This year I found myself apathetic about throwing a traditional party for my two year old.  While I could have selected coordinating décor and unique party favors, I was determined to keep it simple.  Am I an unfit mother?  I hope not.  The truth is that throwing a big birthday shindig often ends up being expensive, exhausting and very disposable.  

Luckily I knew my son would be thrilled to run through a park with his friends and receive a few presents. We added blueberry muffins to the mix and he was in utter bliss. 

Plus, I had to wonder, would I be doing all that extra stuff for him and his friends, or for the other adults? Before I got wrapped up in other people’s potential judgments of his very simple celebration, I realized that the people in Roscoe’s life are unpretentious, kind and very connected to him.  They forgave me for my un-Martha Stewart festivities. 

So, here are a few ideas for your own simple, green birthday bash:

People are the gifts: Instead of focusing on the decorations, the party favors or the presents, we made a big deal out of having all the people who love Roscoe together in one place. It took the stress of perfection off of us, (which was good, considering that we were five minutes late to our own party!) and freed us up to connect with the friends and family who came.  

Simple party decor:  Roscoe had a birthday crown that he made at daycare and that was about it.  Older children might feel neglected without the decorations, but party streamers can be reused by rolling them up from year to year.  We actually still have Roscoe’s streamers from his baby shower saved up for eventual use!   Another option is to hit thrift stores for pre-owned party decor.  There are always several rolls of streamers and a few bags of leftover balloons at our local thrift shop.   

Muffins instead of cupcakes. Having a morning birthday party was a good way to bypass loads of sugar and the time usually works better for toddlers anyway.  We picked heaps of organic blueberries this year and made huge batches of muffins to feed all his friends—it’s was my sneaky way of substituting semi-healthy food for birthday cake.

Sidewalk chalk. A giant tub of this was given to us by our neighbors and it helped lure the kids away from the swings when it was time for the birthday song.  You can make your own using this recipe. Having the chalk at the party was easy, fun and required no set up.

Cloth gift bags.  Roscoe’s gifts from us were simply tossed in homemade cloth family gift bags and tied with the attached ribbon.  We’ll use them again at holidays and future birthdays.  They make gift wrapping infinitely easier, cheaper, and eco-friendlier.  

Sheets for tablecloths. We got away with just having a table cloth (which was actually a printed sheet) for all of Roscoe’s decor. It actually looked quite nice and we just washed it after the party.  

Recycled Paper products. We used recycled paper plates thanks to Rebecca’s discovery about Chinet using 100% recycled material.   We encouraged our guests to dispose of used plates, napkins and cups in our paper grocery sack.  After a bit of sorting and rinsing, the whole sack then went directly into our compost bin!  

A gift plan. Roscoe has plenty of toys already and our house is relatively small, so the invitation stated that presents weren’t needed, but people’s presence was most welcome.   People did bring some gifts, but it was nice that they didn’t feel obligated and that the focus of his party wasn’t on what he received.  Rebecca shared that she’s asking family members for experience-based gifts like museum or zoo memberships, rather than material things for her daughter.  

Do you have any ideas for thrifty, green birthday parties?  I hope that I can add them to my list for next year’s festivities!

Please feel free to add your frugal, eco-friendly wisdom to our Thrifty Green Thursday blog carnival.  There are step by step directions for using Mr. Linky here.  We can’t wait to learn more from our fellow green bloggers this week!

Ever return from holiday travel only to find yourself more exhausted than when you left? When we felt stressed out just contemplating a vacation with a two-year-old, we knew we needed other options.  Suddenly, my husband blurted out, “Let’s have a staycation!”  Immediately our heart rates leveled out and we began breathing more deeply.  

You might assume that my husband and I have a tiny comfort zone—or a case of agoraphobia.  Actually, we’ve lived and traveled in several countries, but at this point in our lives we have no desire to leave town.  Our son sleeps horribly even on short trips, hates being immobile in the car seat, and often seems out of sorts while we’re away.  It ends up being rather grueling for all of us—so we were excited about the option of staying home for a week and purposely relaxing.

