When September rolls around I usually start to prowl around for some deals on gifts for Christmas, more specifically toys.
With 3 kids I spend hundreds maybe even thousands of dollars a year on toys for birthdays, holidays and sometimes bribes.
This made me start to think of how disposable these toys are. Besides throwing the toys themselves in the garbage, how much packaging do we have to get though to get to these toys, that usually goes into the garbage too! I personally have spent 15 minutes getting a Barbie set out of its package! I’m still trying to find out exactly how much tons of waste toys produce a year in Canada, but just to get a broad idea Mattel sells approximately 3.4 million Barbies a year. That’s just Barbie! If they changed to eco-friendly even in their packages imagine the waste it would save!
Don’t even get me started on the toxins in toys, craft supplies and children’s apparel. We’ve all heard enough about that, if you feel like refreshing your memory however, check out Green Phone Booth.
I decided to do a little organic Christmas toys shopping at http://www.raspberrykids.com/, first of all pretty much everything on this website is so cute I would literally buy at least 90% of what they sell. They have decent shipping rates and if you spend enough money then shipping is free! I also have a promo code good for 15% off (type in savvymom15 at checkout), as far as I know this coupon is good until the end of September. There are a ton of online sites that sell items similar to these. I like this site for 2 reasons 1) It’s Canadian 2) I had a 15% off coupon.
Right now my kids are still at an age where I can influence their Christmas wish list, so why not teach them quality is more important that quantity? I understand that they will still want what they want, so I keep a small amount of my Christmas budget for last-minute-non-eco-friendly-gotta-have-it-toys.
Here is great green idea: make your own toys. If you can get the kids involved all the better!! I am a horribly un-crafty person but I could at least put together a play first-aid kit, with things I have around the house (syringe for baby medicine, gauze, plain button up white shirt for lab coat etc.) or a food set (tape up boxes, glue the lid on to jars and put pastas into it etc.) Bonus you get to REUSE what you already have = free and eco-friendly!(oh and I can bribe the kids with them)
Inspire Planning's Blog 