call it modern hand embroidery so I do everything with needle and thread. Most of the little designs that I do is just sketch out and I grab a needle and thread and just in and out, in and out."

"They're very personalized like I try my best to ask them questions, what's their favorite color, what's their favorite animals, what do they like and most of the time they're like, I want this for my mom, for my girlfriend, for my godmother, all of that so it's very much personalized. I try my best to accommodate, very rarely I will say I can't do that unless it's way too complex but I manage with sketching and drawing, anything's possible."

And these businesses are hoping Belizeans see the importance of "buy Belize, build Belize" this Christmas.

Madeleine Guerra, Founder, Baby Earth
"As a small business owner I think it is really essential during the Christmas time for people to shop local for the sole purpose of ensuring that we're able to be represented as foreign owned businesses, I think we have a lot of good things happening in this country, whether it's jewelry, whether it's skincare there's amazing brands out there and I think this is the perfect time to give them an opportunity and to show that one business that you love and give it to others."

Aesha Garel, Owner, Zest Handcrafted
"If you have an Instagram page go ahead and look around on that page, reach to your local businesses and we're having a lot of popup shops this season, go to the popup shots, meeting the business owners, talk to them and you'll get to see that it's really a great thing to support local, you keep the money here, you support small businesses, we're all Belizean, we need to make Belize survive COVID and we're in this together."

Sofia Murray, Owner, The Sun and Sof
"When you take a leap as a small business owner, you start from nothing, and the support is what builds up your business so I was scared of that but since I've started I've had local support since I am from Stann Creek, I've had majority of the people that have been supporting me have been from my own village and they're been really nice and also out district I've had immense support. It's encouragements like that that has helped me build up my business."

Each of these businesses can be contacted on their Instagram and Facebook pages.

Tune in next week for part two of this story for even more Belizean-made gifts.