Hark! It's upon us!
If you are running behind with shopping and are desperate for a few ideas, here are some last moment goodies that may save your Christmas keister:
Wee Babes: Organic *anything* is nice for the weans because their little skins and bodies don't like chemicals. Nui booties are not cheap, but make a super sweet gift. If you are the crafting type, felt your own! My favorite source for wool top (roving) is The Yarn Tree in Brooklyn, because they're so flippin' nice. Pair I felted for friend's babe:
I would have been all over this bunting, had I known about it when M was born.
Kid Over 2: This cool chalkboard placemat is Made in USA by a company called Chalk A Doodle (I can't say it without crowing). The eraser is recycled wool and it comes with 4 pieces of dustless chalk. I love the folks at Pokkadots, too. Just dang sweet people. No time to ship? No money to buy? Make it yourself by spray painting chalkboard paint onto a lightweight surface such as illustration board or Masonite. Create the eraser by cutting a 4 x 6 square out of your least favorite wool sweater (or thrift store find) and wash it in a hot water cycle with regular laundry soap. Instant felted wool eraser. Reckon you'll have to go buy some chalk. Also, the album What Kind of Cat Are You? will drive the 2-6 set wild.
EnviroMan: Just Soap is a company anyone can love. The creator designed a bike contraption to pedal and mix his large batches of soap. Brilliant! Human powered! More efficient than Santa and no pesky reindeer to clean up after. The coyotes love Lemongrass Ginger for a scent that suits girlies, as well as boys. We are intrigued by the shampoo bars and plan to try them next-I can't think of a better idea than eliminating all of the plastic bottles that shampoo and conditioner come in. This water bottle solves all of the plastic, aluminum (evil SIGG), nalgene issues of our day. With one for him and one for you, you can get on with things more fun than searching for the perfect bloody water bottle!
Host/Hostess/Special Lady Friend: These candles from Something Wicked are wickedly guiltless, especially if you live on the West Coast and don't have far to ship (think cruel fuel). We've been burning "Hannah" (Fig Apricot) all week and the scent is intoxicating without being headachey. They are thoughtfully poured into reuseable + recyclable glass, made of soy (no black paraffin lungs) with hemp wicks, toxin-free, and are packaged in deliciously recycled paper boxes (sturdy enough to have a second life as a cute and yummy-smelling storage box). Lovely Jill Roy, creator, beloved Angeleno, and handpourer scores points for fighting global warming and gets one tiny spanking for using a teensy amount of synthetic fragrance to achieve the fruity part of the sniffins. If she can live with herself, I can, too.
eGifts: Elf Yourself is the funniest thing I've ever seen. When I received this gift from my girl, Julie, I almost peed. Spread holiday joy and crack up your friends. They'll forget that you didn't send them a fruitcake.
And,
If You Still Have to Buy for Me: Wink...
Wednesday Post Script: To SIGG or not to SIGG
I've been receiving some feedback about the water bottle issue and the comments of this post reveal some concerns and thoughts from a few well-doers. Here is my final prattle on the matter which I tried to post as a comment but Typepad doesn't love me tonite:
I have been reading all night about bottles, bottles and more bottles. What I'm hearing is SIGG asked Environmental Working Group and Organic Consumers Association earlier this year to remove the SIGG water bottle from their warning lists. Both have done so, but it seems to me that they still have questions but aren't quite saying why yet. SIGG has said (I'm paraphrasing, of course) their bottles do NOT leach at all, ever, the harmful hormone disruptor known as BPA *bisphenol A* from the linings of the bottles.
SIGG will not release the content or manufacturing process details about their "micro epoxy" linings (born of petrochemicals, as all plastics are) because they want to maintain their "competitive edge". EWG tested SIGGs for 3 days the tests showed no signs of BPA, but I hear that community making talk of the bottles wearing down and "leaching over time" and consumers not being able to see if there is internal damage to the lining when cleaning, which would definitely indicate leaching of the plastic lining components, not to mention the aluminum.
A lot of effort goes into producing SIGG, in inks, printing & manufacturing the fancy decorative exteriors that have such great marketing appeal, mining of aluminum, etc. I also hear consumers saying that the exteriors chip and dent when you drop the bottles, so what happens to the interior when that occurs?
In favor of stainless steel, though the mining process is also intensive, is that it is the most recyclable material in the world- in fact over 80% of cars in the US are recycled, meaning my very own SS bottle could be the '74 Nova my parents drove when I was a kid! I like SIGG's general ideas for fair trade and all of that alleged goodliness (w!), I wish they made a plain SS version with no fancy-energy-sucking frills. I can paint my own dang bottle!
But seriously, my vote still goes for food-grade stainless steel (watch out for cheapies, they are out there!). And I'm a product, design and packaging whore, so you can imagine how difficult it is for me to be so puritanical on such a matter. EWG said it best when they said, "SIGG is an aluminum-bottle manufacturer with excellent publicity."
You can't recycle SIGG because of all that is in/on it vs. the plain Klean Kanteen (available everywhere, such as Amazon, GreenFeet.com). My bone of contention is that SIGG is mfd in Switzerland (smaller eco footprint, yet still far to ship) and the damned KK is mfd in China-if you know me, you know I've begun to boycott China when possible. If you use the tap to fill your bottles, you must always remember to clean them thoroughly-another problem I have with SIGG is you can't risk getting them too hot inside ....eeeeegad....(I run the hottest tap water my faucet will produce to sterilize my bottle and I can put it in the d/w, too)
I have to add that I think the best best best thing ever is to just drink from a glass or ceramic mug. Easy to do at home and just take your water container out with you, reducing your *risk of the unknown*! Enough fearmongering already...time to get back into the holiday spirit of pretending mass consumption is a healthy obsession. :) (Whoops! Sorry for the weird link to funky eyelash girl! My Gina G is a potter, not a Get Up and Dance diva!-link fixed)
