ⓒ iStockPhoto - diane555

When I think of winter and the holidays I envision roaring fires, evergreen trees, snow flakes and cups of cocoa. I try not to think of hectic shopping, gift giving stress and plastic garbage.

I love old fashioned things and times when life was simpler. I have always encouraged my children to make handmade cards, ornaments and gifts every year. In fact we have family traditions that include our annual card making night and our annual cookie making night. The tree decorating is always done as a family. Tradition is an important part of the holidays.

If you are looking for ways to incorporate tradition, old fashioned ways of holiday celebrating while going green here are three green holiday books that offer a wealth of information on celebrating the holidays in green style. They offer ideas for food, decorating, DIY projects, handmade gifts, even green gift ideas. (continue reading…)

©iStockphoto.com - alexeys

I send out a lot of holiday cards- these days many of them are e-cards for any friends and family that I have email addresses for.

But nothing says the holidays like receiving Christmas cards full of photos and letters from friends and family that live far away or some that you just don’t get to see very often anymore.

It’s an old tradition that does use a lot of resources but some people still enjoy the personal feeling and joy you get from something as simple as a card in your mailbox. (continue reading…)

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Are you tired dealing with a Christmas season that is stressful, commercialized and consumer-oriented? Have you been trying to live a simpler, greener lifestyle, but you are not sure of how to go about greening the holiday season? This year you can make your Christmas more eco-friendly and meaningful for you and your family.

Make Your Own Holiday Magic

One way to add more meaning into the holiday season is to slow down and make time for the ones you love. Shop less. Spend more time not money on your loved ones. A great way to make memories that last is to create holiday traditions that you look forward to doing as a family: like making and decorating Christmas cookies, decorating the tree together or wrapping gifts together. Other traditions could be reading Christmas poems and stories, such as “The Night Before Christmas,” as a family. (continue reading…)

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Over the past couple of years a lot of eco-friendly cleaning products have hit the market. I’ve had the chance to try some of them. Some of them are okay, some are alright and others don’t work at all.

Here’s a list of some of the products that did work and worked really well. Products that I absolutely love and feel safe using. They are eco and they work. As an added bonus, some of them even smell good. (continue reading…)

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Thanks to GreenHalloween.org, the green Halloween movement has been growing every year.

This year Green Halloween and Kiwi Magazine have joined together and started something new.

National Costume Swap Day.

What is National Costume Swap Day?

It’s a day for friends, families, organizations or communities to get together, gather up old Halloween costumes and accessories that no longer fit or are no longer wanted and swap them with other people for new costumes. (continue reading…)

Where did July go? I can’t believe summer is flying by so fast. It is August- which means back to school time.

You know this always happens to me. The 4th of July comes along then all the sudden I realize summer is almost over. I know there’s still August, which means a whole month before school starts here in Michigan but it is always so busy with doctor and dentist appointments and still trying to squeeze as much fun out of summer before it’s gone and we’re left with a long, cold, never-ending winter.

One thing I always dread is back to school shopping. And wouldn’t you know it- the stores are already doing their sales. My daughter needs a new backpacks (among other things) since hers has fallen apart. I’ve cleaned it and sewed it for the past year and a half but I think it’s on its last leg finally. So I’ve been researching eco-friendly backpacks.

So far here’s what I have found. (continue reading…)

Rosie Hippo is a fabulous online store where you can shop for handmade, organic, fair trade, ethical and eco-friendly toys. All that are high quality unique toys your kids will love.

They have toys made of ethically sourced and eco-friendly wood, toys made from fair trade materials, they have stuffed animals, pretend play toys…anything and everything that can  spark your child’s imagination while giving them something safe to play with.

I call my youngest child my little monkey and monkey man because he loves monkeys, absolutely adores them. Plus he hops around and climbs everything like a little monkey. (continue reading…)