What’s this contest about?:

ChicoBags, maker of yes, all things reusable bags, and Green Halloween, a non-profit, grassroots movement that was created by Celebrate Green author Corey Colwell-Lipson, in order to promote sustainable Halloween traditions teamed up to bring this contest to kids.

Children ages 1-13 are encouraged to enter the contest by submitting an original drawing best depicting the spirit of a Green Halloween. Artistic talent is not the focus of the contest, but the design that best captures the “spirit” of a Green Halloween is. The hope is that children participating will be inspired to make greener choices for Halloween and other celebrations throughout the year.

Images are due by October 24, 2009 – 5:00 PM Pacific Time. (Winner will be notified no later than 11/5/09.)

PRIZES!

If your child wins, her design will be printed on ChicoBags sold through retailers nation-wide and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Treeswing, a nonprofit organization that promotes healthy eating and lifestyle habits for children. (Last year’s bag was even featured on The Bonnie Hunt Show!). First and second place winners, as well as a runner up, will receive a variety of fantastic prizes including some of the most popular eco-friendly goodies and some shriek-worthy monetary awards to be announced in the coming weeks.

Learn more about the 2nd Annual Trick-Or-Treat Bag Design Contest.

Learn more about Green Halloween & ChicoBags:

• Green Halloween
• ChicoBags, a Fun Solution
• Have You Tried a ChicoBag?

Let me know if your kids enter and good luck!

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Tomorrow we’ll be finding out which three readers will be winning a copy of the DVD DisneyNature: Earth. If you haven’t entered yet skip over quick-like and do so because you’ve got until midnight tonight.

In the next couple of days I’ll also be kicking off an awesome giveaway event sponsored by one of my fave eco-art shops, INK + WIT – the prize is totally green and fab (you will LOVE it) so don’t miss it.

Other cool stuff happening:

Finishing up the Green Diapers 101: Eco-friendly Diaper Round-Up post that I started last week. By the end of the line-up you’ll have all the green diaper news you need to make a smart eco-diaper choice.

Hopefully some more news about the “is there a good recycled toilet paper out there” challenge. As I test brands I’ll post reviews, although since I’ve got a bunch of brands in mind this could take a while. Still, my plans include getting this going asap.

Green Halloween time is getting close so of course we’ll be looking at some spooky green tips and supplies.

A green challenge!

You may remember some of our previous challenges such as the Buy Nothing Day Challenge, the use fewer Paper Towels Challenge, and the wildly popular BYOB Challenge – the bring your own reusable bag challenge. In any case, we haven’t done a challenge in a while, so we’re due. Since I recently merged households with my boyfriend and his kiddos I was thinking that a green home audit challenge might be fun and useful for you and me. My son Cedar and me have been living green for Cedar’s whole life, but not perfectly of course; there have been major challenges, and stuff we miss, so we could always use another audit.

My boyfriend’s family does the basic stuff like recycling, but they don’t buy organic juice or milk, they use some questionable bathroom products (i.e. shampoo for kids with toxins) and have been used to living with paper towels and plastic PVC shower curtains which are off limits in my house. However, my boyfriend is not opposed to living green, and wants to learn more so an audit may be just the thing to get everyone on board and at the same level. I’ve been thinking about how to pull off a green home audit challenge, and once I fine tune the details, we’ll get started.

So you don’t miss any of this you may want to subscribe to Tree Hugging Family – it’s free to subscribe and a great way to keep up with new events, giveaways, and more. As always feel free to contact me with questions or comments about Tree Hugging Family as well.

[images via stock.xchng]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

My pal Christina is giving away a set of adorable reusable baggies just in time for back to school lunches – this is one way to create a waste-free lunch! I haven’t seen these reusable baggies before, although on general principal I love them – these ones have awesome designs too.

To learn other ways to create a waste-free lunch see:

• Best reusable lunch gear
• Plum Creek Mercantile Reusable Cloth Snack Bags
• Greener back to school lunches

[image via Solo Mother]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

In any case, One Book Two Book is having a great Happy Green Bee giveaway right now. I really like Happy Green Bee. They offer super bright organics for babies and toddlers. Personally I prefer natural colors, BUT almost all eco-baby companies produce natural colored baby items, when many parents do like bright shades, so I think it’s nice that Happy Green Bee caters to this demographic.

You can win three gifts in one; an organic cotton knit receiving blanket, a 4 oz. bottle of eco-friendly laundry soap and a re-usable zipper tote (perfect fit for bottles and extra diapers). I’m a little leery of the plastic case, because plastic; not so green. However, it is reusable, and hopefully recyclable – their organic cloth and eco-laundry soap are both green choices.

This is a great green mama-baby prize – there are three ways to win; visit One Book Two Book to learn how to enter.

[Images via One Book Two Book]

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Now, I’d be surprised if you knew your comment number, so the winners names are…

Kamber who said: “My 10 month old and I love going for walks. We live close to a park and he loves all the trees around. He can stare for hours, and most of the time he does. My husband and I enjoy telling him about the different trees and he loves it too. We did this last summer when he was a month old, but he’s much more into it now.”

