You are here: Home / 2010 / Archives for December 2010

Counting Down To Christmas

December 20, 2010 By 3 Comments

IMG_7358At the beginning of December I mentioned that it’s really easy to make a green advent calendar. Well, that was with the help of my new reviewer Summer. It’s been quite a lot of fun working with Zoe and Miles on the Advent Calendar. They are learning their numbers, counting, and number recognition. I’ve been really impressed with Zoe and Miles and all of the progress they have made. But not only that’s it’s been so much fun counting down to Christmas.

The kids are SO EXCITED about Christmas this year!

Every day, Miles says, “Can I do my animal cracker!” But he’s really saying Can I do my advent calendar today. So we’ve been doing the animal cracker every day. Playmobil sent us one of IMG_7357the advent calendars and Zoe has been enjoying it even more than the candy I put in the green advent calendar. Then each kid takes a turn.

Miles does the green advent calendar and Zoe does the Playmobil advent calendar. The Playmobil advent calendar is the Santa Playmobil advent calendar. I would rather the kids have the nativity scene but this one has been fun too. Zoe is learning about different animals but more important than that she’s been learning how to share with Miles. Watching Miles and Zoe playing together and learning about feeding animals and just great cooperation has been wonderful. I love my kids and how well they share together.

The Countdown to Christmas is so exciting. We have five days left!!

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: , , ,

Plantable Paper, Botanical Paper and Tissue Paper, More Green Gift Wrap Ideas

December 20, 2010 By 2 Comments

At the beginning of the month Summer and I went over some great Green Gift Wrap Ideas. Now Summer has even more green tips on how to wrap up those gifts for Christmas this year. 

Now that you have the presents you may have bagged them as I’d previously shared, but if you’re choosing not to bag it then you’ll be using or purchasing paper. I’d like to help you get the right kind of paper to still be ecological … you know, just in case you’re not using a reusable method …

1. Pick a paper without foil in it or a foil base. Though foil and paper are both recyclable they won’t process the combination paper. So avoid it!

clip_image0012. If you have the plain, simple, ordinary wrapping paper then (even with the tape attached) it can be recycled.

3. For those of you using bags and tissue paper do note that when the life of tissues paper has ended it can’t be recycled, but it can be composted. Give it a new life in your compose bin, your waste management yard waste bin, or use it as a preventative layer in your spring garden by laying the paper down and placing a top soil over it. You can plant your desired plants though it and the tissue paper will stop the weeds from coming up before it decomposes.

4. But the simplest of all, if you plan to wrap in paper, would be to just buy paper and/or gift tags you and the receiver can REALLY make green out of – paper you can plant. Shop on line at places such as Botanical Paper Works, try your local specialty shop, or ask our usual paper place to start carrying plantable paper.

About Summer:

Summer is the President of our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living.

Filed Under: green Tagged With: , , , , , ,

A Mom’s Story, The Creation of The Real Tooth Fairies

December 20, 2010 By 53 Comments

As part of Mom Start’s beginning, I used to share birth stories. It was very short lived as I didn’t take very much time networking when I first started out. But I would love to start sharing mother’s stories all over again, and not just birth stories, but how moms started their home based business, blogs and about becoming a mother. To start,  Marilyn Bollinger, the Founder of TheRealToothFairies.com has a special story about the creation and inspiration that lead to her business The Real Tooth Fairies. This is her story:

My first daughter, Shannon, was 5 when she discovered a loose tooth. This was a real event for her, with daily announcements about how much looser it was getting and questions like, “When will it come out?” or “Do you think the tooth fairy will bring me a surprise?” Not leaving it to chance, she wrote a letter to the tooth fairy one night when the tooth was very loose and placed the note under her pillow. That’s when a most magical and life-changing friendship began.

Shannon’s Real Tooth Fairy, Twinkle LaWinkle, wrote her back!

What began that day, as a magical meeting of an Earthy girl (that’s what they call us in Real Fairyland) and her fairy, grew into a dear IMG_7361friendship. Twinkle was  like a loving big sister and mentor to Shannon. Shannon was absolutely intrigued by the idea of knowing a fairy and being able to find out secrets of the magical happenings in Real Fairyland. She asked for Twinkle’s picture, made countless homemade creations for Twinkle, and wrote her many letters telling of her triumphs and her worries. And she shared all of that magic and excitement with me, her mother.