So why did we choose to staycation?

1.  We greatly reduced carbon emissions.  We didn’t have to log airplane or car miles that eat up fossil fuels—plus we avoided hours of trying to entertain a toddler in the backseat. 

2.  Our vacation budget was HUGE. Without having to pay for gas or lodging, we were able to go out on a few dates, pay for babysitting—and still save loads of money.  I really wanted to splurge for a massage, but ran out of time. 

3.  We had fun in our backyard. Since camping with our toddler still seems a little beyond us, we set up the tent in the backyard during the day as a pre-camping experiment.  We could lie under the giant cedars and watch the clouds float by without having to pack up the gear.

4. It was fun to view our area like tourists. We went hiking, took a day trip to the zoo, and rode the city bus all over town.  While I get to do some of this in the summer with Roscoe, we hardly ever get time to do it all as a family.  

5. There was no packing or unpacking required.  What a luxury!  We didn’t have to scramble around the house trying to remember every last thing—only to find that we’d forgetten a few items anyway. 

As much as we enjoyed our staycation, we did fall into the trap of accomplishing a “few” household projects during the week.  It ended up eating a big chunk of our time.  If we had it to do over again, we would totally avoid work and try to plan our fun more carefully. 

Next year a family vacation might seem more manageable, but we’re glad that this year we took the opportunity to save a little money, help the planet and simplify our vacation.  

You’re sure to find loads of budget-friendly green tips below from our Thrifty Green Thursday blogging crew.  Bloggers are welcome to jump in and join anytime––just go to this page and carefully follow the steps. Thanks for enriching our Thursday with your creative ideas!

As a child, I remember being thrilled to escape school in mid June—but by August, I was bored to tears. Now as a mom I realize how tough it is to find quality entertainment for kids without spending money or driving all over town. This week we’ll revisit a few of our best posts on entertaining your brood for less.

For toddlers:

• Homemade Finger Paint: These days we just head outside with Roscoe and avoid worrying about the ensuing mess. We use the back sides of household papers and just hose Roscoe down when he’s done! You can find a link to Rebecca’s post on fingerpainting here.

• Homemade playdough—including an edible variety! For a very small price, my toddler stays happily entertained with his little blob of playdough. Again, check this vintage post for some great links.

• Homemade popsicles. This entertainment-food will help you clean out your produce drawer, soothe teething gums, and sneak spinach into your child’s diet. With recipes for tofu popsicles and fruity-veggie popsicles in my repertoire, my skills in creative desserts have hit a whole new high!

• Homemade bubbles. Once you make up the bubble solution, you can experiment with pip cleaners, coat hangers, and other household objects to create enormous bubbles. Visit another post of ours here for tips on how to get started.

For older children:

• Cat’s cradle. I still sometimes catch my middle school students enjoying this simple but mesmerizing game. If you’re not sure where to start, this site provide pictures to illustrate each step.

• Paper games. Origami is a great way to provide kids with some quiet, focused crafts—and a great way to recycle junk mail. It may be easier to use a book, but this site has some simple origami shapes that kids can do with limited adult help.

• Hula hoops. I spent years of my life trying to perfect this art—and I still find the hoop down around my ankles most of the time. You can find hula hoops at garage sales and thrifty shops used for cheap.

• Playtime outside. There’s no better way to connect with nature—and one’s desire to protect it, than be spending some time outdoors.

What else do you do to inspire entertainment that doesn’t have to be plugged in? We’d love to hear your Thrifty Green ideas.

Remember that you’ll find a whole slew of frugal, eco-friendly tips below with links back to some fabulous blogs. This week we’ve finally added Mr. Linky.  Please jump into Thrifty Green Thursday whenever you’d like. For directions on how to start, just click here. Thanks for visiting!

