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Archive for August, 2009

Costumes for blooming bellies: Part 1

Monday, August 31st, 2009

Halloween is right around the corner and if your due date is too, you’re in luck. And not just because your little one is almost here but because your baby bump is just perfect for dressing up! Now that’s reason to dance!

Just think of the possibilities…

  • Pumpkin
  • Watermelon
  • Earth
  • Fish bowl
  • Basketball/ baseball
  • An Easter egg
  • Beach Ball
  • Pearl in a shell
  • Happy face

Or, forget the cliches and dress your belly up as something unique like – the president. Huh? Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post featuring the amazing work of Photographer Mark Jordan.

Of course, green mamas-to-be will want to steer clear of most conventional face and belly paints, even those labeled “non-toxic” unless you know what all of the ingredients are (companies are not required to tell you) and whether the ingredients are safe. (Go to Environmental Working Group’s Cosmetic Safety Database to search the ingredients – if they are even listed.)

The better bet? Buy face pencils such as by Lyra, made under European’s stricter safety standards or make your own belly paints using the easy recipe in our book, Celebrate Green!.

Have you decorated your baby bump in clever ways for Halloween, or incorporated it in some other way into a funny, interesting or beautiful costume? Do share, do share!

Heads or tails? Eco-fab costume accessories that let kids go wild

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

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Oeuf is one of our favorite companies. Creating simple, sustainable, use-able products for house and home, Oeuf pleases people and planet for the holidays and every day.

They’re on our minds a lot these days; in fact we just raved about their new gorgeously green garlands on our Celebrate Green! blog.

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But since this is a Halloween blog, and you’re here to gather pointers for making yours a green holiday, we’ll try to curb our enthusiasm and stick to the point: Oeuf’s mask and tail accessories rock.

Not only are they made from soft, safe, sustainable alpaca, they’re knitted in Bolivia by people earning living wages. All this and more is why you will love them.

But what about the kiddos?

Without so much as leotard and tights, pants and shirt or even a pillow case with holes for a head and arms, your little one will be transformed into a Wild Thing. (The kind that doesn’t have to go to bed without his supper.)

Which leads us to our last point: when it comes to costumes (and a whole lot of things, come to think of it), less can be more. (Does your child need to be enveloped in polyester buntings to look and feel like a real-life lion? No. And buying just the masks and tails allows your child to get creative with the in-between costume parts, too.)

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Looking for something similar for your wee-wild-one?

Check out Oeuf’s animal hat and booties.

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Are your kids not into the animals? Too old for the furry stuff? Check out these mean beanies, for Bat Boys and Bat Girls (slightly different styles). 100% alpaca and Fair Trade, but all your kids will care about is how to make their costume as cool as their hats.

What do we have in common with Gwyneth Paltrow and Meryl Streep?

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

We’re featured contributors on Healthy Child, Healthy World‘s fabulous new recipes page!

Now we know we’ve claimed in the past that cooking is not our thing (although eating is certainly one of our greatest talents) but when HCHW called to ask for some ideas, we couldn’t help but the share two of our favorite super easy, super-food recipes.

You’ll notice that our submissions don’t have exact measurements or even absolute ingredient lists – our style is a what-ever’s-in-the-fridge and a-little-of-this-a-little-of that kind of thing. But you’ll also notice that the recipes include healthy ingredients with fun names your kids will enjoy (did you read the study about kids are more likely to eat good-for-you foods when they have cool names?) so after making ‘em everyone’s happy.

Give ‘em a try and let us know what you think:

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Super Guac

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Kaleafornian Smoothie

Do you have some favorite recipes you’d like to share with us? If they are Halloween or fall themed, add as a comment here. Otherwise, contact us at: corey@celebrategreen.net and we’ll post your ideas to our Celebrate Green! blog.

FREE Reverse Trick-Or-Treating Kit – deadline approaching

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

Fair Trade kitParticipate in the Third Annual Reverse Trick-or-Treating!