Twinkle, through these magic letters, gave Shannon a powerful message to believe in herself and her dreams. She made Shannon feel she was the most precious being on Earth. Shannon could feel Twinkle’s love in every letter. Twinkle gave her laughter and giggles about the funny adventures in Real Fairyland. Twinkle gave Shannon wisdom in girl size doses. She taught her to think about goals in small parts and map her way with determination. She made kindness, virtues, and dreams important. She made all things seem possible. She showed Shannon that her Love is Magic.

Shannon inspired her friends to write to their tooth fairies and discover who they were too. Many parents learned about the tooth fairies from Shannon! Shannon kept all her letters from Twinkle and would read them over and over again like treasures from another world. And when a friend asked Shannon if she was worried that Twinkle wouldn’t know where to visit her when she went away on a trip, Shannon said, “Oh, Twinkle says, ‘love follows you wherever you go!’ So of course she’ll find me!”

Shannon passed on the magical stories to her younger sister, who found her own unique friendship with Twinkle. Rachel loved the letters and stories Twinkle shared and she did creative writing and pretending herself, all about Real Fairyland. She especially liked the stories Twinkle told of pranky, cranky Stepella, so Rachel staged fairy plays, royal balls, fairy contests, and fairy TV shows, all with Stepella’s mischievous antics woven through.

Both of these girls moved on to older girl things, with the treasured tooth fairy letters gathering dust, covered over by first car keys, prom corsages and college applications. Twinkle delivered sweet letters to her Earthiy friends at high school graduation and college graduations, and on the eve of Shannon’s wedding. Even a new baby letter appeared on the hospital stand – always the devoted friend that Twinkle is.

And I know that the magic of Twinkle still lives on deep in their hearts. Twinkle celebrated the free spirit that is childhood. She was kindness and love in action. She showed the girls in so many small lessons that Love is the most  powerful Magic of all. She nurtured seeds of leadership, confidence, goal-setting and virtues that both girls built on to achieve challenging goals and dreams, while spreading kindness in their worlds.

I also know that, because of Twinkle, Shannon will always find the magic in the life even though she is a Washington, DC lawyer litigating contentious legal cases. I know that because of Twinkle, Rachel had the conviction to follow (at the last minute) the path that was true to her heart – to pursue a PhD at Columbia University to become an English professor inspiring young writers and critical thinkers. They both followed Twinkle’s star steps to reach their goals, believing in their dreams, working through obstacles – always remembering what’s most important – that Love is Magic and Every Kindness Counts.

Every girl deserves to know she’s a precious gift to our world – with a very important purpose meant just for her. She needs to hear it from more sources than her parents.

Every girl needs to set claim to The 20 virtues as she follows her star steps and maps the plans to her goals. She needs to know she’s meant to soar – following her own Heart with Wings.

Every girl needs to experience at a young age the power of kindness in action – to grow the habit of “making the kind choice” every day.

I know that you are your girl’s devoted hero and champion. Just know that your wise, loving helpers, the Real Tooth Fairies, are here to support your efforts as you raise your precious girl.

Truly, every girl deserves the magical friendship of her Real Tooth Fairy. It’s a beautiful childhood experience that you as a parent share WITH your girl – making together time moments that you’ll treasure for a lifetime – just like those sweet memories I share with my girls.

Copyrighted by The RealToothFairies.com Royal Council of the Real Fairyland, LLC

Marilyn Bollinger also sent me a Real Tooth Fairy Kit, which is a very cute set. It appeals greatly to Zoe because of the girlyness to it. There are purple ribbons to use as awards, and little sparkly pieces for her to use. I had to take a video just to show you everything.

So on the video I didn’t mention that this is about more than rewards for losing teeth. Your child can form a great adventure with Twinkle herself with the stories, projects, and on-line world. There are quite a few things she can do and learn among those lessons being confidence, organization (I wish I had picked that  up somewhere), kindness and charity. All great virtues you should be teaching your children!

Enter to Win you very own The Real Tooth Fairies Kit, a gift basket to offer as a corresponding giveaway to one of your lucky readers (value $75!)

