Are You Ready for a Green Christmas Shopping Season?

The holiday season is perhaps one of the most difficult times to be green. There are so many temptations to shop, shop, shop… and so many of the temptations are such poor choices for the environment. These are some of my thoughts on how to green things up just a little.

Avoid Black Friday Crowds

Admittedly, I have a long standing bias against Black Friday shopping. Comes from even before I thought much about the environment. Too many years working in retail and dealing with Black Friday crowds from the other side.

But it’s really ridiculous to fight the crowds that are so common on that day. To me there’s no Christmas present so important that I have to deal with that nonsense. The bargains are nice, but if you really need them, do consider that there’s Cyber Monday and you could just shop online. It can be more efficient. Sites such as Amazon are even starting “Black Friday” deals today and you might find something reasonable in their special deals.

Carpool if You Just Gotta

If you need to fight the crowds, think if any friends want to go shopping with you. It’s more fun, although you may have to be careful if you tend to buy more when you shop with friends.

And don’t worry about how good a parking space you get. A little extra walking isn’t going to be that much of a problem.

Think About What is Wanted and Will Last

Try not to buy gifts just to have something to give. It’s an easy mistake to make when you’re desperate for something to give, but it also results in a lot of unnecessary junk being bought.

Instead, think about gifts that really will last. It doesn’t have to be perfectly practical, but have some thought behind it.

If you don’t want to give something that lasts, think about free trade chocolates, organic produce gift baskets and such.

For the Kids?

Even kids who spend some time thinking about the environment are likely to want the latest trendy toys. It’s hard to blame them. There are a lot of really cool toys out there.

At the very least, think about if the toys you buy will have more than a momentary fascination for your kids. How many end up eternally in the toy box after a few days?

There are some great toys for kids that are more environmentally friendly too. Try to balance things out as best you can for them.

Baby Food Making with the Kidco Food Mill

Selene is quite the happy little eater, I must say. That girl loves her solid foods. And her breastmilk, although she gets a little creative about the positions she nurse in some days. Gets interesting.

kidco food millBut there’s one area in which she has suddenly turned picky. She now really, really needs her food to have texture. I’m really glad to have my Kidco Food Mill now. That’s it to the right. I was using it to grind up some homemade chicken soup, or at least the solid parts of the soup, when I took the photo.

I’ve had this one for quite a while. I used it to make food for my oldest, who is now 7 years old. I used it for my son, who is now 4. And it’s still going strong in making food for this baby. I rather like that it has lasted so well.

The food comes out too chunky for babies who are just starting solids, but once they like to chew it’s about perfect in my experience. My kids joke about how pasta comes out looking like little worms, as it still kind of sticks to itself even after grinding.

This is the part of feeding a baby where the food mill and my crockpot are really my friends. The food mill because it makes allowing my baby to eat what the rest of the family is eating pretty easy. The crockpot because it means that the meats are tender enough that I don’t struggle so much to grind them in the mill.

It’s fun to see my baby eating what we eat. I made homemade chicken soup from scratch the other night because we all had colds. Took some of the soup, drained the broth from it, cooled it and put it in the food mill. Selene loved it! Her appetite had been poor, but that mouth was popping open for this meal. I ended up wishing I had cooled more for her. Had to give her some cereal to finish off the appetite.

You do of course have to be careful about food temperatures when grinding food for immediate use. You don’t want a baby with a burned mouth.

It is some work to grind the food. You have to push down on the outer section of the mill while turning the crank on top. If the food isn’t tender that can be a bit of work. But to me it’s worth it.

Will It Be a Green Christmas?

Smiling Green Mom has a cute version of “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” done as “I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas” up on her blog. With Christmas not all that far away (eep!), the post also includes some good reminders to be green in your Christmas shopping and places to shop.

This is easier in some families than in others of course. But an awful lot of people do appreciate things such as special self care items, bath salts and the like, and those are pretty easy to find in organic versions.

