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VAIL, Colorado — Shopping sustainably for the holidays in Colorado's Vail Valley is most challenging when buying for children. You want to send the message that not all great gifts are things, but you are competing with multi-million dollar marketing campaigns pushing the image that holiday cheer equals stuff.
Instead of adding to the scary toy mound lurking in basements and playrooms, it's time to be that weird hippie aunt and start a new family tradition to teach a little non-consumerism — or shall we call it “better consumerism” — to the young folk. And we're not talking about boring bamboo, fair-traded socks. Here are 10 green gift ideas for children.
1. Adopt endangered wildlife
As a little girl, I had a thing for otters. I thought it was so cute how otters flip on their backs and munch mussels off their bellies. For the young animal lover in your life, adopt an endangered species in their name. Both the World Wildlife Fund (www.worldwildlife.org) and the Defenders of Wildlife (www.defenders.org) have adoption programs. With your contribution, which starts between $15 and $25, your child will receive an adoption certificate, fact sheet and photo of the animal.
2. Guided tour of the outdoors
Encourage kids to connect with their local landscape by giving a guided tour of the great outdoors. Tom Wiesen's TrailWise Guides (www.trailwiseguides.com) offers snowshoe tours in Vail, Beaver Creek and Eagle as well as Summit and Chaffee counties.
Wildlife becomes more visible in wintertime. While shuffling through the snow, TrailWise guides will help you to interpret animal clues like tracks, droppings, claw marks, chew marks and scenting to learn more about the local critters and their habits.
3. Eco art supplies
Fostering creative expression is sustainable on many levels. But take the idea a step further by giving art supplies made from ingredients that are safe for the environment. My favorites are Crazy Crayons and Mama K's Aromatic Play Clay.
Crazy Crayons (www.crazycrayons.com and www.earthlingcrayons.com) are hand-crafted using unwanted crayons collected by the National Crayon Recycle Program. As of last December, they saved 47,000 pounds of half used crayons from landfill. The even make some in star shapes.
Mama K's Aromatic Clay (www.etsy.com) is made from gluten-free flours and scented with organic essential oils. She uses no synthetics and no artificial dyes. Comes in seven different scents, including soothing lavender and uplifting sweet orange.
4. Dress-up trunk
Children everywhere have spent hours and hours playing dress up — home-grown entertainment at its best. For your favorite drama queen, collect eclectic jewelry, dresses, shoes and hats from thrift stores or your own closet to make a dress-up trunk or box. It's a good way to rid your self of those items too good to really part with.
5. Mix CD
At age 5, my older brother would quiz me on Led Zeppelin lyrics, and I was the coolest kindergartner in the world. Spread the wealth of your iPod by making a kid-appropriate mix CD of your favorite songs for your favorite toddler.
Songs that are ageless might include: Bob Marley's “Three Little Birds,” ABBA's “Dancing Queen,” John Denver's “Sunshine on my Shoulders,” KC and Sunshine Band's “Boogie Shoes,” Maceo Parker's “Elephant Stepped on My Foot,” Grateful Dead's “Sugar Magnolia” and Led Zeppelin's “Black Dog.”
6. Gifts of time
Instead of giving stuff, make a certificate promising to do something special with a cherished young one. Ideas for gifts of time include teaching to bake bread or to sew or to ski. Take your child on a special outing like caroling or to a museum or on a train ride. Or do something with your child that you enjoyed as a kid, like building a tree house.
7. The Lorax
Think of Dr. Seuss' book “The Lorax” as a kid's guide to sustainability. Don't just buy the book — open it and read it to the child, too. Dr. Seuss stories are written to be read aloud.
8. DIY ice cream maker
Assemble the materials needed to make “Kick the Can Ice Cream” (see above). The natural magic of turning just a few ingredients into a cherished dessert is enough to amaze kids of all ages.
9. Children's theater
Gifts of experience are my favorite kind. For children, think about activities they love or have never experienced before, like a play or musical. Locally, the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek has a couple programs on the bill this winter fit for children, like the Von Trapp Children in concert on Dec. 30 and the New Shangai Circus on Jan. 26.
10. Imagination tools
Did you ever notice how smaller kids are often more excited about the wrapping and the box a gift comes in rather than the present itself? Knowing this, put together a box of simple “things” that could lead to hours of imagination play. Some ideas are a magnifying glass, foreign coins, seashells, marbles, polished rocks and pine cones.
Freelance writer Cassie Pence is married to the superhero of green cleaning Captain Vacuum, AKA Tim Szurgot. Together they own Organic Housekeepers, a cleaning company that uses strictly organic, natural and nontoxic cleaning products. Contact her at cassie@organichousekeepers.com.
