Tree Hugging Family » Holiday

Green & Homemade Gift Ideas

Peggy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:03:33 +0000

It’s time to plan for homemade holiday gifts! There’s much you can make yourself, but it takes some time and planning. Getting the kids involved with making homemade gifts will help teach resourcefulness while also checking off the gift list.

Flip & Tumble, makers of reusable bags, put together an Eco-Thrift Gift Guide with simple ideas you can probably pull off without buying many supplies, if any. And, they’re giving you the opportunity to contribute your own ideas for a chance to win six free reusable shopping bags! For more details, visit Flip & Tumble, scrolling to the bottom for the email address and directions for submission.

Tree Hugging Family is also a big source of homemade gift ideas! Visit these posts for the details:

To make your own baby toys, from wooden puzzles to teddy bears, visit MakeBabyStuff.com for tutorials and patterns. Plus, Eco Bites prepared an A-Z guide to DIY Eco Christmas Gifts.

If you’re not crafty, or can’t find the time, you can still give green. Jennifer at blisstree prepared a resource of Green Holiday Gifts that Give Back.

My favorite charities to give to during the holidays include Heifer International, World Wildlife Fund (where you can adopt animals in someone’s honor) and my local food bank.

Are your holidays going to include homemade or charitable gifts?

(Snow Drop Image via WikiMedia Commons)

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Green Stocking Stuffers for Kids

Peggy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:36:57 +0000

Since green toys can be a little more difficult to find, it’s wise to start looking now for holiday gifts for kids. Stockings are a fun holiday tradition, and kids like to find a toy mixed in with their candy and fruit goodies. So, onward to natural, reclaimed or recycled (mostly small) toys…

Walking Stick Toys features lots of wooden toys painted with non-toxic paint. I like their goat figure, but they offer plenty more of these tiny treasures for only $7. The wooden figures are 3 inches tall and made with organic Maple. Other animal figures include a panda, kangaroo, donkey, camel and ram. Walking Stick Toys offers lots of larger toys too.

Green Toys make a nice selection of recycled goods for boys or girls. I like their jump rope with 100% recycled handles and the awesome recycling truck toy! The recycling truck might fit in a stocking, but it’s too cute not to show you anyway. If you visit the Green Toys website, click the “Where to Buy” icon on the left to find out how to purchase their eco-friendly toys.

For other sweet little eco offerings, don’t forget the cate & levi collection. Though they are a bit more expensive, they’re still worth considering. My favorites: the cat cube made with reclaimed wool and the hippo wall art, also made with reclaimed wool and a natural frame. And the stuffed chicken is too cute to ignore!

Have you started holiday shopping?

(Images via retailers linked above: Walking Stick Toys, Green Toys and cate & levi collection.)

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Last Minute DIY Organic Halloween Treats

Jennifer — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:05:26 +0000

If you’re still looking for some super cute Halloween treats that are fast and easy, I’ve got a round up of some ideas for you. All of these treats take very little time and some, like the first adorable Halloween ghosts are even somewhat healthy. Note, of course like always, not all these treats are branded organic. It’s an easy enough switch though. Simply exchange conventional ingredients for organic.

BOO! Ghost Strawberries

Frighteningly cute ghost strawberries! I LOVE these. It’s crazy how simple but adorable a treat can be. Kids will adore these.

More spooky edible fun…

I’d never eat spider eggs – not for a million buck. But you might like them.

Pear “Ghosts” and Apple “Jack-o’-Lanterns” – really, ultra, super cute.

I’m not a huge fan of quick foods like ready made biscuits or cookies, but if you’re willing to make your own organic quick biscuit or cookie dough, Pillsbury has some cute and very fast Halloween ideas you can use with it, such as Crescent Mummy Dogs (PLEASE use organic hot dogs or soy though!!!), Black Beans in Boo Bowls, and Spooky Spider Cookies.