Others will appreciate gifts of your time or creative skills. Still others may appreciate it if you donate to their favorite cause in their name.

In so many ways I’ve learned to love a simpler Christmas rather than one full of gifts bought to fulfill the giver’s notion of the right number of gifts or dollars spent. The thought really does count for much more.

You can almost always find a green gift even for people who aren’t that into the environment. Just look at what they do enjoy and work from there. It may be challenging but you can do it.

Green Gift Ideas to Give to Kids

Kids, especially younger ones, can be pretty easy to shop for. Watch commercials with them and see how often they say “I want that.”

If you’re trying to keep things a little more green and rather less plastic you have a bigger challenge ahead of you. But even then it’s entirely possible to find great green gifts that kids will really welcome.

As children vary so much in what they like, I prefer to recommend stores to shop for them, rather than just particular toys. But I’ll mention a few favorites.

Magic Cabin

I love Magic Cabin’s stuff. They call their toys “kid powered” as they’re all about the imagination, not the batteries. And their toys are just beautiful. They have a Forest Friends Bower that I can picture my daughter going nuts over. It’s perfect for over the bed as a canopy or off in a corner to encourage imaginative play.

Homemade Play Dough

Ok, so this isn’t a store. But it’s a great gift for just about any child in the age ranges that play with play dough.

If you want to make it really special, give the ingredients, containers to store it in, and the recipe, and make it as a project with your child. Time with the parents is a great gift too!

Heirloom Wooden Toys

These guys make some amazing wooden toys as well as some practical things. There’s the Learning Tower, for example. It’s a safe stool for kids to stand on, capable of holding up to 500 lbs. and with an adjustable height. They even sell a kit to make it into a playhouse for those times that it’s not being used as a safety stool, or you can buy an easel attachment.

And of course they have plenty of games to choose from, toy trucks, wooden blocks, play kitchens and much more.

Back to Basics Toys

These guys aren’t specifically green, but they have some great old style toys available, not just all the current stuff. Stuff like Lincoln Logs and Red Flyer Wagons. You’ll have to watch it a bit to avoid plastic toys, but it’s always good to be able to find your old favorites.

Amazon.com Green Toys

Now, I don’t know that I always agree with what they label as green toys. There are a lot they label as green just for having their Frustration Free Packaging. The packaging is certainly an improvement, but has nothing to do with whether the toy itself is green.

Many of the plastic toys are made from recycled plastic in this category.

There are some great green technology toys available too, such as the Thames & Kosmos Fuel Cell Car and Experiment Kit which allows kids to build a solar powered car and a fuel cell powered car. It sounds great to me for helping kids learn about alternative energy sources.

eBay

Don’t forget the possibility of quality used toys. This can be harder to apply to older kids than to ones young enough to not know the difference, but sometimes you can still manage it. eBay can be a great source for many of those toys that you remember so well.

Garage Sales and Thrift Stores

Yet more great places to look for used toys. A bit more of luck can be needed to find particular items, but the prices can be just amazing.

Donate Old Clothes and Other Reusable Goods – Green Step by Step

So you don’t have a use for those old clothes or other stuff around the house, but they’re in good enough condition that someone else could use them, send them off to your favorite charity.

This is especially true for clothing. Clothes that are still in excellent condition can be resold. But charities may also take clothes that aren’t in such good shape and turn them into cleaning rags. You can do that around the house too, just be sure that they really have reached the end of their life span as clothing.

You may also be able to find people in your area who enjoy doing crafts and need old clothes to make rugs and such.

Another option would be to hold a garage sale and sell the stuff yourself.

Non-clothing goods can be more difficult, especially if you’re talking electronic goods. Look around for a good electronics recycling program.

Don’t forget to consider reused items when shopping for yourself. Thrift stores can have amazing deals on really wonderful clothing. So much more affordable than going to department or specialty stores.