Has anyone else spawned a water-waster?  If I give Audrey a little watering can and ask her to water the flowers, she’ll dump the whole thing on the pavement.  She enjoys flushing the toilet.  If she washes her hands, she turns the water on full blast and splashes water everywhere.  Then she cries when I won’t let her wash her hands every five minutes.  One day I wondered why it was eerily silent in the bathroom, and I found that Audrey had taken all the towels out of the cabinet and soaked each one in the sink!

How have you talked to your kids about conserving resources–at a two-year-old level?  Audrey will beg to water the plants or wash her hands, which seem like innocuous enough activities for a youngster–but how do I encourage her to do those things with the proper respect for Mother Earth?  Or do I just need to put up with the waterworks for a few years, then sit her down as a teen for a comprehensive lecture on ecology? 

If anyone has any brilliant tips or suggestions for me, please post a comment. 

Green parenting requires thought, innovation, and courage—none of which come easy on limited sleep.  Having a community of like-minded parents is wonderful, but it can be challenging depending on a person’s geographic location or work schedule.  Still, if you hook up with a few families who are at least willing to try green living, it can be tremendously helpful. 

Here are a few places where you could start finding eco-friendly buddies:

Parenting groups: Usually by joining a parenting group you can find a few families who are interested in eco-friendly tips.  We loved our experience with Birth to Three here in Eugene and have made friendships that will last all through Roscoe’s childhood.

Community events: Story time at the local library, Earth Day Celebrations or free concerts in the park can be a great way to connect with other parents.  

Green groups: These are available in the Portland Metro area through one of our favorite local blogs, Enviromom.  Portland parents in different pockets of the city have free-form meetings to discuss the everyday challenges and victories of green living.

Start your own: Post a free ad in Craigslist asking moms to meet up weekly at a city park or even in your own home.  Hold “swap-meets” with local families to share toys and clothes.  You’re welcome to post a comment on this post asking if any Green Baby Guide readers live in your area. 

The good news is that you’re already part of a group of like-minded people: us!  Please remember to email us with any questions or tips you might want to share online.  We’d love to hear your voices as we continue to make Green Baby Guide a welcoming place for new parents.

Every year, over forty members of my extended family–ages negative one month to 94 years–meet up at Lake Tahoe for a week of swimming, kayaking, hiking, and eating.  Little Audrey had a wonderful time splashing in the lake and digging in the sand with her cousins, and everyone enjoyed catching up over mounds of appetizers, cold drinks, and gigantic home-cooked dinners and breakfasts.  

One of the problems with cooking for such a large crowd is all the clean-up afterwards, and my green sensibilities were shocked upon witnessing bag after bag of bottles, cups, and paper plates pile up after each group dinner and breakfast.  That got me thinking: How could we “green” our family reunion?

Our reunion wasn’t a complete environmental disaster–we practiced many eco-conscious activities.  First, we crammed ourselves in large houses outfitted with kitchens.  Unlike hotels, we didn’t have housekeeping service, so we reused towels and sheets for the week.  We were also able to prepare all of our meals in the houses.  Best of all, most of my family members live close to Tahoe, so we saved on some carbon emissions traveling to our destination.  (I personally cannot take credit for this, as we drove each way from Portland.)

So how could our family reunion go even greener next year?  Here are some ideas:

Cut down on disposable products.  We used as many real dishes as we could, but we supplemented with paper plates and plastic cups.  With so many people and so few real plates, I am not sure paper products could be avoided entirely, but we could stand to cut down.   This year, we got lazy about labeling our disposable cups.  I myself am guilty of using more than one disposable cup a day because I kept losing track.  I hope no one took a picture of me committing this extremely non-green act!  Next year, I am going to vow to use just ONE cup all week.  And I’ll bring a pen for labeling.

Use recycled paper products.  In the future, we could make an effort to phase out any bleached paper plates made from virgin forests or colorful plastic plates and start using recycled paper products.  A quick trip to a main-stream grocery store revealed that Chinet’s plates are “made from recycled materials.”  Other plates were not labeled.  Here are some plates made with sugarcane fibers–they’re biodegradable!

