I’m a bad daughter, as I haven’t gotten anything for my mother this year for Mother’s Day. The truth is I hate buying gifts, and I don’t have time to make anything. Of course, I have turned the responsibility over to my children to honor grandmother, but I did send her this video, which of course I had to watch first making myself Mother of the Year (on the same evening my daughter told me I was “extremely mean” for asking her to do her homework).
Mother’s Day originally began as a day of peace; it is not a Hallmark holiday. MomsRising, an organization devoted “working to bring together millions of people who share a common concern about the need to build a more family-friendly America”, has created personal videos for Mother’s Day. According to MomsRising, Americans will spend $16 billion this year on Mother’s Day celebrations! That’s a lot of money to show Mom we care, and even though I have sent my mom her special video, I will probably still buy her some Dr. Hauschka. [read the full article...]
While our family is on the light green side of eco living, we really do our best to have a green holiday – particularly when it comes to buying natural, handmade gifts and wrapping and decorating. But it seems as though no matter how green we try to go over the holiday season, my in-laws have the amazing ability to completely undo it with their 10 tons of wrapping paper, battery operated and electronic toys, not to be topped by the tiny little plastic gifts and bags of candy. Basically, it’s like they buy out the entire Dollar Store and stuff it in my kids’ stockings.
[read the full article...]
by Derek Markham on December 16, 2008 · 1 comment
An easy holiday craft for even the artistically challenged is the humble paper snowflake.
But I have to warn you before you begin, making paper snowflakes is addicting.
I’ve spent many hours happily lost in the cutting of a masterpiece, just periodically taking time out to fold more pieces for the kids to cut.
The materials are simple but the results can be amazing. The paper versions are just like the real thing: no two are exactly alike.
You can decorate your house in an evening, and for clean-up, just sweep up the scraps. Some people like to decorate them afterwards with glitter or markers, but I like mine white.
[read the full article...]
Since we live far away from most of our close friends and family, we have to ship most of our gifts each year, which can end up being a pretty eco-unfriendly task considering the amount of wasteful shipping products out there. While we want our gifts to arrive completely unharmed, I want to make sure I’m not filling up the landfills with the three top offenders of shipping waste: styrofoam peanuts, brand new boxes, and plastic bubble wrap.
Thanks to my other gigs, I’ve got plenty of used packing materials laying around, all of which I reuse, or give to my kids for their art projects. In fact, our Christmas wrap is made entirely from brown packing paper stamped with carved potato stamps.
However, while you may not have those types of packing materials right in your closet, you probably have a few other things in there that will work well, and that won’t create more waste than necessary this holiday season.
[read the full article...]
With Holiday break rapidly approaching, I’m in a near panic thinking about how to occupy these FIVE critters for weeks on end with no educational diversion. We usually fall back on the same entertainment/activities for the break… here are some ideas for you, please share yours in the comments!
We will be mixing up some cookie mix in a jar recipes to put in our gift baskets.
The kids will make some adorable napkins rings using old paper rolls (toilet paper, paper towel, wrapping paper tubes). We cut the tubes to desired ring size and glue on strips of artwork or colorful paper. Then we decorate with whatever we have around the house; beads, buttons, ribbons, twigs, acorns, or small scraps. (What craft do you make with toilet paper tubes?)
[read the full article...]
The holidays have the aroma of pine trees, spiced cider, candles, and woodsmoke to me. The smells bring back memories of Christmas traditions from my childhood, mostly food-related: we baked a lot of cookies and made a lot of fudge, popcorn balls and caramels for parties and friends.
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Easily the most exciting tradition for us was making gingerbread houses. It seemed like a long process back then, but really, it’s just two days. Perfect for a weekend family project.
Recipe, instructions, and a video after the jump…
[read the full article...]
by Jennifer Lance on December 3, 2008 · 1 comment
Editor’s note: The following post was originally published on Green and Clean Mom. “Green & Clean Mom can inspire you to try a little harder, be a catalyst for change and to offer you some new tips and news on how to be the green, sexy and sassy mom…I know you are!”
When I think back to my childhood, I remember spending lots of time around the holidays making decorations and food for our family celebrations.
Some of the simplest activities were also the most fulfilling, because we were actively creating, not just purchasing. The time that went into each craft or treat was also a gift, a gift that said “I took the time to personally craft this for you. You’re that special to me.”
I started a short list of my favorite simple holiday crafts from the past, and I’m hoping that you readers will add to it in the comments. [read the full article...]
by ECP Editors on December 3, 2008 · 1 comment
Finally digging out of my post partum haze to report back to duty here at Eco Child’s Play, I was greeted this morning with the news that one out of three toys tested are found to have toxins. According to this NPR report, Healthy Toys, a Michigan non-profit organization, found that while toys made in China did have higher toxin levels, the ones with the made in the USA label were not guaranteed to be safe either.
[read the full article...]
