Looking for some unique stocking stuffer ideas for the adults in your life that won’t break the bank or the planet? I have compiled a list of some of my favorites. I am not big on cutesy stuff or novelty items that have no real function in every day life. Yeah, that Santa that poops jelly beans is cute but I would not want to find it in my stocking. Impractical items just seem like a waste to me so everything on this list is functional and would be most welcome in the life of your treehugger. Or perhaps you are the treehugger and the recipient is not, don’t sweat, these stocking stuffers will work for them too.

Glass Straws: Very functional yet small enough for stocking and beautiful to boot. If you buy a set then you have an affordable gift for 4-5 people too. Greenies will love them and those who are not will be intrigued. I am a long time user and it is hard to go back to anything else once you see how lovely it is to drink a smoothie through a piece of glass artwork!

If you are worried about breakage try stainless steel drink straws.

Lip Balm: Perfect for men or women this time of year. I recommend Eco Lips.

Seeds: The gardeners in your life will love heirloom seeds varieties.

Recipes: This could be a sneaky way to help the recipient get healthier or maybe you know they will enjoy Aunt Esther’s peanut brittle you modified with a healthy twist. Either way you might want to get some blank recipe cards, fill them out, and give the gift of healthier, greener food!

Spices: Foodies will love to try new and exotic spices. Buy a bottle or two (in glass or stainless tins) and maybe attach the aforementioned recipe cards for meal ideas.

Gloves: Hand knit gloves can be found on Etsy and in stores. Try to find some made with organic materials or recycled materials. I found these fun Sock Monkey Fingerless Knit Gloves on Amazon (recycled materials).

Journaling Materials – Have a writer or journal lover you need to gift? Try some eco pens and poo poo paper (yes it IS paper made from animal dung).

Rechargeable Batteries: Did you give someone an electronic gift or give one to their child, that requires batteries such as a gaming system, clock, ect. Well this is the perfect companion gift…batteries that they can keep using over and over, saving resources and money! I like Eneloop personally and this charger and 4 battery pack is perfect for Christmas stockings.

Pine Cone Fire Starters: Make them yourself or buy them but if your giftee has a fireplace and loves a roaring fire these make a practical gift.

Eco Perfumes: Small yet fragrant and healthy for the wearer. I wrote a post with a few ideas here.

Soy or Beeswax Candles: Many people LOVE candles and soy and beeswax are better alternatives. Natural fragrance is ideal too. I am really liking Mrs. Meyers Clean Day candles for gifting. They come in a nifty tin that is perfect for a stocking and they are made of soy. This brand also sells glass candles with lids.

Do you have any ideas to share?

The following is an interview with small business owner and mom Megan Visser of Baby Swank on Etsy. I love supporting mom based businesses, especially Etsy and/or craft businesses (since I used to own one), and this is a shout out to one of those talented moms. Enjoy and enter the giveaway to!

Tiffany: Tell us a bit about your business & how you got started.

Megan: My name is Meagan Visser & I’m the owner of Baby Swank on Etsy. There I provide fashionable & eco-friendly products for babies & toddlers including OOAK, handmade bibs, cloth baby wipes, & natural skin care products. My shop is a little over 1 year old and it continues to grow daily.

I started my shop after making my OOAK Washcloth Bibs for my own kiddos & loving them…not to mention the fact that I received a lot of complements on them! So I decided to sell & create a small business around them which has worked out great for me since I’m a SAHM!

Tiffany: What all do you offer in your shop?

Megan: Basically I offer my Washcloth Bibs {designs vary by season}, flannel baby wipes, crocheted loofah’s & scrubbies, & an all natural line of skin care products for babies. Like I said, I started with my bibs only & from there I continued to add new product lines. My newest is the skin care line called Baby Swank Naturals & it’s doing really well. Since it’s the holiday’s I also offer gift baskets which combine most of my products as well as gift wrap & direct shipping on gifts.

