by Corey

We are thrilled and honored to partner with Non-GMO Project again this year to present the 2012 Guide to a non-GMO Halloween!

Offered to parents as a toolkit, the 2012 Guide (pdf) contains a list of Non-GMO Project Verified Halloween treats, such as Endangered Species Chocolates, fun ideas for “treasures” (non-food goodies) and even a healthy recipe from our very own food blogger, Kia Robertson.

Get the facts about “Frankenfoods” and learn more about what actions you can take (throughout the year) to protect your family and planet at NonGMOProject.org. Then, if you live in California, vote yes of Prop 37!

Get the Guide here.

Learn more about GMOs and what you can do to fight “Frankenfoods”! Visit:

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Looking for more ways to green your holidays, celebrations and every-day? Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson are mother and daughter and authors of  Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, and founders of Green Halloween®. Connect with Lynn and Corey on Facebook and Twitter.

Every year at our daughter’s school they have classroom Halloween celebrations. Families are asked to send in a snack for the class to enjoy, thankfully in our school there is a requirement that half the snacks be healthy, this helps to balance out all the sweets. Being the “Today I Ate A Rainbow” family we always sign up for bringing in a healthy snack and this veggie skeleton is one of our favorites! The best part is when I pick up our platter at the end of the day it’s always empty while there are still trays of cupcakes and other goodies still uneaten!

Here are the simple directions to make a Rainbow Veggie Skeleton:

You’ll need the following items:

• Head of cabbage or iceberg lettuce
• Zucchini slices (rounds)
• Bell Pepper slices (cross-cut)
• Celery stalks
• Sugar snap peas
• Carrots (peeled)
• Broccoli florets
• Cauliflower florets
• Cherry/Grape Tomatoes
• Healthy dressing of your choice!
• Olive slices

Step 1. Line half of small bowl with lettuce for the skeleton’s hair; fill with dressing. Place at one end of large tray or baking sheet for the skeleton’s head.

Step 2. Cut vegetables the arrange them on tray to resemble skeleton’s body

* We added the fake spiders for a little extra fun

Halloween parties can have a balance of sweets and health…by spending a little extra time you can make veggies just as fun as any junk food! You can also get the best bow stabilizer.
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!

When you have a little chef in your kitchen it’s fun to keep you eye out for cute and creative kitchen utensils that make cooking even more fun!  Cute aprons, colorful bowls, chefs hats are just some of the items you can get to help inspire your budding chef to enjoy the art of cooking!

We won these adorable mice measuring cups last year and these are the ONLY measuring cups Hannah will use because the other ones we have just aren’t as cute

We bought Hannah an apple shaped cutting board and a match red knife we buy at https://viebelles.ca/products/reserve-7-santoku-knife…she loves having her own special kitchen gear!

You don’t need to spend a lot of money or buy an abundance of kitchen gadgets for your kids, just a couple items is all it takes!  My daughter loves it when I ask if I can borrow her cutting board, fillet knife or any of her kitchen gear. I even enjoy cooking a little bit more when using her fun and colorful things!

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!

by Corey

Thank you so much to the families who entered our 2011 Spooky Faces Contest!

We received so many awesome photos and quotes (about what entrants find most spooky about an UN-green Halloween). It was nearly impossible to decide who should win!

But a contest is a contest, so we got down to it, and chose these entries as funniest, spookiest, cutest, most creative and best overall.

FUNNIEST

We loved 9-year-old Thomas Sokol’s silly spooky face! But, as Thomas’ mom, Stephanie, tells us the truth about what’s spooky about an un-green Halloween isn’t so funny.

“Thomas has autism and this is his attempt at a scary face. Having Autism means food allergies for lots of kids on the spectrum.  So the scariest thing about Halloween for him is all the chemicals in the candy. That’s how these chocolate lollipops ended up as play things rather than getting eaten. lol.”

We agree, Thomas! In this case, DO play with your food. Who wants to eat chemicals? Yuck.

Congratulations, Thomas, for winning great, green gifts from Revolution Foods and Good For You Girls.

SPOOKIEST

7-year old Luca Michallet may become a world famous special effects artist (and actor!) someday. He convinced his mom to help him use glue to make “decaying skin.” We think Luca hit the nail on the corpse, er- head with this one.

And we don’t know what’s scarier, his makeup or the spooky fact that, “”All the waste from cheap store costumes can be saved if we make our own!”

Luca, your entry rocked. You are the lucky winner of gifts from Natural Luxe and Eli’s Earth Bars.

Congrats!

CUTEST

10-month-old Skyler Lehnick wins our prize for the cutest entry. Even with some spookiness on her face, she’s still utterly adorable and, as Mom, Anne, tells us, Sklyer is revealing “her menacing front teeth. Careful – she bites! Well…she gnaws.”

But what’s truly spooky about Halloween to Anne is “all the sugary treats eaten with abandon. I have been overweight for the past few years and struggle to lose the weight and the last thing in the world I want for my daughter is to grow up with weight problems. I don’t have a problem with my kids having an occasional sweet snack, but Halloween (as well as Valentines, Christmas, and Easter) overwhelms us with candy and sugar. There are a staggering number of children with health issues because they suffer from obesity and I want to do whatever I can to stop this for future generations.”

So true, Anne. Halloween is just the beginning! Starting now to create traditions that treat kids to healthy fun will make an impact for generations to come.

Congratulations on your win of gifts from Green Party Goods and Preserve, Jr.!

MOST CREATIVE

Christy Garrard of Issaquah, Washington doesn’t just have mad creative skills with her costume/hair/makeup/lighting and photo editing. She’s also poignantly poetic in her opinions:

Sugar gluttony = sluggish kids

Creative treats = inspired kids!

We couldn’t have said it better, ourselves. Christy, congrats on your prizes from Today I Ate A Rainbow and LiveGreene!

BEST OVERALL

Jasper Mark (5) is one groovy, green kid. We think Jasper’s adorable Munch-esque scream, while dressed as a Earth-lovin’ hippy is the perfect symbol for the spooky facts about being un-green on Halloween. Furthermore, Jasper highlights a concern we are working hard to educate families about – Frankenfoods - which, according to mom, Lesli, “give him a belly ache and are bad for the earth.”

Jasper, thank you for your entry and congratulations on your prize package, which includes green goodies for your and your family from: Eat Cleaner, ecomom.com, Revolution Foods, Today I Ate A Rainbow, Natural Luxe, Eli’s Earth Bars, EcoPartyTime.com and ThredUp.

Thank you again to everyone who entered our 2011 contests! And congratulations to all for doing your part to make celebrating a healthy and green Halloween FUN!

What do YOU find most spooky about an UN-green Halloween?

(See contest rules for the details on specific prizes)

Welcome to Day #29 of our

“31 days of {Green!} Giveaways“

Today’s question: Would you consider making your own face paints this year?

*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 #29 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 $50!

Today I Ate A Rainbow kit.  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 US and Canada!

1 set of three Preserve Jr. Toothbrushes, $10 each Open to Continental US only.

$15 EcoMom gift certificates via email (Can be used at the EcoMom Green Halloween store or for anything on EcoMom) Open to Canada and the US. Winner pays shipping.

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.