Mom Goes Green

(This giveaway is now closed for entries.)

Black Friday… I NEVER shop Black Friday! Instead, I celebrate “Buy Nothing Day“.  Every year.  Period.

Yesssss, I know… the bargains, the excitement, the tradition… I simply choose to spend the day NOT spending.  It’s a great reminder that we don’t need to spend obscene amounts of money, rise in the wee hours of the morning and push and shove our way to luxury items that aren’t even needed, if we really think about it.

So, if you would like to get a step up on a great green gift, I will help you… no purchase necessary… I’ll sponsor some giveaways in the coming weeks and I’m starting today with a 33 oz. EcoUsable stainless steel water bottle and “Green 4 Life” water wrap that will make a fabulous gift for someone on your list… or simply for yourself, for that matter!

You want it, don’t you?  Well, it’s a great one too!:  Stainless steel, no BPA, reusable and free.  You won’t even need to get your toes stomped either…

So leave a comment here saying you’d like to win and tell me who you’d like to “gift” it to (there is no penalty for saying you want it for yourself!), send a Twitter message that includes a reply to @momgoesgreen and a link to this blog, or leave a comment on Facebook to be entered. The winner will be selected two weeks from today’s post. (US entries only… sorry!)

Skip Black Friday… celebrate “Buy Nothing Day”… and take a chance to win something absolutely FREE instead!

Halloween is just around the corner… and it’s the ideal time to let the creativity flow.  But it’s also an opportunity to make some fantastic green choices.

While that creativity is in action, remember to give these green tips a try!:

• Crafts & games – this is a great chance to upcycle materials, from jars & cans, to toilet paper and paper towel tubes… crafts don’t require a trip to a craft store!  And choose games that don’t require major purchases, like “Rotten Pumpkin” with a miniature pumpkin (played like “Hot Potato”) or create a large jack-o-lantern from paper and play “Pin the Nose”.  All of the paper can be recycled afterward.

• Costumes – your own closets and drawers are a great resource!  Visit your local thrift store.  Or organize a costume swap with your friends.  Avoid face paints, unless you make them yourself… they often contain some harsh chemicals that you truly don’t want on your children’s face!

• Decorations – nature provides plenty of resources, from pumpkins and gourds, to mums and leaves, to cornstalks and Indian corn.  After the season, they’re all completely compostable.

• Parties – avoid disposable anything.  Use real serveware, cups, silverware, fabric table coverings and napkins.  If you MUST purchase disposables, at the very least, choose paper over plastic.  Try to help carry these rules over to classroom parties too.

• Treats & candy – organic candies would be fabulous, but not easily found, so just be conscious to avoid some treats that are over-wrapped and over-packaged and, truly, treats don’t need to be candy.  Consider recycled-content pencils or mini-notepads.  Avoid plastic trinkets.

• Treat bags – cellophane bags are the easiest to find but, with a little extra effort, you can find Halloween-themed paper bags instead.  Reusable bags are also ideal for collecting the loot!

• Over-abundance of treats? – Consider pilfering some of your kids’ haul and drop it off at a homeless shelter!

Happy planning, Happy Halloween and be sure to keep it green and “EEK”-o-friendly!

(This giveaway is now closed for entries. See “comments” for winner announcement!)

My absolute favorite products have to be those that serve a real purpose, help the environment and also contribute to a cause… today I want to give you a chance to learn about and win one of “those”…

Let me introduce Bazura Bags!  These bags are created by a co-operative of women in the Philippines desperately working to put their lives back together after a devastating typhoon last fall.  Made from otherwise unusable drink containers collected by local schoolchildren (who are paid for their “supplies”), the women of the co-op create and sell these unique, fair trade bags to support themselves and recover from this disaster.

It should come as no surprise that Bazura is actually a Filipino word for “trash”!… well, not anymore!  They are creating these bright and cheery bags that can be used again and again for any shopping trip or occasion when you need a simple tote.  Just yesterday, I saw them for sale in the shop of Cleveland’s Museum of Contemporary Art, so they are truly considered little works of art!