Tiffany: Tell us a bit more about Baby Swank Naturals.

Megan: I’ve always been careful about what I put on my babies skin & I’ve always been into making things myself, so this just came naturally. The hard part was narrowing down my options & figuring out packaging, descriptions, & photos.

Anyway, most of Baby Swank Naturals revolves around bath-time & diapering. I offer Baby Wash & Shampoo & Herbal Baby Oil that comes in 4 different scents – Lavender Chamomile, Rosemary Mint, Orange Vanilla, & Lemon Peel. I also have Herbal Baby Powder, Herbal Bum Salve & Cream, Herbal Bath Bombs & Herbal Bath Tea…all for babies…all natural…all gentle…all tried & tested. All of my products are infused with actual herbs, not just scented with the essential oils so you’re really getting the benefits of the herbs in the product.

Tiffany: With the holidays right around the corner, do you have any specials going on?

Megan: I offer Facebook fans & my newsletter subscribers a one time discount in my shop that they can use whenever they’d like. Also, all customers get a coupon code good on future orders with every purchase so there are lots of ways to save money on my products!

Tiffany: What’s next for Baby Swank?

Megan: I’m in the process of wanting to branch out a bit more & offer my herbal products for more than babies only. Hopefully at the beginning of 2012, I’ll have things ready to go & there will be some big changes will follow. It’s exciting & I can’t wait to see where it leads.

Giveaway!! Megan is is offering a set of mini bath bombs to one lucky reader. Bath bombs are 100% all natural right down to the coloring used …herbs! No synthetic pigments or mica powders here! Just run your bath water, drop your bath bomb in & watch the fizzing begin. Little one will love seeing these fizzy bath bombs color their bath water.

To win just comment about something that has caught your eye at the Baby Swank Shop . For a second entry “Like” Baby Swank on Facebook and leave a second comment. Good luck!

I discovered Abe’s Market sometime last year when I came across a cardboard dollhouse with furniture that I knew my 7 year old daughter would just love. It ended up being a birthday present and my daughter still plays with it quite often. Even though it is made of cardboard it is still going strong.

This store is part Etsy and part Whole Foods with a mix of posh and sustainable toys as well as some handcrafted stuff. But they also have a little Amazon, Groupon and Home Shopping Network thrown in their to to make a really well rounded online store. Abe’s Market is about combining the best things that Grandpa Abe represented – health and wellness, mom and pop, reliability, trust, honesty, community and personal connection between business owners and customers. They also have great prices IMO. I recall that dollhouse being a real steal.

Well, the folks at Abe’s Market are celebrating their new “In the Know” video series by offering my readers a kickin coupon deal. The idea behind the series is to help consumers find out where the the products they are buying come from and the story behind them. This valuable background goes beyond what can be found on a label. Who makes the product? What’s in it? Where is it made? How? I recall watching their video about the dollhouse when I purchased it. I already thought it was an amazing idea but it looks like they are taking that idea even farther and adding educational videos on all sorts of other topics. This one below talks about shopping for natural, organic, eco friendly toys.

With Christmas coming up I thought a $10 off coupon might come in handy. Enjoy!

Visit the store and use the special one-time only discount code “ENB-dk49hy” at checkout for $10 off a $30 purchase or more. Also visit @AbesMarket on Twitter and Facebook.

Black and White Laundry by Honey Tree on Etsy

So you’re a mom, and that means you have kids, and kids lead to messes, and messes make for loads of laundry…no pun intended! Who likes to do laundry? I know I don’t, but that’s beside the point. The point is, how can you clean all those dirty clothes cheaper and more naturally? As many of you have probably noticed, it’s not always cheap to be more eco-friendly and healthy. So when I come across something that doesn’t cost much money, is healthy for my family, and better for the environment, I’m ALL about it!