Mini Halloween Cakes

And one treat that takes a little longer. I KNOW I did say fast, but I found these and can’t believe how amazing they are. I think it’d be worth the extra time to make these truly unique little Mini Pumpkin Cakes. Seriously cute right!?

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Spooky Organic Halloween Cookies

Jennifer — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:36:18 +0000

Beautiful Sweets Organic Bakery is one of my favorite online cookie shops, because one, they’re super green, two, they’ll ship fresh cookies all over the U.S. and three, they have awesome designs.

If you’re planning a scary Halloween party Beautiful Sweets cookies are perfect for the occasion – you could even wrap them and hand them out to kids you know for trick-or-treat. Take a look at these amazing Halloween designs…

Halloween
Pumpkin Fun – which your kids get to color with special food coloring pens!
Autumn Collection
Scarecrow
Eyes
Monster Faces

Beautiful Sweets bakes their cookies up with all organic ingredients from small sustainable family farms and organic coops that support living wages. They use beautiful, eco-friendly recyclable gift packaging that includes post-consumer recycled boxes and organic cotton ribbon. They also bake batches fresh right before they ship them and guarantee that their cookies will arrive well protected and unbroken.

Visit Beautiful Sweets Organic Bakery to learn more.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Healthy & Fun Halloween Treats

Jennifer — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:51:29 +0000

Mixing healthy with fun is easy if you’re creative. Take a look at these cool Halloween treats below which are both healthy and spooky fun for kids. Click the links or images to learn how to make them with your own kiddos.

Haunted Forest Platter – toooooooo cute! And so darn creative. Who would have thought that eggs could look so evil?

The most adorable Snack-o’-Lantern and Pizza Mummies you’ve ever seen!

Screaming Red Punch with a Hand – make this with organic juice for optimal healthy drinking.

Spider rolls – one word – ICK! I hate spiders. Kids would love this though.

This Calavera Sandwich amazes me! Just totally cool.

Also see a killer watermelon brain. If you’re looking for something amazing, but not as healthy, take a look at an adorable Halloween cupcake round-up. If you make any of the recipes, just switch out ingredients for organic.

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Green Halloween is Coming Soon

Jennifer — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 07:21:31 +0000

Halloween, or more appropriately for tree hugging families, “green” Halloween is coming soon, so it’s time to get planning. Before we kick off this season, let’s take a look back at some previous green Halloween tips you can use.

TIPS:

Buy Nothing New Halloween was an idea last year, but it still holds up as an excellent plan for this year.
Green Halloween Costume Ideas
Non-toxic face paints for Halloween
Should you buy an organic pumpkin for Halloween?
Green Your Halloween Party

TREATS:

ECO-HALLOWEEN CRAFTS!:

THIS YEAR:

There’s still time to enter the ChicoBag & Green Halloween’s 2nd Annual Trick-Or-Treat Bag Design Contest and get signed up for Fair Trade Reverse Trick-or-Treating.

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Ecosaurus Recycled Wrapping Paper

Jennifer — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:04:32 +0000

With winter holidays already on the brain, you may be thinking about stocking up on gift wrap. The first green rule of thumb is to go used – i.e. wrap gifts in stuff you already have like newspaper, old tissue paper, or even a collage of magazine images. The second rule of thumb is to go with a company making sustainable wrap.

A new eco-paper goods company just appeared on the scene, Ecosaurus, offering paper goods that are 100% recycled, 50% PCW (gift wrap) to 100% PCW (note cards), processed chlorine-free, and printed with vegetable-based inks. No petroleum, and all goods are recyclable – even the gift wrap can be tossed into the recycle bin.

They’ve got some fresh designs too that coordinate well with other designs in their collection.They also carry note cards and have some gift bags coming soon.

Visit Ecosaurus.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Green Christmas in September… Really?

Jennifer — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:51:02 +0000

Each year I say – I should figure out a Christmas holiday tradition for my family that’s not only eco-friendly, but fun, and also something that everyone can swallow.