Instead of adding to the scary toy mound lurking in basements and playrooms, it's time to be that weird hippie aunt and start a new family tradition to teach a little non-consumerism — or shall we call it “better consumerism” — to the young folk. And we're not talking about boring bamboo, fair-traded socks. Here are 10 green gift ideas for children.
1. Adopt endangered wildlife
As a little girl, I had a thing for otters. I thought it was so cute how otters flip on their backs and munch mussels off their bellies. For the young animal lover in your life, adopt an endangered species in their name. Both the World Wildlife Fund (www.worldwildlife.org) and the Defenders of Wildlife (www.defenders.org) have adoption programs. With your contribution, which starts between $15 and $25, your child will receive an adoption certificate, fact sheet and photo of the animal.
2. Guided tour of the outdoors
Encourage kids to connect with their local landscape by giving a guided tour of the great outdoors. Tom Wiesen's TrailWise Guides (www.trailwiseguides.com) offers snowshoe tours in Vail, Beaver Creek and Eagle as well as Summit and Chaffee counties.
Wildlife becomes more visible in wintertime. While shuffling through the snow, TrailWise guides will help you to interpret animal clues like tracks, droppings, claw marks, chew marks and scenting to learn more about the local critters and their habits.
3. Eco art supplies
Fostering creative expression is sustainable on many levels. But take the idea a step further by giving art supplies made from ingredients that are safe for the environment. My favorites are Crazy Crayons and Mama K's Aromatic Play Clay.
Crazy Crayons (www.crazycrayons.com and www.earthlingcrayons.com) are hand-crafted using unwanted crayons collected by the National Crayon Recycle Program. As of last December, they saved 47,000 pounds of half used crayons from landfill. The even make some in star shapes.
Mama K's Aromatic Clay (www.etsy.com) is made from gluten-free flours and scented with organic essential oils. She uses no synthetics and no artificial dyes. Comes in seven different scents, including soothing lavender and uplifting sweet orange.
4. Dress-up trunk
Children everywhere have spent hours and hours playing dress up — home-grown entertainment at its best. For your favorite drama queen, collect eclectic jewelry, dresses, shoes and hats from thrift stores or your own closet to make a dress-up trunk or box. It's a good way to rid your self of those items too good to really part with.
5. Mix CD
At age 5, my older brother would quiz me on Led Zeppelin lyrics, and I was the coolest kindergartner in the world. Spread the wealth of your iPod by making a kid-appropriate mix CD of your favorite songs for your favorite toddler.
Songs that are ageless might include: Bob Marley's “Three Little Birds,” ABBA's “Dancing Queen,” John Denver's “Sunshine on my Shoulders,” KC and Sunshine Band's “Boogie Shoes,” Maceo Parker's “Elephant Stepped on My Foot,” Grateful Dead's “Sugar Magnolia” and Led Zeppelin's “Black Dog.”
6. Gifts of time
Instead of giving stuff, make a certificate promising to do something special with a cherished young one. Ideas for gifts of time include teaching to bake bread or to sew or to ski. Take your child on a special outing like caroling or to a museum or on a train ride. Or do something with your child that you enjoyed as a kid, like building a tree house.
7. The Lorax
Think of Dr. Seuss' book “The Lorax” as a kid's guide to sustainability. Don't just buy the book — open it and read it to the child, too. Dr. Seuss stories are written to be read aloud.
8. DIY ice cream maker
Assemble the materials needed to make “Kick the Can Ice Cream” (see above). The natural magic of turning just a few ingredients into a cherished dessert is enough to amaze kids of all ages.
9. Children's theater
Gifts of experience are my favorite kind. For children, think about activities they love or have never experienced before, like a play or musical. Locally, the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek has a couple programs on the bill this winter fit for children, like the Von Trapp Children in concert on Dec. 30 and the New Shangai Circus on Jan. 26.
10. Imagination tools
Did you ever notice how smaller kids are often more excited about the wrapping and the box a gift comes in rather than the present itself? Knowing this, put together a box of simple “things” that could lead to hours of imagination play. Some ideas are a magnifying glass, foreign coins, seashells, marbles, polished rocks and pine cones.
Freelance writer Cassie Pence is married to the superhero of green cleaning Captain Vacuum, AKA Tim Szurgot. Together they own Organic Housekeepers, a cleaning company that uses strictly organic, natural and nontoxic cleaning products. Contact her at cassie@organichousekeepers.com.
