A Review of Celebrate Green

Celebrate Green by mother daughter team Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson is the green book to have because it covers aspects of greening pretty much every holiday and celebration and it has some great ideas for the holidays -any and all of them.

There's always a holiday or special occassion coming up- why not celebrate them in green style?

4th of July, summer fun celebrations...do them all in an eco way.

Celebrate Green has a lot to say about greening Halloween including some crafty things you can do yourself like make your own face paints, create fun costumes and decorations, even turn everyday ordinary objects into candy buckets and containers.

It’s also full of yummy recipes and fun ideas for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The apple pie recipe for Thanksgiving, yummy and the suggestions for setting a sustainable table are great. Though I have to admit I have never seen a free range turkey or even a tofurkey in my local grocery stores and no I don’t have a Whole Foods near me. So I’ll just have to opt for going local and organic on the other foods because I am not giving up my turkey.

I really do love the Christmas ideas in Celebrate Green, the basics being reduce, reuse and recycle and then going DIY. Now that’s something I can do. I am the DIY momma. I think my motto is why pay for it when you can do it yourself?

Simple, fun old fashioned Christmas ideas are encouraged like popcorn strands for the tree, collecting pieces of nature for decor – twigs, pine cones, and live greenery.

One really great thing in the Christmas chapter is an extensive list of eco-friendly gift ideas. I found some ideas I might follow through on.

There was just one thing I was surprised by was the lack of crafts. I really expected there to be crafts. They have them on the website and often showcase them with articles and ideas about celebrating green so I figured there would be more how-tos in the book.

Nope.

Plenty of ideas and suggestions but only a few actual how to directions.

That’s OK though because the book is chock full of advice and ideas for turning your celebrations green.

Eco-Friendly Products For a Green Holiday Gift Guide

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Email me with your product or a product suggestion.

Green Holiday Gift Guide

The holidays are creeping up fast and even though “green” is the thing; you may still have to search to find everything on your list in an eco-friendly version.

Here’s a quick Holiday Guide for the basics you’ll need this green holiday season -from a green Christmas guide book to help you green the holidays to eco-friendly cleaning supplies for quick cleanups before parties.

Holiday Cards

One of the biggest expenses and biggest source of holiday waste is greeting cards. If you still want to send physical greeting cards opt for those made from recycled paper or tree free content.

Smock Paper has some very unique letterpress greeting cards made on recycled paper, as does Oblations Papers.

If you are looking for a great place to make photo greeting cards but worried about the carbon footprint left behind, have no fear -My Good Greetings offers a great variety of custom made photo greeting cards printed on recycled paper. It’s about time someone offered an eco-friendly way to print photo greetings. Use My Good Greetings to create photo memories and send them only to close family and friends that will cherish them.

Save energy and resources by sending a majority of people on your list electronic greetings.

Books Make Great Gifts

There’s no argument that book lovers always love to receive books as gifts.

Do you have a few eco-stragglers on your shopping list. There are tons of green books available that can help those not so hip on the green thing yet to learn about being green and that will help them go green.

There are also two fabulous books that can help you make the holidays a shade greener.

Green Christmas: How to Have a Joyous, Eco-Friendly Holiday Season is the guide book to help you get through the holidays in green without seeing red. From decorating to shopping for gifts, to throwing holiday parties this wonderful little book will help any eco-minded mama streamline the holidays. Make this season more meaningful for your family and the environment with the help of Green Christmas, and if you want to help others have a more eco-holiday season this book will make a great gift.

Celebrate Green: Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family is another great book that can help you make all of your holidays and celebrations green. Not only will it help you get through the holiday season it also makes a fabulous gift.

Eco-Friendly Clothing

Do you have eco-fashionistas on your list? Fashion and Earth has stylish and very green clothing. Ladies check out the Grandview Gathered Neck Top in Cranberry. It is a bamboo and organic cotton blend. Comfortable enough to wear any time but stylish enough it can be matched with fancy slacks or a skirt and decked out with the right accessories for holiday parties.

For the teens on your list Mission Playground is a great choice. They are an environmentally conscious clothing company with purpose and style. Their funky designs deliver a message while being stylish and trendy. This cool eco-company offers organic cotton T-shirts and hoodies that even your style and brand conscious teen will love.

General Gifts and Things for the Home

Time Well Spent Gifts is an online store that carries a wide variety of fabulous items including an entire section of green products like stylish and sustainable Rubberwood bowls and other Rubberwood serving ware, plates made from recycled glass, votive candles made from recycled glass, soy candles, even organic baby clothing. Time Well Spent Gifts has many great green gifts along with fun items made by Toronto artisans.