To Enter:

Visit The Real Tooth Fairies and tell me what you think of the on-line world

Extra Entries:

Tweet:

Win The Real Tooth Fairies Gift Basket (AVR 75.00) #Giveaway http://bit.ly/fQOXlJ

Subscribe to my blog RSS, or e-mail
Follow me on twitter
Follow me on Google Friend Connect
List this giveaway on any giveaway site, dig or stumble or use any of the share methods below facebook included (just leave a link to this post wherever you share it)
Leave a comment on any non-giveaway post

Leave a comment for every entry, This giveaway ends January 3. I received products mentioned above facilitate this review. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

Filed Under: giveaway, VLog Tagged With: , , , , ,

Give the Gift of Pur Green Pur Water Filtration System

December 20, 2010 By 2 Comments

Pur Water Filtration SystemThinking of ways to give green gifts this year for Christmas, here is another great idea from Summer.

Give a gift of Pur green by giving a water filtration system. There are several things I like about the Pur water filtration system []. I really like that you can purchase a standalone pitcher or a faucet attachment. I also like that Pur has an alliance with the Children’s Safe Drinking Water campaign, so you not only help our receiver with the gift of health through Pur water but you help the environment, and child around the world who need clean, safe drinking water.

To assist in cleaning up our (as a society’s) act you’ll need somewhere to store the water you create with Pur. For this, I would recommend accompanying your present with a Klean Kanteen. Both of these green gifts are a great idea of the person on your list whose New Year resolution is to lose weight or get healthier.

Here on Mom Start, we’ve worked with many different water filtration brands. Using plastic water bottles leaves a carbon footprint, even though they are recycled it uses resources to recycle them. Using plastic water bottles also takes up a lot of space and can be dangerous. If the water bottles are left in the car and they freeze or get too hot then the chemicals from the bottles are released into the water and you are then drinking those harmful chemicals. So reduce your carbon footprint or help a friend lose some of theirs by getting them a Pur Water Filtration System.

 

About Summer:

Summer is the President of our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living.

Filed Under: 2010 Gift Guide, green Tagged With: ,

A Love of Hallmark Ornaments

December 18, 2010 By 10 Comments

Happy Holidays Hallmark Photo OrnamentQuite simply put, I love Hallmark Christmas Ornaments. My husband and I drool over their Star Wars and Star Trek ornaments every Christmas. Me being the tightwad that I am have never been able to stomach the price of the Hallmark Holiday Ornaments, however, somehow having children makes the price, not quite as important.

One of the frames we just love, are the large array of Our Family Hallmark Photo Ornamentphoto ornaments. We have two we purchased last year, and two I received from Hallmark PR this year. The ones we have last year, one has a family picture and the other has a photo of the kids together. So this year, we did the same thing with the photo frames we received for review.

The Happy Holidays photo frame with the photo of Zoe and Miles playing on the couch plays the song, “Happy Holidays”. It was fun putting it on the tree because Miles man pushed the button about 10 times. Christmas makes me so happy! I adore everything about Christmas, the music, the food, the family time. I LOVE IT.

Jessie Hallmark OrnamentThis year when we were searching for the special ornaments for the kids (we get ornaments for the kids every year, it’s a tradition, it’s been a tradition for my husband and I since we were both kids and we wanted to do it for our own children) we waited a tad too long for one of them.

The kids are very much in Love with everything Toy Story. It doesn’t matter which story, 1, 2, or 3 Miles loves them all. Zoe, prefers the episodes with Jessie of course, which is why we Fisher Price Airplane Hallmark Ornamentpurchased the Jessie ornament for her. Which leads me to what we waited too long for. We wanted to get Miles the High-Flyin’ Friends. Apparently Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments are harder to find especially the Toy Story ornaments. We called every Hallmark Store in the area, and my husband decided to pick another ornament for Miles man. He picked out the Play Family Fun Jet. The Family Fun Jet was still a great big hit. Miles Loves it. He loves airplanes, he loves Our Christmas Tree 2010taking me on blogging trips because he knows that means he will get to see another airplane.

So this is our Christmas tree, it’s filled with lots of love, beautiful lights, and plenty of meaningful ornaments.

