Green Gift Ideas

Like most parents I want to do the best for my boys. For their immediate little worlds and their future one.  For all our children and their future world. I do my best to recycle, reuse, buy organic and shop for local or Fair Trade products. Now I am not perfect nor am I an angel, but I do try.

The festive season is upon us whether we like it or not. Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever your celebrations  over the next few weeks, the stores are full of tempting goodies.  It seemed like a no-brainer to do a Holiday gift section, but the Mother Huddle wants to bring you one that I/we hope you find different and one that may stimulated a bit of thinking.

I’m getting rather emotional while writing this in my warm, cozy house with a roof, and a fridge stocked well and hot water to bath in and fresh water to drink. My boys are asleep in their beds, with blankets to keep them warm (it snowed overnight the temperature is hovering around -4C (about 24F). I have dinner on the stove for tonight’s dinner which is full of nutrition. I know that there will be many gifts that they will receive on that auspicious day that is looming. I will love watching their faces as they rip open gifts, it is one of those treasures of being a parent. But may be one, some of those, will be gifts that are kind to our world, thoughtful of nature, harmless to our children and have not been produced by children who should be playing with the gifts they are making.

So take a look through these ideas. I have focused on children, but many of the websites that I have looked at have wonderful items for the whole family.

Green gifts

Big girls and little love painted nails and why not? This lovely gift set comes from Organic Bug and is $27. Piggy Paint Kid-Friendly Nail Polish is the safest nail polish available for children (and adults, too)! It is specially formulated using natural ingredients and dries to a hard, durable finish. You will find NO harsh, smelly, toxic chemicals like formaldehyde, toluene, phthalates, bis-phenol, ethyl acetate or acetone. Available in a whopping 17 different goodie bags. Great gift for your ‘tween or early teen.

How about this from www.nubiusorganics.com

A play set and puzzle in one! If like my son your children are still slightly obsessed with Nemo, they are going to have endless hours of fun playing with and putting together this puzzle. The idea being that their imagination, and don’t children have fabulous minds in that respect, creates what ever they wish with the 16 pieces of sea life, then challenge the other side of their brain piecing the puzzle together. Made from rubber wood, an earth friendly hardwood.

My son has this toy. He loves it as does his brother. Green Toys can be found on many -a-website and in stores such as Pottery Barn for kids. If you get their link here, all you need to do is enter your zip or postal code to come up with a variety of places to purchase their goodies. The recycling truck comes with ‘recycling’ cut outs on the box for little ones to ‘post’ into the truck. Ours sadly were eaten by my youngest, but in the true sense, were, err, recycled!!!

Another favourite of mine is the tea set. Be sure to serve some cookies!

Got a budding scientist in your family?

Then they are going to love this kit by Stubby Pencil Studio. At $34.95 it includes: 1 recycled rubber wood   magnifier, 4 soy crayons, hemp twine, 8 color cards, 2 leaf viewers, 1 recycled mini notepad, 1 recycled denim pencil, 1 organic cotton blindfold +    the activity booklet. Ages: 3 to 12.  If you also have budding artist then check out their selection of pencils and crayons too.

What about your ‘tween or teen?

Now here’s a thought to throw out there. How about giving the gift of a goat or a chicken or may be even a Llama this year? There are organizations such as Oxfam International, Heifer.org or World Vision that are just crying out for help to help those that really need it. May be tree planting is more your thing or donating money to go towards a well that will bring fresh water to a village. Hell, why you may even want to dig the well yourself.

Heifer will provide a family with the means to provide for themselves. You can buy the heifer or sheep or llama or which every animal you chose. For the more expensive animals you can buy a share in an animal. There are printable e-cards that you can send to your family and friends to let them know you have bought a family in need access to self reliance.

How about Save the Children?  You can gift a year of education for a girl – primary or
adolescent – or how about ready to use food packets for under-5 kids
(in the health section), tools and supplies for Community Health.  Typically  STC provide outreach care for under-5 year
old kids, in treatment within 24 hours for malaria symptoms, diarrhea – a
major cause of death, pneumonia, etc).  Save the Children is great at
education programming and health – that is their niche.

The next is straight from someone who knows about humanitarian projects. Thank you Anna! I contacted her because I knew she would have knowledge of reputable, and well run sites.

A plug for CPAR (Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief, that also has a US
registration – www.cpar.ca ,
(www.giveupyourgifts.ca or www.faceofgiving.ca) that allows you to create
your own site and profile (very easy) on someone’s behalf or as a family
then rally others in support of a project of their choice.  You’ll get
updates on your project as well.  A couple that were recommend
are:  The Safe motherhood kits, that allow women in Uganda to give birth
safely (as there is a 1 in 25 chance of a woman dying in child-birth) if
they can’t get to a clinic, Planting trees and funding the development of
tree nurseries (as a green gift).  Through donors such as this, over the
years,  over 53 million trees have been planted in Africa.  Also, for a bigger
group gift or share, helping fundraiser for a portion of a rainwater
harvesting tank at a primary school in Tanzania, that will help provide
clean water for kids and help reverse drop out rates for girls.

So there you go. Fair trade goodies, recycled, organic and kind to us and kind to our world. I really could have gone on and on with decorations, jewelery (more of that at a later date) or education, health care or a new goat for a family. Take your pick. Let’s try and move away just a little from the corporate festive season and remember that there are many who quite simply would love a hug and a chance. As Destri was encouraging us  to educate our little ones to drop a dollar or two in the Salvation Army buckets I hope I too can perhaps give my boys a greener Christmas this year.

Smiles

K8

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