Facts:

I personally was raised with Christmas – trees, cookies, gifts, the whole darn deal. I liked it and as a kid thought it was mostly fun, but I never loved how hectic it was, and by the time I was in my early 20s I was sick of the whole planning perfect gifts mess.

By the time my son Cedar was born, his dad and I wanted to do something for the winter holiday season, but we couldn’t quite place what that was.

Since Cedar was born we’ve had years with Christmas trees and years without and even years with living trees. Years with big stressful get-togethers and years where we’d just chill with friends. We’ve had MANY years of trying to balance gift giving because we like the less is more idea, but just try getting people on board – it sucks. You say, please do not get me anything, and people just won’t listen.

What’s hard is finding a balance. You could be green by avoiding the winter holiday season altogether but that’s extreme and doesn’t really build any sort of tradition for kids. You could say screw green and have a big ol’ celebration with lots of bling – the other extreme. OR you can find balance. It’s finding a balance that everyone will agree with that’s hard because it’s not just your little household; it’s extended family, friends, co-workers, and more.

This year, I seriously want to make a change. I’ve managed to green up many areas of my life, but finding the perfect (or a good) green Christmas is one area where I could use some help. In a perfect world… we’d find some traditions to keep like organic cookie making day or giving gifts that are all green and homemade and personalized, and ditch the holiday traditions that aren’t working so well – i.e. extended family not listening when we say JUST ONE GIFT! Or maybe deciding to skip the Christmas tree forever.

In order to sort out my own family’s idea of the perfect holiday and to help readers along, I thought we’d get started early this year. It can take some time to plan a fun, meaningful, and still green winter holiday season. To get you (and me) going, following are some useful resources that can help anyone start planning a greener, more meaningful holiday season.

Two useful sites:

Buy Nothing Christmas – an excellent kick off point. If you want to start practicing early you can ditch Black Friday and join up with Buy Nothing Day.
The Simple Living Network

Two cool books:

I’ve got some more resources coming up as well as some tips for a green and meaningful holiday season. For now you tell me – what are your plans this year for a greener holiday season?

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Fun Organic 4th of July Foods for Kids

Jennifer — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:30:51 +0000

I was writing a round up of 4th of July garden recipes elsewhere when I found this awesome kid treat…

Corncob cake via Family Fun

This Corn on the Cobcake is WAY too adorable, and although it’s not organic, you could totally switch it up with some clever organic thinking. I.e organic jelly beans and organic cake + frosting. In any case, finding this recipe got me thinking about food that resembles veggies, flowers, fruits and other nature items. All super fun for kids, and perfect for 4th of July, or really any old summer day.

Here are some ideas, but remember to switch out conventional ingredients for organic and natural ingredients when possible.

Sherbet the Frog and Melt-in-Your-Mouth Melon also from Family Fun

Use sweet little Pocket Pie Molds from Williams-Sonoma to make all sorts of fun treats. The heart is not so nature minded, but I like the idea of lots of stars on the dinner table. Fill with cherries, organic tofu and veggies, organic peaches, organic chicken and broccoli, and more. Be creative.

All sorts of insect shaped foods!

For all sorts of nature minded cupcakes and other treats try these molds:

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Happy Arbor Day!

Jennifer — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:39:42 +0000

It’s funny, Arbor Day has been around since 1872, which totally gives Earth Day a huge run for the money, yet now, every April, Earth Day gets a lot more press. In any case, today is the official U.S. Arbor Day. Many states also celebrate their own version and day of Arbor Day though. See when Arbor Day is in your town. If you’re international you can also check your Arbor Day celebration date.

If you’re planning on getting out there and celebrating Arbor Day today, or any day for that matter, you can always just get out there and plant a tree, but also, there are lots of other cool activities you may want to consider:

ARBOR DAY BASIC ACTIVITIES:

Trees and Their Uses – good primer for kiddos.

The Arbor Day Foundation offers tons of great ideas on how to celebrate:

ARBOR DAY CRAFTS:

EXTRA ARBOR DAY FUN:

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family