We received A Hallmark Sample Kit of assorted Hallmark items, including the two photo frames you see in the first pictures. I was in attendance at a party sponsored by Hallmark at Blogher 2010 and connected with their PR firm there. None of this affects the fact that I have and always will love Hallmark. They have excellent products all year round, Precious Moments were always a big tradition growing up, but now, it’s mainly a Christmas store, and of course, I can always find the perfect card in there too. Thank you Hallmark for the samples. Miles and Zoe also love the Recordable Story book Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Filed Under: 2010 Gift Guide, personal, review Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Ultimate Football Recipe Challenge: Swanson Poppy Seed Chicken Pizza Bites

December 18, 2010 By 47 Comments

Swanson Premium Chunk Chicken has asked bloggers to come up with the Ultimate Football recipe using the Swanson Premium Chunk Chicken. These cans of chicken are so convenient for busy moms, and families to throw lunch dinner, or a quick snack together in minutes. I knew exactly what I wanted to make for this contest.

This is a family recipe but altered to be more party friendly!

Poppy Seed Chicken PizzaSwanson Poppy Seed Chicken Pizza Bites Recipe

1 cup of sour cream
2 cans of Swanson Chicken (large cans)
2 cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
2 Tablespoons of Poppy Seeds
1 Package of Ritz crackers (crushed)
2 Tablespoons of Butter (melted)
1 Pre-made Pizza Crust

Directions:

1) Prepare the Pizza Crust according to the directions on the package

2) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

3) Combine the first five ingredients in a bowl and mix until well distributed

4) Pour into a 9 by 13 pan and heat for 20 minutes

Pizza Slice5) Raise the temperature of the oven to 400 degrees

6) Spoon out the heated chicken mixture onto the pizza crust, use as much or as little as you would like on your pizza. Spread out to the edges.

7) Sprinkle out the crackers over the pizza

8) Pour the melted butter over the crackers

9) Cook in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes (or until the crackers are a nice golden brown color

10) Use the leftover mixture as a dip/appetizer

11) When the pizza is done, depending on what type of party you are having, cut the pizza into pizza slices or squares (pizza bites) for party snacking

 

What do you think? Would you try it? What would you make with the chicken?

 

 

This was posted as an entry into a contest sponsored by Swanson as a chance to visit the Campbell’s Kitchen prize package value of 1500 and the title “Ultimate Swanson Football Champion 2011!”

Filed Under: recipe, review Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Give Live Flowers or Herbs as Gifts

December 18, 2010 By 1 Comment

Bring in the green! With less or no open window time during the chilly winter months there is less fresh air flow through the house. Bring living plants inside the house for some fresh air. This is highly recommended in kids’ bedrooms too; just beware of the level of your plant, curiosity of your child and whether or not the plant is poisonous. This is a perfect time of year to start an herb garden for holiday cooking or giving a hostess gift of a new house plant. To make the gift more personal and not a “last minute drive-by gift” pot the plant for the receiver. I have a holiday party today in fact and will be bringing the hostess an orchid.

clip_image001

Again this is a great classroom or teacher gift that kids can get involved in! Your child can simply transfer a plant or you can have your child make a terrarium using several plants in an enclosed atmosphere. Both options offer children a great science lesson about plants if you’re willing to talk to them through it all, and a great social lesson on giving and gratitude if your plant happens to be a gift.

 

Find Directions on how to make a Terrarium For Kids at Storm The Castle.

 

This article was written by Summer as part of the Red and Green series on Mom Start. I love getting flowers as a gift, but when they just die, I feel like it was a waste, wouldn’t it be great to give everyone live flowers? I love the ideas she shared with us today, don’t you?

About Summer:

Summer is the President of our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living.

Filed Under: 2010 Gift Guide, green Tagged With: , ,

Gatorade Fuel Pack Tips to Prepare Kids for Sports and Improve Their Performance

December 17, 2010 By 520 Comments

Brook de LenchActivity is something that I push on my kids every day. My kids are still a very young age, 2 and 3 but I know how very important it is to get outside and play. Even when the weather is not very kind. Most kids are very active and then kids that are in sports are extremely active. Brook de Lench, author of Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports, had lots of great advice on how to prepare kids for sports and how to help student athletes perform their best. Brook de Lench is a mom, a former athlete, a youth coach, and founder of the sports parenting resource MomsTeam.com. These are her tips on children and sports…

Tips for parents on how they can help their child perform at their best:

Home Team Advantage Book CoverEnsure your athlete gets enough sleep.  A tired athlete, especially one still playing fall sports, isn’t going to be able to perform at their best during tryouts.  You can help by setting a consistent "lights-out" time for turning off the computer, cell phone, MP3, and TV, so your athlete gets the rest needed for peak performance.

