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Non-toxic bath toys for the tots

Times are changing but I have found it is still hard to find non-toxic toys that are free of phthalates, BPA and PVC which are the standard for most soft plastic or rubber toys on the market. Of course there are standard wood toys and a few classics, but few true gems.

One of the rising stars is the Boon line which is surprisingly accessible, meaning, I have found their stuff at Target, as well as Amazon. Specifically, the Boon Scrubble toy is a playful lil’ set that will encourage the kids to scrub and squirt there way through their bath-time routine.

I will introduce you to additional non-toxic bath toys as I stumble upon them. Feel free to drop me a line or comment if you know of some great affordable products out there. In the meantime, you may want to consider dropping $8 bucks and replacing that classically toxic rubber duck in you bathroom.

Boon Scrubble $10 bucks [+shipping] at Amazon.Com
All Natural Rubber Ducks at Amazon.Com

Additional Articles:
The ebb and flow of toxic toys
5 cool & affordable eco-friendly kids gifts
All-natural teether for the tots

Tags: 0-1 year, 2-4 years, 3-5 years, classic toy, design, green, mod, non-toxic, toys

Solar Powered Christmas Lights

Solar Powered Christmas Lights, this is definitely the find of the day – no outlet needed! Now decorate anywhere without dangerous extension cords or need for an outlet. Sun charges string of 60 lights by day, turn on automatically at dusk and run for about eight hours!

No energy cost! Great near road, around mailbox or lampost – now you’re not limited to nearby outlet. 26′ length.

$20 bucks [+shipping] at Amazon.Com

Tags: better living, family finances, green, holidays

5 Cool & Affordable Eco-Friendly Kids Gifts

With all this talk about toxic toys on the shelf and lay-offs, I wanted to dig through this year’s archives and pull up a couple of my favorite picks for cool, cheap (most coming in under $20 bucks) and fun gifts for the tikes. This is what I came up with;

Fair Trade Mini Soccer Balls: They’re approximately 6″ diameter (19″ circumference). Fair Trade means the adult workers who produced this ball received a fair wage – at no extra cost to you! Eco-certified and certified Fair Trade. Union-made and vegan. They also have regulation-sized soccer balls to choose from.

They also have a number of other types of balls, apparel, accessories and equipment to choose from.

Fair Trade Sports | Mini Soccer Ball -$15 bucks [+shipping]
Fair Trade Sports | Standard Children’s Tee -$15 bucks [+shipping]

Plan Toys | Green Toys: These guys have it figured out! They use sustainable and recycled materials and they use green technology for manufacturing their products.

Plan Toys | Fire Truck Activity Set – $50 bucks [+ shipping]
Plan Toys | Zebra Pull Along Toy – $20 bucks [+shipping]

Safe Sippy Cup Stainless Steel: Meet the Safe Sippy stainless steel drinking cup – one small step in creating a less toxic world for our children.

The Safe Sippy cup breaks away from the all-plastic sippy cup designs of the past. From the clean, non-leaching stainless steel cup to the unique safety features to the plastics free of Bisphenol A and other harmful chemicals, The Safe Sippy cup was created to accomplish one simple goal: Clean In, Clean Out.

$17 bucks [+shipping]

Natural Muslin Swaddling Blanket [4 pack]: Swaddling made easy! These blankets are made with a unique cotton called Muslin. The light, open weave of natural fibers allows air to flow seamlessly through the material – which lends to the ability for baby’s body temperature to adjust naturally.

$42 bucks [+shipping]

Totem : A fantastic and construction award-winning toy to inspire creativity. totem comes with over 120 cardboard pieces emblazoned with signs, symbols, textures and imagery, all notched out to make building a breeze.

Comes with instructions for creating a boat, airplane, spaceship or schoolhouse, but totem is best used for imaginative and fanciful construction.

Made of recycled cardboard.

$35 bucks [+shipping]

Tags: better living, design, eco-friendly, green, holidays, mod, toys

Birds of a Feather Eco-Friendly Christmas Ornament

These ornaments are perfect for the winter holidays or year round, depending on how you arrange them. You can hang them on your Christmas tree, from the window frames or mantle for a modern, Christmas effect. In the new year why not let these flocks take flight as a focal point in a kids room?

These are made in Germany from certified eco-friendly and biodegradable felted wool.

$18/pair in red and white, or light and dark green [+shipping] at Branch.

Tags: design, green, holidays, mod

Simple Ways to Have a Eco-Friendly Holiday Season

Between Thanksgiving and New Years Day, Americans take an additional 25% of waste to the curb. That amounts to over 25 million tons of trash for the holiday season.