Sarah Flanders who said: “My 7 year old daughter Sarah says that Our family is having a large yard sale. We are using the money for outdoor kids activities like backyard camping, making bird feeders, wreaths from twigs, branches and other things that are on the ground. Planting a kids garden for neighborhood kids. With fruits and vegetables. And a lot of other outdoor activities that my mom has told me about. She is a Girl Scout Leader. I have learned a lot of reuse this and that from her and my family. Brownie Girl Scout – Sarah.”

Jessica who said: “My son who is 3 says “to play with bugs” “and ride bikes.”

Cheryl English who said: “My son Derek age 2, loves to play outside in our fenced in yard. He watches the big fat squirrels climb up and down the trees. He giggles with delight. Nature at it’s best. Gotta love it.”

Congratulations to all our winners! Each of you will receive one of the following thanks to Green Toys:

• Cookware & Dining Set
• Indoor Gardening Kit
• Sand Play Set
• Tea Set

I will email all winners for their addresses; as noted in the rules you do need to be a U.S. resident, and you will need to email me your mailing info within 5 days or I’ll go with the next random number on my list.

Big hugs and kisses to Green Toys for sponsoring this wonderful contest – If you didn’t win, please check out their website to learn more about how you can purchase one of these green toys for your little one. Lastly, thanks to everyone who entered, we’ve loved reading about what your kids and family are doing outside in nature.

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• Cookware & Dining Set
• Indoor Gardening Kit
• Sand Play Set
• Tea Set

As mentioned before, all Green Toys have the following perks:

• Easy open 100% recyclable packaging made from recycled corrugated boxes with no plastics, cellophane or twist-ties.
• Made from plastic made from recycled milk containers.
• Locally produced – as in, every step in the process, from milk container recycling to toy production to final assembly, occurs in one place (in this case California).
• Contain no traceable amounts of Phthalates or BPA.
• Designed without any external coatings – non-toxic, no lead, no icky paint, etc.

The company uses recycled milk jugs to make their wonderful toys and offer some stats on just how much energy this saves:

Very cool. Another big aspect of this company is their safety testing. They want their toys safe for your little ones. Some safety tests they participate in (and pass) include:

• Consumer Products Safety Standard Specification, ASTM F963
• California Prop. 65 restrictions on lead & cadmium
• FDA regulations for food contact
• California regulations prohibiting phthalates in toys
• Voluntary testing for no BPA (Bisphenol-A)

Read all the press on Green Toys.

Last chance to enter giveaway:

The Green Toys giveaway ends tonight at midnight (west coast), and tomorrow I’ll be announcing our four winners. So, if you haven’t entered yet, now’s your chance. Also, make sure to read the entry rules, so that your entry isn’t disqualified.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Grab your kids (or someone’s kids) and get ready to win a great prize.

Thanks to our wonderful sponsor, Green Toys, we’ve got four amazing toy sets to give away.

We’ll be looking at each toy a little closer over the next three weeks, and we’ll be learning more about Green Toys. But to keep this contest entry post short and sweet; here’s a simple quick run down to kick this contest off.

What you can win:

• A Tea Set
• Indoor Gardening Kit
• Sand Play Set
• Cookware and Dining Set

Green fun:

All of the above toys are made with recycled milk containers as the main ingredient, made in the U.S., so fewer transport pollution issues if you live in the U.S., and the toys contain no traceable amounts of Phthalates or BPA. They are also designed without any external coatings, eliminating the issue of lead paint. Lastly, all Green Toys products are packaged in recycled corrugated boxes with no plastics, cellophane or twist-ties, and are 100% recyclable.

During the month we’ll learn more about this company’s green practices and more about how milk containers are used to create cool toys.

Contest rules & how to enter:

Basic rules:

• Open to U.S. residents only.
• If you’re not a blogger here at Tree Hugging Family named Peggy or Jennifer, then you are eligible to enter.
• You can enter once per household (sibs will have to share).
• One of each set is going to be awarded (four total) but you can’t choose which toy you want. This is a random win. But since all the toys are great, no worries.
• Enter by midnight (west coast time) on May 31st.
• We will randomly draw four winners and announce them June 1st.
• I will then email you for your mailing information. You’ll have five days to email me back, or the prize will go to another randomly drawn winner.

How to win:

Grab your little one, and ask them this question, “What outdoor summertime activities do you love best?” Then tell us what they said, in their words in the comment section of this post. We did this before here’s an example of kids answers.

If you have a little one who can’t talk yet (as in a baby to young toddler) you can enter for them, just let us know what sort of fun activities you do, or plan on doing. If they can talk though we want to hear from them. I.E if you’re a parent leaving a comment about an older kid activity, you won’t be entered.

Questions? Ask in the comments.

Stay tuned for more posts on these very cool toys.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in May 2008

[photo via Green Toys]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family