Fuel Sports Nutrition gaps:  Athletes typically have little time in the school day to eat before tryouts, so they start on an empty stomach or choose ineffective sources of fuel based on what’s readily available. Athletes need to be properly fueled before, during and after tryouts, especially multi-day tryouts, to get the most out of their bodies and perform at their best.  Make sure your athlete has the right fuel when it’s needed by packing scientifically developed sports nutrition products like Gatorade’s G Series to provide the fuel, fluids and nutrients athletes before and during sports, and the fluid and protein they need to recover after a grueling day of tryouts.

Be pro-active about hydration: Even mild dehydration can keep an athlete from performing at his/her best during tryouts. Staying hydrated during the school day is particularly challenging because athletes often can’t or don’t remember to hydrate properly or regularly. Athletes need to be hydrated for sports, no matter the season or the weather.  Water does not hydrate as effectively as a sport drink like Gatorade that is scientifically formulated with fluid, electrolytes and carbohydrates to rapidly replace what athletes lose in sweat and provide energy to keep them at the top of their game. Remember that thirst is not a good indicator of hydration, so encourage athletes to drink on a schedule.

Blow the Whistle at Bedtime. Studies show that students need nine hours of sleep but only get about seven. Set a consistent “lights out” time for turning off the computer, cell phone and television so young athletes get the rest they need. Consider docking texting and gaming devices away from their bedroom to reduce late-night distractions.

Fuel the Burn. Active young athletes need at least 3,000 calories per day for peak performance, so they need to eat very frequently. Help them maintain energy throughout the day by sending them off with healthy, high-carb, low-fat snacks such as energy bars, trail mix or dried fruit to munch at their desks (if it’s ok with the teacher). Students with early morning workouts should eat two breakfasts – one before the workout and one before school. So, send athletes to practice with a snack to help them recover and refuel.

Be Proactive About Hydration. Staying hydrated during the school day is challenging. In fact, studies show that many student athletes start their sports already dehydrated, making it difficult for them to catch up during activity. For safety and performance reasons athletes need to be hydrated no matter what the season, and water isn’t enough because it doesn’t hydrate as effectively as a sports drink like Gatorade that is scientifically formulated with fluid, electrolytes and carbohydrates to rapidly replace what athletes lose through sweat and provide energy to keep them at the top of their game.

Use Sports Sense to Power Schoolwork. Great athletes are disciplined, focused and dedicated. Help young athletes channel these qualities to manage their schoolwork as well. Encourage them to use free time at school to review notes or knock off smaller assignments. Also, coach them to tackle the tough stuff first. Young athletes will be tired after sports, so they should finish priority and difficult homework earlier in the day.

Don’t Forget the Fun. Youth sports may be increasingly competitive, but the top reason kids play sports is to enjoy the game. Look out for warning signs that students are struggling to enjoy the experience, and work with them to find a solution. Warning signs include: complaints of sickness at practice or game time; slow return to practice after injury; nervousness, anxiety or anger before, during or after the game; practices well but plays poorly.

Enter to Win:

A Gatorade Fuel Pack

The Gatorade Fuel Pack a 50.00 gift card to Dick’s Sporting Goods and a 6-pack of Gatorade 02 Perform from the G Series.

To Enter:

I’d love to hear any tips you have about kids and sports and staying sane.

Extra Entries:

Tweet:

50.00 Dick’s Gift Card #Giveaway http://bit.ly/faw2d0

or

RT @MomStart: Gatorade Fuel Pack Tips to Prepare Kids for Sports and Improve Their Performance http://bit.ly/hUHsAa

Subscribe to my blog RSS, or e-mail
Follow me on twitter
Follow me on Google Friend Connect
List this giveaway on any giveaway site, dig or stumble or use any of the share methods below facebook included (just leave a link to this post wherever you share it)
Leave a comment on any non-giveaway post

Leave a comment for every entry, This giveaway ends January 3. I received products mentioned above facilitate this review. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

Filed Under: giveaway, parenting Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Think of Adding Peanut Butter When Baking Jif Gift Basket Giveaway

December 17, 2010 By 631 Comments

peanutbutterpumpkinbreadI love Peanut Butter, I mean I just adore it. I love to add it vanilla or chocolate ice cream, or even add it to Neapolitan ice cream. It’s just delicious. MMM, But I’m not a big fan of eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Perhaps is more rooted into the fact that I make Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches for the kids every single day for lunch. Did you know that you can substitute peanut butter for butter in equal amounts? We did this last year when we made my daughter’s birthday cake. We made Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake, just by using peanut butter instead of butter. Oh, the whole family remembers the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake!