If every family reused just 2 ft. of ribbon from holidays past, that would save 38,000 miles of ribbon—enough to literally tie a big bow around the entire planet.

2.7 million Holiday cards are sent across the country each year—that’s enough to fill an entire football field 10 stories high!

So, what to do?

Fill your recycling cart with:

• Corrugated cardboard boxes (flatten it out to fit more!)
• Gift boxes
• Gift catalogs
• Newspapers filled and all of those advertising inserts
• Wrapping paper (non-metallic only)
• Non-metallic greeting cards

How to Trim Your Waste-Line This Holiday Season;

• BYOB-Bring Your Own (shopping) Bag for every shopping excursion—make this a habit all year long.
• Send e-cards instead of paper cards (or at least make sure your paper cards are made from recycled content).
• Avoid gift wrap that is not recyclable (metallic) or not made from recycled content—or, be inventive and crafty - just decorate the box. The comics’ pages makes great wrap for kids and last years cards can become collage wrap for any box. We like to save all those paintings and craft projects that the kids do throughout the years and re-use them as wrapping paper!
• Shipping a gift? Use Pop Corn (the real kind, popped and no butter) to protect fragile items, and then have your gift recipient feed the birds.
• If you get a gift with those dreaded Styrofoam peanuts that will live longer than cockroaches, donate them to your local UPS or packaging store
• Lots of gifts have bells and whistles! Include rechargeable batteries and a charger to get your loved one off to a greener start.
• Trees, wreathes, all can be composted—and will end up as community mulch when taken care of properly. But better that that, buy your tree ‘roots and all’. Transplant that beauty after the last slice of fruit cake leaves the house.
• Don’t know what to get someone? Plant a tree in their honor!
• Consider gifts that aren’t material-like a massage, sporting event, babysitting, dog walking or tickets to the museum, this is also a clever (and personal) way to save money this year!
• Think about the packaging! If you can’t recycle it, buy something else instead! That will send a clear message to manufacturers all over.
• Holiday lights all a tangle? HolidayLEDs.com will accept your old incandescent Christmas lights, which will then be recycled. Be sure to ask neighbors and friends if they want to recycle their lights as well. You can reduce waste and shipping costs by sending all lights in one package.
• Did you get some great new things? Appliances, clothes, gadgets, cookware? Well, chances are great that you have some ‘less new things’ that would make a lot of people pretty happy. Donate them to your favorite charity or non-profit. You know -pay it forward!

Beyond the Holidays;

• Decide what catalogs you want and what catalogs you don’t with CatalogChoice.Org
• Or, write to the Direct Marketing Association at P.O. Box 9008 , Farmingdale , N.Y. 11735-9008 to have your name removed from ALL third-class mailing lists.
• Credit card offers filling your box? Opt out by calling 1-888-5OptOut (1-888-567-8688) or visiting OptOutPrescreen.Com.

Via RecycleBank.Com

Related Links:
Stop The Junk Mail Cycle…
Plastic Shopping Bag Alternatives
Safe And Green Holiday Season
Pay It Forward Parents

Tags: better living, eco-friendly, educational, green, holidays

Affordable Organic Baby Clothing & Bedding

The web is wonderful when you have discriminating taste and you are trying to find that specialty item that the boutiques don’t even carry. Organic clothing and bedding for babies is certainly not one of them, even Target carries organic baby items. Wake up and smell the cotton buds, be smart and bargain shop.

Yes, your choices of stores narrow and the price quickly rises, when it must be Merino Wool or in that beautiful pattern, but for most of us can save a lot of cash just be doing a couple extra clicks, when surfing the web. I did some comparative shopping as a sort of lipnus test for some of the more common organic infant and baby items (*I am fully aware there are differences in thickness and quality of some of these items, this is really to make my Readers more aware of the popularity of organic clothing and home-ware products, don’t expect to pay a premium anymore.

Organic Baby Bedding [crib]:
Walmart | Safari Adventures Organic 4-Piece Crib Bedding Set – $70 [+ shipping]
(compare to this set, which is upward of $500-600 dollars!)

Organic Infant Receiving Blanket [cotton]:
American Baby Company | Organic Thermal Receiving Blanket – as low as $9 [+ shipping]
Tadpoles | Organic Receiving Blanket with Cap – as low as $17 [+ shipping]

Organic Infant & Baby Onsies:
Pure Beginnings | Long Sleeve Organic Onsie
Pristine Planet | Various Organic Onsies – as low as $4.50 [+ shipping]
(compared to $32+ per piece here!)

Tags: 0-1 year, 2-4 years, baby fashion, better living, family finance, green