Well today is your lucky day because I have the solution to your laundry woes, and yes it’s cheaper {much}, healthier, and not harmful to the environment. It’s a recipe for homemade liquid laundry detergent that’s quick and simple to make, it costs about .03 cents per load, and has no harmful chemicals to absorb into your skin or your soil. Plus on top of that, it lasts FOREVER! Well not actually forever, but I think you get my point.

Baby Blocks Flannel Baby Wipes by Baby Swank on Etsy

So before I get to the recipe, I’ll start off by telling you how I came across this. When my first son was born I knew I wanted to try cloth diapering because of its benefits, and as many of you may already know you have to be careful about what you wash your cloth diapers and wipes in because of absorbency issues. I had looked at a few “natural” detergents in health food stores where I live, but everything was so stinking expensive. I was gonna have a new baby and I wasn’t going back to work when my maternity leave was up! There was no way I was going to be able to do expensive. I had to come up with something else because babies poop and pee A LOT, and that means lots more laundry…especially with cloth diapers and wipes. So I came across this recipe, made it, used it, loved it, and now here I am sharing it with you!

So here we go! You’ll need:

• 1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap
• 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda {not baking soda}
• ½ cup of Borax
• Essential oils {whatever scent you like}
• 5-gallon bucket

First you’ll need to grate the bar of soap and add it to a saucepan with 4 cups of water. Stir continually over medium-high heat until all the soap is melted. Second fill one 5-gallon bucket up half way with hot water then add your melted soap, washing soda, and borax to it. Stir well!  Finally fill that bucket the rest of the way up with water. Stir, cover, and let it sit overnight to thicken.

The next morning you’ll need to take a used, clean laundry detergent dispenser and fill it half full of your soap and then fill it the rest of the way with water. Now if you want it scented, you’ll want to put 10-15 drops of an essential oil in for every 2 gallons.

Viola! There you have it. Homemade, all-natural laundry detergent. Remember to shake it before each use because it will gel. This recipe yields approximately 10-gallons of detergent. For a top-load machine use 5/8 cup per load {approx. 180 loads}, and for a front-load machine use ¼ cup per load {approx. 640 loads}. So, you get all of this detergent and it only costs about $2.00 to make it! I don’t know of anything cheaper than that!

Do you have a recipe for an eco-friendly cleaner you’d like to share? Here’s your chance! Leave a comment and let us know what it is so we can try it out too!

Meagan Visser is the owner of Baby Swank, an online shop for trendy and eco-friendly items for babies and toddlers. She is a SAHM to two perfect little boys, and a wife to the love of her life. She lives in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains of East Tennessee, and is working toward growing her business and helping other moms pursue their dreams of running a business while having a family. Connect with her at her shop, her blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

I never much liked the play dough you buy in stores. Its smells funny and it has lots of chemical dyes in it to get those nifty colors. It stains carpet when it gets mashed into it to. ;) But every kids likes play dough right? Well, for several years we have either made it ourselves or bought homemade dough from crafters on Etsy.

Recently though we used a DIY play dough kit called Yohoho Dough. It comes in a nifty canister that can be reused for numerous other things and inside it you have everything you need to make 4 pounds of modeling dough. My youngsters give it a thumbs up. It is fun to watch mommy make and fun to play with. Using the canister to hide their treasures in afterwards is a bonus.

The dough is organic and non-toxic and it is a USA made product. The whole pirate concept is a winner too, my kiddos love it. Our dough is still going strong after a couple weeks. We keep it in a bento container on top of the fridge and pull it out almost every day for a few minutes or hours of doughey fun. I could REALLY see myself using Yohoho Dough for all future play dough requirements. It is waaay smoother than anything I have ever made on my own, more like modeling clay and the process was so simple.. just combine the wet and dry ingredients, heat and mix. It was easy and my kitchen stayed clean.

I used an old plastic spoon to mix because I didn’t want to get a wood one all sticky but the plastic one almost broke when the dough got stiff so use metal or wood!

You can jazz up the dough with scents and food coloring too! We plan to try that soon…