Is it holiday time yet? Walking around the mall today (and with a chill in the Florida air this week), it almost felt like it should be late November/December. Even though Halloween isn’t until Friday, holiday lights are starting to pop up and my daughters’ eyes are tuned into the sights and sounds of the season. One thing I know many people are starting to organize are holiday cards, often a major part of the year-end tradition of sending good wishes and words of joy and love.

One new line of card I was recently turned on to is Paper Shouts - with their funky name and equally unique “shout” cards for virtually every occasion, I was immediately hooked! Paper Shouts cards come in modern, traditional and vintage styles, and for someone like me who is a total stationary addict, this is a new favorite place to browse.  They’ve also announced that all designer shouts are from now on to be printed on 100% PCW recycled, heavyweight (110#), uncoated paper and are shipped with 50% recycled envelopes (30% PCW/20% VF)! Good move, I say! Plus, from now through November 5th, all proceeds from their Holiday Shouts line will go directly to Our City Forest (OCF), an urban forest renewal/education organization created to cultivate community through urban tree planting.

This week, Paper Shouts wants you to start your holiday planning early with an awesome giveaway! They’re offering a $50 gift card toward any Paper Shouts product - whether it be for holiday time, a new baby or your daughter’s Sweet 16. The rules go like this - please leave a comment here with an answer to this question - what Paper Shouts “Holiday Shout” would you love to send to your loved ones this holiday season? Choose from Christmas, Chanukah, Feliz Navidad and Holiday party cards, many of them with room for a lovely pic of your family offering friends and family good cheer this year. This contest will be open from now through next Wednesday, November 5th at midnight PST, so get shouting!

Additionally, Paper Shouts is offering 10% off your order! Please use the coupon “teensygreen” at checkout!

This contest is now closed! Thanks to everyone for entering!

I’ve been debating how to blog about my daughter’s sixth birthday party, which was on Sunday afternoon at a local arts and crafts studio. After a lot of planning, a little more worrying and A TON of late RSVPs, my older daughter had a wonderful celebration doing her favorite things - painting, crafting, etc. - with her little sister and 28 closest friends. Yes, you heard me. Making it as green as possible was a lot harder than I thought it would be. So, this week and next, I’m going to explore some choices made about what worked, what didn’t, and what can be improved for the future.

I’m feeling a little backwards this week, so let’s start with the party favors. I hate when my girls get candy after birthday parties - after all the cake and junk they’ve eaten, bringing home more just seems like a cruel joke (for me, thank you). Plus, favor bags are usually plastic, which is a huge no-no for me as well. Cost is an issue, of course, and after having kids bring home their own crafts, I didn’t want to overdo it. So, I went the natural route with this adorable pail of flowers from Toysmith. It’s a self-contained planting kit, complete with seeds and peat to rehydrate and use as soil in the little bucket. It comes in different colors with different flowers, so there was some variety to the favoring. Meaning, the red pails were for the boys, and the girls could trade the yellow and purple ones if they wanted to.

I thought the favor worked out very well. There was no waste to throw out aside from the flower pail paper-wrap and a little plastic baggie inside (hey, I’m not perfect). The kids now have something growing at home, which always makes for fun talks about nature and flowers. And my “I can’t believe she’s six” year old daughter was so excited to give them out to her friends - and they were psyched to go home and do something else besides bounce off the walls from more sugar!

Pail of Posies found at Oompa Toys

It’s offcially baby season! I have so many friends having babies from now through the spring, I’ve toyed with the idea of doing a “babies only” eco-site to keep up with all the products I’ve been researching! For now, I thought I’d kick off celebrating all the new bundles of joy with a great giveaway from a hot eco-friendly company.

The husband and wife team behind the super-stylish company Itzy Ritzy wants to bring a bit of celebrity to you and your baby! Their “baby bamboo” fabric is incorporated into many of their products, giving softness and eco-loveliness to blankets, car seat covers, highchair covers, nursing covers and burp cloths. Bamboo is naturally anti-bacterial, deodorizing, with a silky feel that’s indulgent yet practical (meaning, machine washable). One thing I love about Itzy Ritzy is their amazing array of fabric choices, so I can send gifts to friends who have all kinds of style preferences. From girly to rocker to traditional, there’s seriously something for everyone here.