I have a market bag* to share too!  Would you like to win it?  Well, just leave a comment here saying you’d like to win and tell me how you’d like to use your bag, or send a Twitter message that includes a reply to @momgoesgreen and a link to this blog.  Facebook friends can also leave a comment to be entered. The winner will be randomly selected on May 24! (U.S. entries only… sorry!)

Even if you don’t win, consider buying one of your own or take a look at their site for a whole variety of products the next time you have a gift to give… and then smile when you realize all of the ways these bags are making a big difference in the lives of these women and for the sake of the environment!

(*Please note:  because all bags are unique, the bag will not look exactly like the one shown above, but it will be very similar!)

Each year over THREE BILLION dry cell batteries are sold in the U.S. alone. That’s a lot of trash that will eventually end up in a landfill, adding toxic chemicals and metals to our ground, air and water.

Now, if you’re like me, you’ve priced rechargeable batteries and their initial cost looks frightful, but did you know that just four rechargeable batteries can replace approximately 100 regular alkaline batteries?!?!?

The cost of buying four rechargeable AA batteries (with its charger, mind you!) is equivalent to buying a 20-pack of single-use disposable AA batteries.  By my math calculations, you’ll be saving about $60 in the long run and that not only sounds eco-friendly, but also wallet-friendly to me!

Today’s alkaline batteries are much safer than they were prior to 1997, but they still can’t be recycled, but guess what?… rechargeable batteries CAN! As always, you can check out Earth911, drop them off at any Batteries Plus location near you or ask at your local home improvement/hardware store or drugstore.  Some will even accept alkaline, button cell and lithium batteries for proper disposal too.

Face it, many of us are parents with kids that have far too many electronics and toys that require mountains of batteries, but you can help reduce your corner of the mountain by investing in some rechargeables instead!

(This giveaway is closed for entries.  See “comments” for winner announcement.)

As if I haven’t mentioned it at least a dozen times, I love reading with my kids.  During Earth Hour we read books by flashlight(!) and, with Earth Day just around the corner, there is a lot of eco-reading happening at Mom Goes Green’s house!

One of our new favorites is The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge… the newest installment in the series.  My daughter was thrilled to help me review this book because ever since she picked up her first Magic School Bus book, she’s been hooked… and so have I!  This time the adventure takes us from the Arctic to the equator to see all of the causes and effects of global warming… and give kids ways to make a difference, in terms that they’ll understand.  And, as always, Ms. Frizzle and her class does it in their usual fun and humorous way that makes “eco-friendly science” extraordinarily kid-friendly too!

Our daughter loves the book and it’s clear that she’s learned a lot because she loves spouting off little facts every so often.  Clearly, The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge made an impact on her and thanks to Scholastic a few Mom Goes Green readers can share the adventure too!

These fantastic prizes are up for grabs:

• One Grand Prize winner will receive a copy of The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge, plus a set of organic, reusable sandwich and snack bags
• Two additional readers will receive a copy of The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge

How do you enter?…. well, just leave a comment saying you’d like to win and tell me about the “little adventurer” you’d like to share these prizes with, or send a Twitter message that includes a reply to @momgoesgreen and a link to this blog. The winners will be randomly selected on April 26! (US entries only… sorry!).

If you’d like to take on an additional adventure join in the live webcast with author Joanna Cole and Bruce Degan on Tuesday, April 20th (1 pm ET/10 am PT) as they join Ms. Frizzle to celebrate Earth Day and their new book at the Liberty Science Center.

In the meanwhile, climb aboard… and join Mom Goes Green on The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge!

FACT: Each year, in the United States alone, we discard and send 1.6 BILLION plastic disposable pens to landfills.  Take a look at what that number actually looks like:  1,600,000,000

Mind-boggling, isn’t it?  And it is believed that most components of those pens will never biodegrade either… (and the image just got uglier, didn’t it?)

The better solution?  Invest in a refillable pen. The refills are no more expensive than disposable pens and the waste they produce is substantially less.