Recycle.  I was surprised that there was no recycling program set up at our gathering place–this was northern California, after all.  About halfway through our reunion, we started sorting our bottles and cans from the rest of the trash so my dad could take them home to be recycled.  Next year, I will set up a recycling system right from the start.  My sister suggested bringing some cardboard boxes, labeling them, and setting them next to the trash bags from day one.  I am also going to write the rental company and ask why they do not provide recycling.

Surely I am overlooking many other excellent ways to conserve resources while entertaining large groups.  Please post a comment to help me green next year’s reunion!  I’m already looking forward to stuffing myself on food served on recycled paper plates and quenching my thirst with Pims punch sipped from my well-labeled cup.  

Do you own a solar powered dryer? If not, they’re available for under twenty bucks and can save loads of emissions in their lifetime. Yes, I am talking about the humble drying rack.

Whether you live in an urban apartment or sprawling acreage, anyone can handle erecting a drying rack and letting nature do the rest. You won’t need dozens of clothespins to hang each sock, baby t-shirt, or undergarment.  Just flop the clothing on the rack in the morning and take it off later in the day.

In the summer I bask in the glory of sun dried clothing.  I hang the sheets, towels and adult clothing on the line while my toddler helps (somewhat sloppily) by arranging dishtowels and diaper covers on our drying rack.  

Although it air drying isn’t glamorous, it is revolutionary.  

What are the environmental benefits?  A clothes dryer is one of the biggest energy users in your household.  Depending on its efficiency, it can eat up as much energy as your oven and more than your water heater, burning up to 5000 watts of electricity each hour.  Refrigerators technically use more, since they’re on all the time, but per hour, dryers are the largest consumers.  Dryers also waste energy twice, since they suck in air from your home (which has been cooled in summer and heated in winter) and then blow it out of the house.

What are the cost benefits?   Besides lowering your utility bill, you’ll reduce expenses on clothing.  My sister, a mother of five children who is constantly battling with laundry, will only air dry her children’s garments.  Since line drying doesn’t set stains the way a heated dryer does, she prevents soiled clothing from being permanently ruined in the dryer.  If the stain doesn’t come out, she just tosses it back in the wash.  Air drying also prevents shrinking and limits wear.

How can I take it a step further?  If you’d like to air dry all your laundry and set up a clothesline,  check out Laundry List–a site dedicated to helping people move away from dependency of dryers.  Even hanging just a few loads a week can make a huge difference in your energy bill and your carbon emissions. 

Thanks for joining Thrifty Green Thursday!  Come back tomorrow for Rebecca’s line-drying trouble-shooting tips. 

For those of us who love creativity, hate waste, and enjoy watching our savings accounts grow, The Tightwad Gazette is a thrill a minute.  The author, Amy Dacyczyn, was termed the “frugal zealot” for her efforts to “promote thrift as a viable lifestyle.” The Tightwad Gazette was published back in the late ‘90s, but it’s still just as applicable today.  Her grocery costs of just $38.00 a week for a family of eight are still astounding, even if you take inflation into account.

Although The Tightwad Gazette emphasizes frugality rather than environmentalism, Dacyczyn, points out that most of her cost-savings efforts are eco-friendly. Her family rarely buys anything new, grows most of their produce, and limits their meat intake. 

Dacyczyn, a mother of six, started by selling year-long subscriptions for one dollar each to The Tightwad Gazette newsletter.  The business steadily grew until she was mentioned in Parade Magazine and subscriptions went through the roof.  She had to hire a small staff and eventually was wooed into compiling six years of newsletters into a three volume set of books.  (You can also purchase all three in one bound volume entitled The Complete Tightwad Gazette).

The book is packed with information about reusing blue jeans, brown bananas, mylar balloons and milk jugs—but it also contains wonderful information about preparing for baby on the cheap.  Next week you’ll find out how Dacyczyn spent less than $100 on raising her twins for an entire year.