This week, Itzy Ritzy wants you to win their beautiful Ritzy Nurser in Vintage Floral and Baby Bamboo fabric! How much do I wish these were around when my daughters were born? These nursers are not your big t-shirts thrown over your shoulder. It also makes a great shade cover for baby carriers as well. To enter, please leave a comment here with an answer to this - which Itzy Ritzy product would you give to your best friend, family member (or yourself) during baby season? Find your favorite and let me know! This contest will be open until midnight, PST on Wednesday, October 29th. Good luck!

PS - Itzy Ritzy is also offering 20% off your order! Please enter the code GREEN when asked during checkout.

This contest is now closed! Thanks to everyone for entering!

I’m going to tell you something that may or may not be a surprise to you - I don’t do Halloween. Is that weird? My husband and I made a decision when my first daughter was approaching her first Halloween (ok, it was her second, but considering she was born three weeks before Halloween, the first one wasn’t really an issue) that we wouldn’t make Halloween a part of our lives. Part of it is religion based - which I won’t get into, except to say we’re Jewish and instead of Halloween we partake in Purim, which is in March and involves dressing up and lots of partying. Part of it is, my husband never participated in it, and it was important for me to respect this. And part of it was just personal.

Why am I telling you this? I wanted to be honest with you, and I certainly didn’t want to ignore the event. I also believe that in this struggling economy, any event that brings in money to businesses is an important boost. On that note, here are my favorite Halloween sites and posts for everyone who will be getting creative and getting out with their kids this year:

Inhabitots has extended their Green Halloween Contest until midnight on October 31st! All you have to do is register with Inhabitots and leave a comment on their contest post about how you’re going to make your Halloween a little greener. You can add to your chances of winning by sending in a picture of your eco-craftiness.Winners will receive everything from adorable eco-clothing that can be used for dress up or Halloweens to come, eco-bags and Inhabitots gear!

The official Green Halloween site is in full swing, with suggestions for eco-Halloween parties at home or school, craft ideas and an expanded map with more cities going green for Halloween this year! There’s also a great page on energy conservation, something which may not occur to go hand in hand with Halloween.

National Geographic’s Green Guide packs a double dose of important Halloween tips with two amazing articles. “Low-Impact Trick or Treating” features safe make-up alternatives; there’s also a healthier Halloween treat guide that needs to be read through and through! While parents want their kids to have some special eats after a long night of tricking and treating, there are many alternatives to candy and lollipops. Companies such as Endangered Species Chocolate has adorable bite-sized chocolate treats, and the company Everyday Fruit offers a lot of healthier alternatives that will still be fashionable in treat bags of all ages.

For a DIY project you can do with your kids to prep for their big night, ReadyMade has a reusable tote bag kit with spooky iron-on letters and shapes. You can always glue or iron-on your own touches. For $16 it’s a great lasting memory of Halloween that can be used over and over and over again.

I hope everyone has a fun and especially safe Halloween this year! I’ll be stocking up on ideas for next March!

I really, really miss Fall. I am jonesing for some real autumn weather, and where better to reminisce about than Boston? For many years, Boston was just a four hour drive to amazing foliage, apple picking and general fun in this historically-rich, gorgeous for walking and touring city. If you can make it there within the next few weeks while the leaves are at their peak, enjoy and think of us Floridians who are still melting down here!

Boston Children’s Museum - This innovative museum is one of the greenest in the country! Your kids will be having too much fun inside to notice the new green roofs, energy efficiency and eco-building materials. And isn’t it amazing to know there’s a space just for kids that practices what it preaches? Don’t forget to head over to their Recycle Shop to stock up on recycled supplies for art projects and general craftiness.

If you Google “apple picking Boston,” you’ll be overwhelmed with the amount of working orchards to visit! Apple picking has been one of my favorite activities since I was a kid, from carrying around the too-large bushel to wandering around in the cool air looking for the perfect apples, and eventually going home with way more apples than you can eat or bake with. (Can you tell that I miss it?) Check out Apple Picking Boston for listings and maps by orchard name or county. Right now there are 76 apple picking goodness to choose from! There are even reviews of orchards in counties in and around Boston.

The EcoTarium in Worcester has a Great Pumpkin Festival not to be missed. This is a totally family-friendly, non-scary event from Noon to 9:00PM on Saturday, October 25th. Hundreds of hand-carved, lit pumpkins will be on display, with hayrides and planetarium shows to entertain kids of all ages. Tickets are required, so don’t forget to purchase them before you go!

If you’re looking for other autumn activities with your kids throughout New England, this great article from the Boston Globe will point you in the right direction. Boston Central is also a wonderful New England resource guide, as well as goCityKids (now owned by Nickelodeon). Any way you look at it, this is the perfect time to get outside and enjoy nature’s autumn rituals.

*Sigh* I think I’m going to bake an apple crisp this weekend…

Writing about chemicals, kids and the disregard of updating the Toxic Substances Control Act has brought a lot of concern to everyone I’ve spoken with. Even natural products have chemically sounding ingredients - how do you really know their true identity?

Seventh Generation has taken the term “full disclosure” to a whole new level. Their “Show What’s Inside” campaign is an interactive and eye-opening doorway to learning about chemical safety and products. On their website, SG discloses every ingredient for ALL their products, meaning you’ll always be fully aware of what’s cleaning your baby’s bottom or what’s scrubbing the pasta sauce off your dishes. Refreshing, right?

Do YOU know the difference between sodium LAUREL sulfate and sodium LAURETH sulfate? Seventh Generation has a handy Label Reading Guide you can access from your mobile phone! From Anionic surfactants (possibly non-biodegradable dirt remover) to Xanthan gum (biodegradable viscosity builder) and everything in between, this is a guide I’ll be going back to again and again when choosing cleaning and personal care products - right in the store.

Of course, education is only the first step. Demand disclosure of information so we don’t have to be in the dark anymore about what we’re giving our family! The first step is to sign this declaration supporting the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act. Next, spread the word, and support safe organizations that only have your family’s best health in mind!

Heads up, Boston-area parents! Seventh Generation and the Environmental Working Group are sponsoring an incredibly informative event on Tuesday, October 14th from 6:00-7:30 PM  at the Boston Children’s Museum regarding “A Conversation About Chemicals and Our Children”.

The EWG has been a consistent voice for children and consumers through education and their tireless work. Their Kid-Safe Chemicals Act Project highlights the need to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act, which was created in 1976 as has not been amended since. According to EWG, when the TSCA was orginially passed, 62,000 chemicals were declared safe. In the last 32 years, however, more than 20,000 chemicals have been introduced in various products in the US, with little or no data to support their safety. In this age of rampant autism and other learning and disabling issues with children, don’t we have a right to know what we’re putting in and on our bodies? In May, Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Representatives Hilda Solis (D-CA) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) “would place the burden of proof on the chemical industry to show that chemicals are safe for children before they are added to consumer products”. It’s an uphill battle, but one with an important end in sight.

The discussion intends to help parents learn how to create a healthy home and how you can take action to ensure children’s safety from harmful chemicals. The first step is to learn how to become involved in speaking up to improve legislation for our smallest citizens!

The featured panel includes such distinguished eco-experts, authors and parents such as

Dr. Alan Greene, M.D. - Practicing pediatrician, renowned authority on family health and the author of Raising Baby Green: The Earth-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Baby Care;

Jane Houlihan -  Vice-President of Research at the Environmental Working Group;

Courtney Loveman - “Brand Mother” at Seventh Generation; and

Simran Sethi - EMMY award winning journalist, focusing on social and environmental sustainability.

The event is free and children are welcome! I’d love to hear from someone who attends, and I’ll be getting a video of the webcast when it’s up. Whether you can make the event or not, I think it’s a worthwhile cause to educate ourselves and become our children’s best advocates!

Just as I expressed to my family today it’s about time the weather cools down, I heard on the news tonight there may be a “cool front” coming through South Florida (whatever that means). I hope everyone gets some outside time this weekend, but also has a chance to check out these green reads from around the blogosphere!

If you haven’t been clicking over to Brita’s Filter For Good blog, now’s a good time! Check out my post this week about the best and worst green US cities, and discover other great eco-writers!

One of my favorite posts last month from 5 Minutes for Going Green - Can A Green Mom Get a Tattoo?

Submit your favorite Fall photos to The Daily Green, and it could end up on the homepage! My girls love looking at all the Fall leaves (we do a virtual Autumn at our house).

The Atlanta Zoo has welcomed three African lion cubs and a newborn panda to its family! Their website has updated blogs and amazing pictures of all the animals - spend some time with your kids peeking in on these adorable babies!

Finally, who can ignore the financial turmoil many people, business, and oh yeah, the entire financial system is going through. Cutting costs, cutting back and cutting off is unfortunate and riddled with anxiety, but is there a flip side to all the madness? Coochicoos wants you to think about why financial regret may be beneficial for everyone. Discuss.

We’re coming down the home stretch, my friends. I’m talking about the election. As I write this, two debates are over and we’re less than 30 days away from electing a new President. Whether you’re voting Democrat, Republican or anything in between, we have a huge obligation to educate our children about this incredibly important process. Even small children can get in on the fun - my kindergartener is “voting” at school, how cute is that? Here are a few ways to help bring the election into your home (mudslinging aside, ok?):

Reading - My girls recognize both Barack Obama and John McCain by face, but it’s often tough to help them understand the whats, whys and hows about the election. We talk about who the President is, voting, and why their faces are plastered everywhere. The book “Duck For President” is a hilarious story of a farm duck’s fast rise to the Presidency. Even if it doesn’t explain electoral votes in kid language, they get a big laugh watching Duck make it to the Oval Office in his own style. Here’s a short list of books for various age groups that help explain elections and the voting process.

Get connected - Face it, your kids are SO connected to the internet. Use it to your advantage! There are many resources on the web for all ages. Time For Kids has an amazingly interactive site, including biographies of all the candidates, student reporters, and a great “Electionary” with definitions from “ballot initiative” to “war chest”. For bios of each and every President, the American President site is the first place to visit (my girls love to look at what Presidents looked like SO many years ago). Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections has maps, information and election results from 1789 to the present! And of course, steer your teens to Rock the Vote, for their amazing Election Center, videos and info only your crazy teenagers can relate to.

Hands on experience - My parents both worked, so on Election Day they took me with them to the voting booth in the evening. Helping my parents check off their choices and pulling the big lever to record their votes and open the curtain was a huge thrill for me! My grandmother was also a polling station volunteer, and assisted voters with checking in, often letting me sit with her and watch. I truly believe that these experiences helped shaped me into the political junkie I am today. So, if you can, take your kids with you to vote, and show them how exercising their right is a gift!

Hi all! I hope everyone had a great week! While we were so happy to spend Rosh Hashana with family out of town, it’s great to be home and back on track with teensygreen.

On to some exciting news! I’m so thrilled to be a part of a new - the Mommy Go Green Blog Tour! The wonderful-ness that is Green & Clean Mom has organized this ingenious method of getting the word out about new eco-products we think you’ll all love! The best part is, there’s a great giveaway included.

The first MGG Blog Tour and giveaway is hosted by ecoBrain, a wonderful e-book library that provides “Green Books for Green Living”. ecoBrain has brought hundreds of green titles in one place, saving thousands of trees by simply reading books on your computer instead of purchasing them. ecoBrain features the latest green titles as well as classic books, including titles on the environment, sustainability, health and wellness, local green, virtually everything and anything that involves green living. Your first reaction may have been the same as mine - it’s tough for me to read books on my computer, so how can ebooks benefit me? But after checking out the site, I can honestly say I’m hooked on ecoBrain. There’s so much to I’ve already downloaded - cookbooks, gardening and nature guides, activities for my kids - and many more on my “to read” list. Many of the titles offer samples pages to preview, and if you sign up from now through November 1st (it’s free to sign up), you’ll receive a $5 credit towards your first ebook!

Onto the giveaway! ecoBrain and publisher New Society want you to win the ebook Radical Simplicity. Great title, right? Think about it - you may be recycling, composting, growing your own veggies and buying natural products. But, are you ready to take a step further? Is it possible, even “radical,” to truly live “simply” in this crazy day and age? Written by John Merkel, a former military engineer who quit his job after the Exxon Valdez disaster to pursue a balanced, more sustainable life, Radical Simplicity is part workbook, part memoir, and part pure inspiration. It provides practical tools to guide you through seemingly impossible changes, to not only help you reduce your ecological footprint, but help you truly get in touch with Mother Earth.

This giveaway will run for one week, through Sunday, October 12th at midnight, PST. Please leave a comment here with an answer to this question - what ecoBrain ebook peaks your interest the most? Good luck and happy reading!