Green Friday and Red Monday!
Othewise known as Black Friday and Cyber Monday: The Friday and Monday after Thanksgiving, which are known to be the busiest retail days of the year, in-store and online. Here are Lulubel's 7 suggestions to turning the retail rush into a more eco-friendly experience.
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Host a Toy Swap with your friends |
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Consider starting a toy swap with your local Mommy friends. |
| Ask the other mom's in your network of friends if they would be interested in swapping toys as gifts this holiday season. It is old to their kids, but brand new to yours. Set a night aside with wine and cheese, ask each person to bring a few toys they could part with and Voila! Everyone goes home with new items for the price of a Mom's night out! |
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Support Local Artisans at Etsy.com |
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If you are looking for beautiful handmade gifts for your family and friends, try Etsy.com |
| Etsy provides a place for local artisans to sell their handmade and vintage products. You can purchase items from all over the US or also visit their local section to purchase products from people in your area. For beautiful handmade skirts and leather goods made from scrap fabrics, visit YanaDee's Etsy Shop. Her skirts are perfect for the pregnant mother and post-baby mother. They are comfortable, soft and stylish. |
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Choose Eco-Friendly Gifts |
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With so many environmentally friendly products available these days, there is no reason not to have these high up on Santa's list. |
| Wooden toys, recycled toys and organic plush toys all offer an alternative and safer toy for your child. Non-toxic paints and molding dough are great stocking stuffers. |
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Make your decorations instead of buying them |
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Advent calendars can be made from a variety of products around your home. Use ribbon and empty yogurt cups to tie 25 numbered cups to your mantle. |
| My favorite Advent calendar and my craft project with my kids this holiday is to create an advent calendar from coffee burlap sacks. Groundworks in Venice sells empty sacks for $.50. Purchase 2 sacks and use one as the backing and the other cut into 25 small pockets. Number the pockets with felt numbers or a black marker. Sew the pockets onto the sack and hang on your wall. |
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Leave gifts in the box, add a bow |
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Instead of tossing the packaging materials, use them as your giftwrap. |
| Pretty bows can be all the necessary wrappings to make your gifts under-the-tree ready! Every bit of paper not used to wrap gifts is that much less garbage and waste. |
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Reuse packaging materials |
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Not only can packaging materials be used to wrap gifts in, they can also be used for other household purposes. |
| Cardboard boxes can be used to create holiday decorations such as "Gingerbread" houses and Nativity scenes. Shipping tubes can be repurposed into a homemade Menorah. |
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Have your packages shipped together |
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By having your online orders shipped together you reduce the packaging necessary to deliver the items. |
| When ordering from Amazon.com, they will try to coordinate shipping in order to accommodate multiple orders being shipped together. |
Ideas for Teachers & Caregivers
The Holidays are a great time to show people how much you appreciate them by giving them a small gift or card. Once you start adding up family members, friends, teachers, coworkers and caregivers, your pocket-book may start to feel way too slim. A great option for the masses is to make homemade treats and package them with love.
Here is all you will need to create a sweet treat gift!
Peppermint Bark Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 (12 oz) Package of Organic White Chocolate Chips
- 24 Purefun Organic Peppermint Candies
Directions:
- Line baking sheet with waxed paper
- Melt chocolate in a medium saucepan stirring continuously on low to medium heat.
- Put peppermint candies in a paper bag. Crush candies using rolling pin or other heavy object.
- While holding strainer over melted morsels, pour crushed candy into strainer. Shake to release all small candy pieces; reserve larger candy pieces. Stir morsel-peppermint mixture.
- Spread mixture to desired thickness on prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with reserved candy pieces; press in lightly. Let stand for about 1 hour or until firm. Break into pieces.
Packaging
Rinse out take-out boxes, empty large yogurt containers, or coffee cans. Cover them with decorated paper your kids have put their crafty touches on. Holiday catalogues clippings are a great addition.
Line the tins and boxes with wax paper, put a few pieces of candy in each and finish them off with a holiday bow.
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