The pen may be “mightier than the sword,” but the refillable pen is “mighty green”.

I hardly blinked and my kids’ birthdays were staring me in the face again! Besides the celebration of the two amazing days that they arrived, I knew it also meant lots of planning… for parties, presents, treats, favors and everything that goes with their big days.

I also knew that I didn’t want to get sucked into the vortex of waste… something that seems to go hand-in-hand with any celebration!  So, was I able to keep it green? You bet I was, and here’s how:

• Gifts – only one gift each:  a new bike.  The outgrown versions will be donated to a charity so some deserving kids can ‘get their pedal on’ too!

• Party – hosted at home, I pulled out all the dishes, the cups and glasses, utensils, serveware… every last thing.  Use of disposables: NONE!

• Wrap – all wrapping paper was recycled, gift bags were flattened and saved, along with ribbons and bows.

• Decorations – yes… I tried to talk my kids out of balloons, but they insisted… so I insisted on the biodegradable versions and they will be properly disposed of.

• Waste – there was none.  At the end of the night, I asked my husband if he had taken out the trash… he said he hadn’t, but there wasn’t one piece of trash that was added to the can during the course of the entire party.  Even the cake box… recycled!

• Party favors – just like last year, no plastic junk here!  I instead opted for drawstring tote bags (picked up at the local craft store for $1.99 each!).  They’ll get used by the kids again and again!

• Treat bags – everyone at my kids’ schools traditionally brings a treat bag for their friends on the day of their birthday.  Instead, we gave their friends a recycled paper mini-notebook and pen.

Each year I seem to get a little better at this!  For every choice you make, there IS a greener, more environmental option… don’t let yourself go down the usual road just because it’s what you’ve always done.  That’s a route you don’t need to take.

Remember, “green parties” are NOT just for St. Patrick’s Day or politics!

(This giveaway is now closed for entries.  See “comments” for winner…)

It’s been a couple years since I had to think about “buying something for baby”.  But if I had it to do all over again, I would certainly make a slew of different decisions.  It’s not just about keeping them clean and well-fed, safely secured in carseats, happy and content, but it’s also about making safe product choices so you can rest assured that certain hidden dangers are kept at bay.  (Yea, it’s those hidden danger that can be tricky!)

Whether they’re infants, toddlers or young children, any parent knows that they eat… constantly.  And whether you’re at home or away, you need to be prepared when those “hungries” set in!  Despite all the thought and attention we may give to nutritional choices, we can’t forget that a second choice looms… how we “contain” what we serve.  You can make the healthiest food choices on the planet but if the containers that hold those foods leach chemicals and toxins, then we’ve defeated our purpose, haven’t we?!?

Well, let me tell you about thinkbaby!  They sent me this terrific feeding set that is completely FREE of BPA, phthalates, lead, PVC and melamine… those scary contents we’re all trying to avoid!  The set contains two sizes of bowls with lids, a bentos box, a cup and a spoon & fork set.  The interiors are food-grade stainless steel so you don’t have to worry a single second about hormone disrupting chemicals leaching into the food (just the sound of that makes me shudder!)  Add to that the cuteness-factor, because they come with a fabulously-screamin’ bright orange exterior.

Okay, now I hear you… “I want one! I want one!” you say?  Well, thinkbaby is helping with that.  They’re letting me give away a complete set, so all you have to do is leave a comment saying you’d like to win and tell me who you’d like to “gift” it to, or send a Twitter message that includes a reply to @momgoesgreen and a link to this blog. This giveaway has a $40 value(!) and the winner will be selected one week from today’s post. (US entries only… sorry!)

And even if you don’t have babies, kids or someone you’d like to gift this to, (with the exception of the spoon & fork set), it can absolutely be used by us “big kids too!”

Whether it’s baby, kids or YOU, the next time you serve up a nice little helping of food in a regular plastic container, just remember to “thinkbaby” first!

By now, the gifts should be purchased and the wrapping is underway!  So, while you’ve certainly paid special attention to what you’ve selected, how you “present the present” also needs special attention too.

The average household output of trash actually increases by 25% between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, due in part to wrapping paper, packaging, boxes and all of the waste that results from the holidays. Gasp! I fully intend NOT to be one of those households and will recycle everything in sight, but while you can manage what happens with the waste from the gifts you receive, you can’t guarantee what the recipients of your gifts will do…

So before you unroll yards and yards of wrapping paper, ribbons and massive bows… halt!… and consider these better ways!:

• Buy recycled wrapping paper if you absolutely MUST wrap with paper (yea, I understand that kids love to unwrap!)
• Use, save, reuse, reuse and reuse gift bags.  They can have an amazingly long life.  Try to choose uncoated paper though… it simply recycles better when it finally comes to the end of its use.
• Put the gift in a reusable bag.  You can often score a reusable bag for less than the cost of a gift bag, and then it becomes a gift in and of itself!
• Use part of the gift as the wrap.  Scarf? Towel? Basket? Bowl? Wrap it around or put it inside.
• Wrap with fabric scraps and biodegradable raffia.  Simple as that!
• Skip bows and opt for berries, pinecones, evergreen clipping, twigs or a real flower instead. These natural embellishments can even make brown craft paper look festive!
• Before you toss out this year’s wall calendar, use the images for wrapping smaller packages.
• Use old holiday card photos or images to create your gift tag.  You have ‘em, so use ‘em!
• Reuse, reduce, recycle.  Save the materials you receive to be reused (gift bags, bows, ribbon). Reduce the amount of materials you use for your gift giving.  Recycle all of the paper and packaging from your gifts and make sure they go in the bin, not the trash can.
• (You can also choose not to wrap anything it all! My mom told me “in her day” her Christmas gifts from Santa weren’t wrapped!  They appeared under the tree “au naturale!” Hmmm… makes you wonder how and when Santa changed his policies!)

This will all be over before you know it!  Take a deep breath, grab your green supplies and see if you can join me in avoiding that 25%!

(This giveaway is now closed for entries.  See “comments” for winner.)

Well, I am officially in Stress-Out Land thinking about the holidays and all that needs to be done.  Shopping  (NOT “checked”).  Christmas cards (NOT “checked”!).  Tree up and house decorated (NOT “checked”!)   Outdoor decorations and lights (NOT “checked”!).  Yea, I’m way behind… and I’m starting to sweat!

So today, instead of a mind boggling post, I’m just going to help a reader get one item out of the way so I can get to some holiday “business”!

Let me first tell you about Citizenpip.  They sent me this fabulous lunch kit that will put at least one recipient on my gift list in the “checked” column.  It’s their Soup to Nuts Kit that includes an insulated lunch bag, stainless steel water bottle, insulated food jar, four food containers, a stainless steel fork and spoon set and five cotton napkins.  Everything is BPA-free, safe, reusable, eco-friendly galore and super cute! Perfect for avoiding all of that needless lunchtime trash, so yes… one little recipient on my list is going to be happy and really GREEN this Christmas.

Do you have someone on your list that would love a lunch kit too?  Well, I know you would certainly love giving one(!) and today, you can win a FREE Square Meal Kit right here! It includes an insulated lunch bag, stainless steel water bottle, four food containers and five cotton napkins.

All you have to do is leave a comment saying you’d like to win and tell me who you’d like to “gift” it to, or send a Twitter message that includes a reply to @momgoesgreen and a link to this blog. The winner will be selected one week from today’s post. (US entries only… sorry!)

If you don’t win, don’t worry!  The fine people at Citizenpip are offering an extra something for Mom Goes Green readers.  You can get a free fork & spoon set for every order over $50 (use coupon code: MOMGOESGREENgives at checkout), and for every $10 you spend, Citizenpip will plant one tree in partnership with Trees for the Future.  That, alone, should give you the warm, green, fuzzies!

So, while I try to de-stress and get something accomplished, take a chance at winning a gift that will make you feel a lot better too!