I buy Jiff at Costco and we go through a large container of it every month. Well, almost that long, if I bake anything, and I do often, then it goes buy much faster. In fact, this holiday season I found a new recipe at All Recipes.com that I just loved, Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread and the link goes to my adapted recipe. I love using Allrecipes.com to find great recipes to use, with Jif Peanut Butter. Jif Peanut Butter is a reliable ingredient for adding extra flavor and rich texture to both savory and sweet recipes.

Sometimes, I’ll just do a search on what can I make with peanut butter. I’m going to have to try a Chicken Peanut Butter recipe here soon, I know it will be a big hit in the house. Another place you can go to find out how to use peanut butter other than the obvious would be to check out Jif Peanut Butter Recipes. They have a few recipes on their site, but you know what’s even cooler?

They Want Your Recipes

Now through January 17, 2011, the makers of Jif® Peanut Butter are asking home cooks to share the innovative ways that they are incorporating peanut butter into their holiday spread at gatherings of friends and family. Consumers can log on to www.jif.com to enter The Jif Holiday Spread Recipe Contest for a chance to win one of two $10,000 prizes for a kitchen makeover. 

I think I’m going to enter my version of the Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread, what will you enter?

 

Jif Peanut Butter BasketEnter to Win

A Basket of Peanut Butter from Jiff
It will include 5 Varieties of Jif (Jif Creamy, Jif Extra Crunchy, Jif Omega-3, Jif Peanut Butter & Honey and Jif Natural) as well as a Jif keychain, a Jif Peanut Butter Spreader, and a Jif notepad.  

To Enter:

Tell me what your favorite Peanut Butter Recipe is in the comments section of this post

Extra Entries:

Tweet:

RT @MomStart: Think of adding Peanut Butter when Baking Jif Gift Basket Giveaway http://bit.ly/exrmW8

Subscribe to my blog RSS, or e-mail
Follow me on twitter
Follow me on Google Friend Connect
List this giveaway on any giveaway site, dig or stumble or use any of the share methods below facebook included (just leave a link to this post wherever you share it
Leave a comment on any non-giveaway post

Leave a comment for every entry, This giveaway ends January 3. I received samples of Jif Peanut Butter to facilitate this review. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

Filed Under: giveaway, review Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

BYOCM Bring Your Own Coffee Mug

December 17, 2010 By 2 Comments

Remember a few months ago when I shared my fresh idea at the Walmart booth at BlogHer? Well, I got my idea from My MOMS Club, one of the members was making her own coffee sleeves in craft club, so I asked my sister-in-law to make me some and she gave them to me as a Christmas gift. So since the idea originally came from MOMS Club, it’s fitting that Summer is revisiting the home made coffee sleeve idea as a green holiday tip and where you can buy one if you don’t know anyone crafty!

Big environmental changes can come in little packages; small enough to fit right into those stockings! I live in the Seattle area and there is literally a coffee shop on every corner! In stockings every years we end up giving someone (usually the grandparents) a coffee related item. On Black Friday I bought myself the “Non Paper Cup Mug” from Cost Plus World Market; this particular mug is ceramic with a silicon grip and fitted silicon lid. The mug looks like your favorite coffee shop’s cups. I like these mugs because they are REAL MUGS with a spill proof top for easy travel whether in the car or around the office. These cups are microwave and dishwasher safe – both are a bonus in my book! Think of all the paper cups, heat shields, and plastic lids you’re saving from becoming trash. Also think of all the hand washed dishes your saving yourself (bonus fact: did you know that hand washing dishes uses more water than using your dishwashing machine).

In store you can buy a single mug for about $8 and online you have to purchase a double pack for $16-$20 depending on the pattern you choose.
Though these mugs make great companions in the car, but your BFF won’t be carrying this cup in her purse since they are ceramic like at-home mugs. Never fear, in my very own purse I have the stocking stuffer solution for that too, a cloth sleeve. You can also have your kids make home made coffee sleeves for their teachers and the grandparents out of crafting scraps you may have around the house.

About Summer:

Summer is the President of our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living.

Filed Under: green Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »