Feel that love in the air? Yes, Valentine’s Day is around the corner. After Halloween I think Valentine’s is my fave holiday because it’s all about ooey gooey love in all its forms. This could be love for your partner, love for your kids, love for your extended family, or love for your friends. We don’t celebrate love enough in my opinion so heaven forbid we let the official love holiday pass us by without celebration.
This of course does not mean we have to give in to the mainstream and rather commercial version of the holiday. We can choose to go minimalist and keep it simple or we can give the day our own green twist. We can say “I Love You” without great planetary cost. Here are some ideas.
Go Local – If you plan to buy a gift or go out to eat try a local place close to your home. Save that trip to Paris for your second honeymoon. Try a small mom and pop restaurant for dinner and you will be surprised how good the service is. A store with wares sold by local artisans will ensure a unique, lower impact gift. Celebrate Valentine’s and help support your local economy.
Gift Experiences Rather Than Stuff – Instead of shiny baubles and aftershave why not give the gift of fun? Get a gift certificate for mystery dinner theater, an opera, a cooking class, Disney on Ice, movie tickets, or the like. If your partner loves art get season passes to your local art museum and make it a goal to have a date night there once a month. If your kids love paintball, buy tickets for the whole family so you can enjoy the first Big Game Day come spring. Nothing says love like bruising each other with paintballs. Stuff ultimately means less to us than happy memories so get out there and make some together.
Go Non Toxic – Perfumes, flowers, bubble bath, lotions… all the mainstream stuff is smelly and potentially toxic. No, seriously. Valentine’s is no time to expose the loves of our lives to dangerous chemicals! If you want to get your partner something along these lines go for natural, organic ingredients. Check out Juice Beauty, Pangea, and your local Whole Foods for some better options. You might also want to try love themed essential oils for a healthier “scent”.
For kids skip the toxic nail polish and lip balms, there are much better options. HoneyBee Gardens and Piggy Paints have pink/red colors that are safe and perfect for Valentine’s. Looking for USDA Certified Organic Lip Balm? Try All The Better To Kiss You With.
Flower Power – Flowers should also be grown without chemicals if you have to have them. A better option would be decorative blooming branches so that they can be used all year long. You could go also with a houseplant that will clean your indoor air and decorate your home year round. A lucky bamboo plant is a nice option for loved ones. Also a Feng Shui Tree is a lovely twist on the flowers/plants theme.
Healthier Sweet Stuff – For chocolate go Fair Trade, organic, dark (70% cacao and above), and raw if you can swing it. The stuff they sell in the Valentine’s isle at your local grocery is CRAP. Don’t eat and don’t gift it. Try Buddha Chocolate, my new personal favorite! Another good option is Equal Exchange chocolate bars. Both offer salty, dark chocolate that is ethical and to die for. Gnosis chocolate is certified raw, vegan, organic, and kosher.
We may decide to forgo candy altogether and take the family out for local artisan ice cream made with cream from grass fed cows. I LOVE our local foods community here in Ohio!
Give Greener Cards – You can really send clever messages inside e-cards so if you can go that route, do it. While getting a physical card is always fun, we end up with feeling as though we have to keep it and do we even look at it the other 364 days of the year?
For kids you can always buy recycled Valentine’s Day cards or make your own with recycled materials for your own kids and for them to pass out at school. You could even save valentines from previous years and reuse them. Who will know? If your kids insist on giving out treats, stick a Valentine’s smencil or a Yummy Earth Lollipop to the recycled valentines.
Go Vintage – It’s green to reuse old stuff so finding a vintage gift for your sweetie is totally earth friendly. Perhaps the wife would like some vintage Pyrex or Fire King mugs. The hubby might enjoy antique fishing lures or a well loved tackle box. Kids’ stuff isn’t always safe when it is old so perhaps some vintage inspired toys like these wooden sailboats or a rag doll.
Hopefully this post gives you some eco ideas for Valentine’s Day and beyond.
When it comes to extended family my fave gifts to give this time of year are ones that incorporate photos of my kids. I have done mugs with the kids photos several times and even calendars with new photos of my darlings each month. This, I hear, makes it more tolerable to get by without seeing their cute faces in person every day. I am fortunate that I am not totally heinous in the picture taking department, and that I have a decent camera, because I have lots of good shots to choose from. This year will follow the same path as previous ones. I have already ordered the annual calendars, the mugs, and a new one for this year is big canvas prints of some of my fave shots.
Easy Canvas Prints saved me some dough by sending me a 16×20 canvas wrapped print of my choosing and that fits into my gift giving “plan” quite nicely. I knew immediately what photo I wanted to see mounted on canvas… a Fall photo of my youngest kiddo that I have fallen in love with.