Eco-Artware is “your one stop gift shop for all things beautiful, well made and environmentally friendly.” They offer a huge selection of handcrafted, green, and recycled artwork. Just a sampling of some of the cool things they offer: coasters made from old vinyl records, cuff links and jewelry made from old typewriter keys, bowls made from old records, purses made from scraps and juice containers.. The selections are amazing, fun, and very eco-hip. Your sure to find something just about anyone on your list at Eco-Artware. They even have toys for little ones.

Gifts for Kids

Maggie’s Organics adorable sock monkeys are cute, organic sock monkeys that are a must have for any kids on your list. My little guy received one months ago and it is still his favorite toy. He goes to bed with it at night and wakes up wanting it in the morning and usually carries it around everywhere with him. It is made from organic materials and filled with recycled poly fill. Very green and safe for your little ones.

Scout organic clothing for kids is a fun and funky line of organic clothing for your little ones. Scout’s organic cotton collection of “functional fashion” is cute, soft, and great for little ones on the move. With vibrant colors and super soft organic fabrics your little ones can be stylin’ green this season. The clothes in this line will make perfect gifts for little greenies.

Disney’s Tinker Bell DVD- I don’t know how green Disney is, but this bunch of nature loving fairies are all about saving the beauty of nature and deliver conservation messages that may inspire little girls everywhere to be more in tune with nature. Download the Fairyminders and print them on high quality recycled paper and let your little girls be inspired by Fairies.

CGKidz stainless steel water bottles I got two of these bottles, one for each of the younger kids, and they still fight over them (they are different bottles, not identical). I think I have to add more of these to my shopping list. The bottles are stainless steel and fabulously reusable, what a great way to carry around water or juice.

Make the Holidays Easier and Greener

Need to feed hungry little ones during the busy holiday season? Plum Organics microwave dinners are eco-friendly frozen dinners are great for eco-mamas on the go. The packaging is biodegradable and the food is organic so you don’t have to worry so much about what you’re feeding your little ones. Perfect for a quick lunch or meal during the hectic holiday season when you’re shopping, decorating, cleaning or wrapping presents and the kids need to eat something quick but nutritious.

Want something other than plastic to put all your holiday goodies in? ChicoBags are great reusable bags that can be balled up and carried in their own little pouch and hooked to your belt loop or purse strap. This way you can always have a shopping bag on you, no need for plastic. Get a couple to carry with you for the holidays or stock up since they make great stocking stuffers.

Need to clean? Almost every eco-mama is going to be doing a lot of cleaning this holiday season, better clean green. EcoDiscoveries is one of the newest all natural, eco-friendly cleaners on the market and they don’t disappoint. Reasonably priced, EcoDiscoveries products are safe, convenient and very easy to use. Perfect for quick clean ups or extreme cleaning before holiday gatherings.

Be on the lookout for more holiday recommendations throughout the season.

Celebrate Green

There's now a book that can help you green any holiday or celebration, Celebrate Green: Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family by daughter and mother team -Corey Colwel-Lipson (GreenHalloween.org) and Lynn Colwell is now available.

Download a Sample Chapter of Celebrate Green for Free.

Watch Lynn and Corey on YouTube

Corey and Lynn love talking to their fans so feel free to contact them.

And make sure you drop by their blog

You Can Buy the Book on Amazon:

Celebrate Green

My Good Greetings

Green is going to be the new red this holiday season with the launch of mygoodgreetings.com.

For the first time, beautiful custom photo holiday greeting cards, envelopes and matching address labels, are completely earth-conscious – from printing to packaging – every step of the way.

“First and foremost, we offer great designs on a website that makes it easy for customers to create their own custom cards,” said Rene’ Bross, co-founder and lead designer at My Good Greetings. “Finding a cost-effective way to print cards on beautiful papers with the highest recycled fiber content available completed our vision.”

Mygoodgreetings.com fills an important niche that was previously missing from the custom photo cards, invitations and announcements market. Using a Certified Green Business printing company means that everything is printed on digital presses with biodegradable toners, and even a water-based coating. The 100% recycled Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certified recycled card stock meets strict environmental and socioeconomic standards, is produced with a high Post Consumer Waste (PCW) content fiber and responsibly harvested forests - never from old growth timber stands or rainforests. Even the electricity used to produce the stock is offset with Green-e® certified renewable power sources.

The paper’s superior archival quality is acid-free for long lasting color that won’t fade.

“Our family has been sending photo greeting cards for years,” said Tom Bross, co-founder of My Good Greetings. “Last year, trying to make green choices where we can, we wanted to print our photo cards on recycled stock but were shocked to discover how difficult it was to find recycled paper options. So we created My Good Greetings because we know that other people are looking for this kind of solution too.”