On Halloween night, schoolchildren, (& high school/college students, and adults) across the US and Canada will unite to help:

END poverty among cocoa farmers
END abusive child labor in the cocoa industry
PROMOTE Fair Trade
PROTECT the environment

by giving Fair Trade chocolate back to adults…while Trick-or-Treating door-to-door in their communities on Halloween.

The chocolate is attached to a card with information about social and environmental justice issues in the cocoa industry and how buying Fair Trade certified chocolate provides a solution.

Parents rave about how Reverse Trick-or-Treating transforms Halloween into a meaningful event when youth activists give back to their neighbors and to cocoa growing communities.

Reverse Trick-or-Treating kits are FREE
Thanks to the generous donations of Fair Trade chocolate companies
Equal Exchange, Alter Eco, Sweet Earth, and La Siembra (& others in Canada)
(Participants pay the cost of postage only.)

Participate as an individual or organize your classroom, school, congregation, youth group or social justice organization to participate by distributing multiple kits to participants!

DEADLINE TO REQUEST KITS:
Groups (schools, congregations, youth groups, etc):  October 1
Individuals:  October 13
Order yours TODAY!  We always run out long before the deadline!

Join us, and together, we will reach nearly
a quarter million households this year!

Visit www.reversetrickortreating.org for more information!

If you choose not to request a kit, you can still participate by distributing flyers on Halloween!  Visit the website for more information.

Looking for Fair Trade Halloween candy to distribute to kids at your door? Visit https://www.globalexchangestore.org/SearchResults.asp?Cat=263.

Are you a teacher or other educator (faith-based schools, etc, etc)?  Teach Global Exchange’s fabulous, fun, teaching standards-friendly Fair Trade curriculum anytime between now and Valentine’s Day, 2010, and you will be entered into a drawing for $75 in Fair Trade prizes.  More information is available at www.globalexchange.org/cocoa.

If you’re not an educator, please forward this email to some folks who are, and you’ll be entered into a Fair Trade prize drawing, too, for referring educators!

Reverse Trick-or-Treating is an initiative launched by the human rights organization Global Exchange in cooperation with Fair Trade company Equal Exchange and is a collaborative effort of countless children, youth, and adults supported by institutions including nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations, Fair Trade companies, and schools.

Please forward this email broadly!  Plus, please pass the information along to your favorite parenting, environmental, and chocolate blogs.

PS:  Global Exchange’s Fair Trade cocoa curriculum is featured in Education for Liberation’s teacher planner for the second year in a row!  Copies of Planning to Change the World are available at http://cts.vresp.com/c/?EducationforLiberati/51cd00bd4f/5d87156170/727b3e6098

(Content from this post taken directly from Global Exchange’s e-blast. If information is missing or incorrect, please contact them directly.)

Win a 100% cotton costume for your baby’s first Green Halloween!

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

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Celebrate your baby’s first Green Halloween with an adorable, 100% cotton get-up from Harrison’s Halloween Costumes! Designed by a hip Californian mama looking for cute and spooky costumes for parents, grandparents, and gift givers with a sense of humor.

Five styles available:

“Frankenbaby” (cute Frankenstein)
“Dracula” Vampire
“Scary Spider”
“Witchie” girl witch dress
“Vampira” girl vampire dress

Sizes 0-6 months only.

How to win?

From now through October 15th, we’ll be giving away THREE costumes over the next few weeks. To enter to win the first, all you need to do is reply to this post with your costume plans for this Halloween. Easy!

Stay tuned for second and third opportunities. Winners chosen at random. First round ends August 31st.

Harrison’s Halloween Costumes are the only 100% cotton (non-petroleum-based) baby costumes that we’ve seen on the market. They’re available for sale at CastlesNCrowns.com.

Discover when do baby boy start talking. Most babies say their first words sometime around their first birthday. But babies can start communicating long before that. Before babies start talking they are gathering and absorbing information. That information eventually becomes the foundation of the first baby talk. And the best way for parents to help their babies make it to those first words, and help their language development thrive from there on, is to talk to them.

For other safe, eco-friendly costume ideas, visit our costume page.