This beauty….
was turned into this…
The photo of the print is a bit dark. I hate using a flash when taking pics of Christmas lights because it drowns them out. It came out lovely though. The ordering process was quick and painless and the shipping was fast. Perfect!
Is there really any greater gift, than the gift of health? No, not likely. Being healthy and fit takes us a long way on our journey to happier lives and it helps to ensure we are around to share our lives with our loved ones. It gives us greater energy and happiness. It keeps us young.
You may need gift ideas for loved ones who consider themselves gym rats and fitness enthusiasts or you may want to encourage someone who wants to be. Either way these gifts are perfect for those who want to prioritize fitness and greater health. Some I would consider “green” in their design or materials and others I have added because they are high quality and designed to last, even if they are not technically green. Enjoy!
Shoes – There are many brands of green and/or minimalist shoes out there so if you want to buy shoes for your loved one you may want to do your homework and see what they like and what they use their shoes for. Some good ones to try:
Garmin Forerunner – Most fitness nuts want to track their progress and compete against their own times. This nifty device is considered one the best tools to do that. It tracks your distance, time, pace, and heart rate. Works for running, walking, hiking, cycling, cross country skiing, and even windsurfing. Also has GPS. This is on my wish list for sure!
Mp3 player and Headphones – Whether at the gym or outside the workout goes mush faster and is much more enjoyable when you have tunes to listen to. You ideally want something small for fitness though, like the iPod nano or the shuffle. Both clip onto your clothing! Don’t forget the eco headphones to.
Sustainable Workout Clothes – Workout clothing that is ‘environmentally conscious’ is widely available now. Some of my faves include:
Eco Yoga Mat – Got any yoginis in the family? Well, then an eco friendly mat will be perfect. Most conventional mats have some toxic nasties in them and there are a few options now that are healthier for us and for the planet. Try the Gaiam Eco Reversible Yoga Mat (Peacock). Non toxic TPE, no PVC or latex, eco conscious company.
Gym Bag – Anyone who hits the gym a few times a week will need a bag to cart around all their stuff… swim suit, change of clothes, towel, toiletries, mp3 player, headphones, heart rate monitor, water bottle, etc. I have the Gaiam Everything Fits Recycled Gym Bag and it is roomy enough for all my stuff, has a pocket for wet stuff, and has a rope band on the bottom for holding a yoga mat.
Mountainsmith Approach 3.0 Recycled Backpack – Great for day hiking and backpacking AND made of recycled materials.
Tubbs Women’s Frontier Snowshoe – Man oh man do I want these! High quality, affordable, snow shoes.
Fitness Books: If your giftee happens to love fitness and reading then perhaps you could incorporate both pursuits. You might try a Winter Trails book specific to their state or an athletic memoire like Becoming Odyssa or Hiking Through.
Looking for an easy and eco friendly crafting idea to get the family in the mood for Halloween? Of course you are! I can’t be the only one who thinks Halloween is the most awesome holiday there ever was.
This particular craft uses recycled cans so if you drink anything out of cans you are in luck, you have what you need. If not, you can likely get some pretty easy via Freecycle or from family and friends.
For a ghost, paint the can white with non toxic paint, and use a black marker to make the eyes and mouth. Use the tab to tie some string to it for hanging and use a bit of ripped cheesecloth above the can to blow eerily in the wind.
For a bat, paint the can black and use white marker or paint to make eyes. You can also use googly eyes. Use orange paint to write the word Boo. Black wings can be made from paper, painted cardboard, or foam and then be glued to the can. Remove the tab to make the mouth appear open and use a hot glue gun to connect a string of some sort for hanging.
These can be stored after Halloween is over and used for subsequent years too. Happy crafting!
Came across this awesome nail polish set today and had to share. Nail polish is IMO one of the nastiest products you can buy but several companies are now marketing non toxic nail polish and this is good news for moms of little girls who love to wear nail polish. This particular nail polish is made by one of those companies (Keeki Pure and Simple) and I LOVE that they have bundled Halloween sets, the Franken-Keeki Gift Pack. I want one for myself! The green is awesome although they call it Sour Apple Slushie and the black is Midnight Snack. My daughter can testify to the fact that the name is just as important as the color. ;) Although not in the Halloween pack, the Sugar Plum Nail Polish is an awesome purple color that would be great for Halloween too.
The Candy Corn Gift Pack has Lemonade, Marshmallow, and Orange Sorbet.
These nail colors have no parabens, phthalates and other nasty ingredients. They are also gluten-free, toluene-free, vegan, made here in the US, and never tested on animals.
Anxious for Halloween yet?
Related: Ditch the Nail Polish Nasties
Welcome! Here you will find the random thoughts and experiences of a mom trying to live a more natural and green family life since 2004. Enjoy! Feel free to 
