Welcome to Day #25 of our

“31 days of {Green!} Giveaways“

Today’s question: Did you know that one in three trick-or-treaters who come to your door this Halloween are expected to develop diabetes in their lifetime?

*Attention Facebook fans: Please answer as a comment on our blog, not our Facebook page in order to be entered to win!*

Today is day #25 of our month-long, trick-or-treating party for parents!

Just knock on our door (AKA blog) each day, answer the daily question (in lieu of shouting, “Trick or treat!” – although you are totally welcome to write that as well) and you’ll be entered to win some absolutely fabulous, ever-so-eco-friendly prizes.

Today’s prize package is worth $34!

The Today I Ate A Rainbow kits gets kids excited about eating fruits & veggies!  Kit contains: An interactive chart that uses colorful magnets to track daily consumption of a rainbow of fruits & veggies, a color coded shopping list and a children’s book called The Rainbow Bunch. $25  Open to USA and Canada.

Orange Vapur anti-bottle at LiveGreene. Value $9. Ships to continental US only.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Add your e-mail address to the comment login, below. (We cannot notify you if we don’t have your e-mail address!)

2. Add a comment (one per e-mail address) with your answer to the question above.

3. Comment must post before 11:59pm PST – TONIGHT

Be sure to review our giveaway rules here. Please note shipping limitations.

Be sure to subscribe to our blog and follow us on Facebook & Twitter for daily reminders & updates for the 31 Days of {Green} Giveaways promotion.

Good luck & have FUN!

(& See you tomorrow )

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.

Pumpkin Seeds make a great tasting and healthy snack.  They provide our bodies with zinc which is perfect at this time of  year to help ward off colds!  We love roasting pumpkin seeds and trying different combinations of flavors. We always do some with sea salt, then we mix things up a little by using things like garlic salt and Worcestershire, or for a sweeter flavor we sprinkle on cinnamon and nutmeg! It’s fun to get your kids involved and let them create fun combinations! We’ll share our favorite recipe and cooking method you!

What you’ll need:

Medium Pumpkin
Olive Oil
Sea Salt

What to do:

* Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut open pumpkin and scoop out the insides into a big bowl. Add water to the bowl to help separate the seeds from the stringy flesh (a lot of the seeds will just float up to the top!) and then rinse seeds in a colander.

* To make the seeds nice and crunchy we boil our seeds before putting them in the oven. You can skip this step if you’d like as it’s not essential. In a small pot add the seeds (for a medium pumpkin is around 1/2 cup) to approximately 2 cups of water. Add 1 tablespoon of sea salt. Bring to a boil and then let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

* Remove from heat and drain.

* Spread Olive Oil on the bottom of a roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet then spread the seeds (try not to have the seeds touching). This is also the time to sprinkle on some extra flavor if you’d like!

* Bake on the top rack until the seeds are golden brown, 10 – 20 minutes, depending on how brown you like the seeds.

* Take out of the oven and allow seeds to cool. Then enjoy this tasty fall snack!!

Happy Healthy Eating
Kia

Kia Robertson is a mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit; a tool that helps parents establish healthy habits by setting the goal of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. Kia is passionate about creating tools that help parents raise healthy kids!

Welcome to Day #24 of our

“31 days of {Green!} Giveaways“

Today’s question: If you had one message for the makers of conventional Halloween “treats” what would it be?

*Attention Facebook fans: Please answer as a comment on our blog, not our Facebook page in order to be entered to win!*

Today is day #24 of our month-long, trick-or-treating party for parents!

Just knock on our door (AKA blog) each day, answer the daily question (in lieu of shouting, “Trick or treat!” – although you are totally welcome to write that as well) and you’ll be entered to win some absolutely fabulous, ever-so-eco-friendly prizes.

Today’s prize package is worth $46!

From Green Party Goods, a box of 144 biodegradable, soy-ink straws (your choice of color) and a package of sustainably sourced Stripe Napkins. Value: $21. Ships to continental US only.

 
One pack of each Surf Sweets variety in an Eco-Friendly Trick-or-Treat Bag, along with other ghastly “green” goodies! $25 each  Continental US and Canada only.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Add your e-mail address to the comment login, below. (We cannot notify you if we don’t have your e-mail address!)

2. Add a comment (one per e-mail address) with your answer to the question above.

3. Comment must post before 11:59pm PST – TONIGHT

Be sure to review our giveaway rules here. Please note shipping limitations.

Be sure to subscribe to our blog and follow us on Facebook & Twitter for daily reminders & updates for the 31 Days of {Green} Giveaways promotion.

Good luck & have FUN!

(& See you tomorrow )

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.

Guest post

Halloween should be fun, right? Unfortunately, a scary reality is that one of the biggest nights for the chocolate industry supports a system that relies on forced child labor on many West African cocoa farms. But you can do something to help stop such practices and still enjoy Halloween.

This October, families, organizations, and businesses across the U.S. can help children forced to work on West African cocoa farms by participating in the 5th annual Reverse Trick-or-Treating campaign. By handing out organic, Fair Trade chocolates from Equal Exchange with attached informational cards when they go trick-or-treating, participants can bring critically important attention to the thousands of children who are trafficked and forced to work in horrible conditions on West African cocoa farms.

This year’s Reverse Trick-or-Treating program marks the 10^th anniversary of the September, 2001, signing of the Harkin-Engel Protocol that called for an end to the worst forms of child labor in the cocoa supply chains of the major chocolate companies. The campaign to raise awareness that there is a Fair Trade alternative to child labor was launched in 2007, two years after the deadline had passed for signatories to end the worst forms of child labor. Ten years after the protocol’s signing, most of its conditions have still not been met.

Equal Exchange knows there’s a better way to go and instead sources its Fair Trade and organic cocoa from farms in the Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru, and Ecuador. The vanilla from Madagascar and sugar from Paraguay for Equal Exchange’s chocolate are also certified Fair Trade and organic.

Contributed by: Kelsie Evans, Equal Exchange Chocolate Products Coordinator

Guest Post

1. Save money and reduce waste: Swap your costumes! Although National Costume Swap Day™ is over, there’s still plenty of costume swaps happening around the country all the way through to Halloween (check out the national event calendar, here). Of course, if there’s no swap in your area (and you’re not up for hosting one), check out an online swap such as thredUP.com.

2. Instead of candy, give trick-or-treaters a small treasure, preferably one made of natural materials. Or hand out items such as non-toxic tattoos, stickers printed on recycled paper or modeling doh (handmade is great!). An extensive list of other non-food ideas can be found here.

3. Use a reusable bag for trick or treating, instead of a disposable one.

4. Invest in décor that you can be reused every year. Or have your kids create Halloween décor by using recyclable items from around your home.

by Daily Thred editors Michele Adams and Gia Russo.  Michele and Gia are lifestyle experts and former Martha Stewart Living editors. They have been featured in over 100 publications sharing their collective expertise on organization, budgeting, eco-friendly living and parenting.

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.