This is how much I love The Tightwad Gazette: After checking it out three times and reading it twice, I’m actually planning on buying it!  Here at the Green Baby Guide, we’ve written about avoiding book purchases—but I’ll have to break our rule on this one!   She saves me far more money than I’ll spend buying The Tightwad Gazette—and of course I’ll buy it used!

If you’re a frugal soul with some eco-friendly ideas, you’ll want to  join our Thrifty Green Thursday blog carnival here at Green Baby Guide.  We’re looking for posts that offer earth friendly, budget friendly solutions that work. For more information, check out our open invitation here. 

Our house is perched on a giant anthill.  I have no scientific proof of this except for the constant stream of tiny black specks that march around like they own the place. These little sugar ants are happier than ever since Roscoe has joined our family.  Now they can load up with the remnants of my son’s cracker snacks, spaghetti dinners, and cookie treats to their collective heart’s content.

So how do we mercilessly rid them of their newfound territory without endangering our son or the planet?   We don’t want to use any pesticides in our home, not just because our son likes to put almost everything in his mouth, but also because it isn’t safe for the environment. 

So far our weapon of choice has been Borax.  The Boric Acid it contains has natural ant-repelling properties and isn’t quite as scary as some other products.  It does need to be kept away from children so you have to be careful.

After looking at online resources such as greenpaige.com and barebones gardening, I have some new tricks to try on our little friends. 

Barriers:   Sprinkle or spray these in ant walkways or areas where they enter your home.   Their odors disrupt the scent trails ants create for each other. 

• White or yellow chalk (ants will not cross a chalk line)
• Cucumber peelings
• Red chili or dry mustard mixed with a bit of water
• Lemon juice
• White vinegar or half strength cider vinegar
• Orange based environmental cleaning products
• Cloves
• Coffee grounds
• Cinnamon
• Baking Soda
• Baby powder
• Black pepper
• Mint Leaves
• Mint tea bags

Ant traps: You’ll need..

• Borax
• Sugar
• A sticky substance such as mint jelly or peanut butter

Mix the substances together thoroughly.  Spread the mixture on a cracker and place out of the way of children in a cupboard or on a countertop.  When the ants get the food, they’ll also get the poison. 

Dealing with Ant Hills:  The most merciless way is to pour boiling water or hot vinegar directly into the anthill.  This site recommended putting dry grits outside the hole.  Apparently the ants try to eat them and then explode.  That sounds a bit less humane but it’s your call. 

What are your natural pest control tips?  How do you keep baby safe without ending up with ants in the sugar?  

Since fuel expenses, high food prices, and child-rearing costs are eating into our thrifty budgets, here are some simple, eco-friendly tips that can save some money. They all come directly from stopglobalwarming.org, which has another five money saving tips available for your perusal.  While you’re there, use their handy-dandy online calculator to estimate your carbon and cost savings.

Run your dishwasher only when it’s loaded to full capacity.  It’ll save you $40 per year and reduce your carbon emissions by a whopping 200 pounds.

Move your thermostat down two degrees when it’s cold and up two degrees when it’s hot.  This minor switch will save your family $98 annually and bring your carbon emissions down by two thousand pounds!

Take shorter showers.  Check out Crunchy Domestic Goddess’s post  on this.  She recently challenged her readers to time their showers and try to keep them to just five minutes per shower.  This really isn’t that challenging!  By reducing your showering time you could save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide and $99 per year. 


Switch just three standard light bulbs in a highly used area of your home with compact fluorescent bulbs.  You’ll save $60 per year (and remember that they last for many, many years) and 300 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.

If you have a car, make sure the tires are properly inflated by checking them regularly.  You’ll save a shocking $840 and 250 pounds of carbon dioxide. 

Why not give a few of these tips a whirl?  It’s like getting paid to save the planet!  We’d love to hear some of your budget friendly, earth friendly tips too.