Mygoodgreetings.com offers holiday greeting cards that range from hip, fresh and contemporary to simple, clean and classic in design. A sophisticated, yet easy-to-use online interface lets customers choose from a wide selection of designer cards.

Ordering is as easy as uploading a favorite photograph, customizing the text and approving the final design. The impeccably designed, reasonably priced custom greetings will be printed and sent within 7-10 days.

Why buy green? Because Green is Good.™

Located in Spokane, Washington, My Good Greetings was founded on the principle that it is possible to make a lasting impression in print, and be environmentally conscious at the same time. Utilizing Rene’ Bross’ 20 year experience as a graphic designer, the company has created sets of impeccably designed Custom Announcements (new baby, new puppy, new home, wedding, save-the-date, etc.), Custom Invitations (baby and bridal shower, birthday party, etc.), and Custom Stationery (thank you cards, address labels, etc.).

My Good Greetings uses a printer certified as a Bay Area Certified Green Business that utilizes environmentally safe products in every stage of their printing process, including biodegradable toners and digital presses, which emit 90% less Volatile Organic Compounds. The card stock is manufactured by New Leaf Paper with renewable energy. The paper is 100% recycled, contains 50% post-consumer recovered fiber and is processed chlorine free.

For more information, visit http://www.mygoodgreetings.com/

Tips on How to Decorate for the Holidays While Remaining Environmentally-Friendly From Hunter Douglas

"The holiday season is nearing and with it comes a time of joyful celebration with special friends and family. But with rising energy costs and a troubled economy, many consumers are actively seeking options for sprucing up their décor to create a festive and inviting ambiance without breaking the bank. Also important is the trend towards going green and reducing energy use and costs. Hunter Douglas, North America’s leading manufacturer and marketer of custom window fashions, offers the following tips on how to create an environmentally-friendly and festive environment for the holiday season.

• While wrapping presents to go under the tree, save any extra ribbon and use to “gift wrap” throw pillows like packages to give your sofa a festive feel. Adorn your walls with indoor wreaths made from scarves and a little boxwood to create a nice scent that brings you a taste of the outdoors while you stay warm inside.
• Use recyclable, colorful paper when wrapping presents to create an inviting atmosphere with a rich color palette for your living room. After the presents are opened, either save the paper and ribbon to re-use next year or take all used paper to your local recycling center.
• To keep warm air in and cold air out and your energy bills in check, consider replacing your current window coverings with Duette® Architella™ honeycomb shades from Hunter Douglas, which, with their highly energy-efficient honeycomb-within-a-honeycomb design, can reduce heat loss at the window by up to 50 percent. They also keep cool air in during summer months, making this a one-time investment in your home that delivers savings all year round.
• Use fewer lights when decorating the tree and instead use bright colored and reflective ornaments to light up the room. Plug in tree lights and nearby TVs, VCRs and appliances to a power strip that turns them all off with one easy click, therefore reducing energy costs for unused electronics.
• Although it might sound surprising, turn your heat down and your ceiling fan on. Lowering your thermostat by just one degree can reduce costs by about four percent, while a ceiling fan helps distribute the warm air across the room. Hang mistletoe from the ceiling fan to add a romantic and cheerful holiday touch to the room.
• For a soft holiday look, consider using Silhouette® window shadings featuring soft fabric vanes suspended between two sheer facings that gently diffuse incoming light to create a warm glow across the room. These shadings are the perfect backdrop for a tree surrounded by colorful presents on that special holiday morning.

With these tips, decorating for the holidays while going green is easier than you think.

“It is important to make the holiday season as stress-free and pleasant as possible,” said Donna Lobosco, Director of Brand Communications for Hunter Douglas. “By providing tips that are quick and simple, we hope to help consumers create a stylish setting for holiday entertaining while saving on energy costs and doing their part to protect the environment at the same time.”

Hunter Douglas Inc. is a national sponsor of Habitat for Humanity, covering windows in every Habitat home built in the U.S. and Canada. They are the leading manufacturer of custom window coverings in North America.

For more information visit: http://www.hunterdouglas.com/.

Green Christmas: How to Have a Joyous, Eco-Friendly Holiday Season

This is a must have book for anyone planning to go green for the holidays. Full of helpful, useful and informative advice, this book will help you green your own Christmas plus it will also make a great gift for friends and family that haven't hopped on the green bandwagon yet.


Green Christmas: How to Have a Joyous, Eco-Friendly Holiday Season by Jennifer Basye Sander and Peter Sander with Anne Basye is the first eco-holiday book of its kind that I've come across. It will help answer the debate of real versus fake and how to decorate green, along with advice for throwing green holiday parties and so much more.