The moonlit diaper changes, the pureed yam smeared on your clothes, the endless laundering and folding of tiny garments.  Let’s face it––parenting isn’t always romantic.  This Valentine’s Day you deserve chocolate for your unsung parental heroics.

Thanks to Abe’s Market, you just might win some!  This natural product online shop is going to give one of our readers a box of vegan organic dark chocolate truffles.  Yum!  Simply post your comment below by February 14th and you’ll automatically be entered to win.

If you’re unwilling to take your chances on the contest, you may want to check out Abe’s Market to try a few of their other Valentine gift ideas. You can pick up white chocolate pear chardonnay sauce, victorian fragrant foaming bath oil, or organic cacao chai tea all for fifteen dollars or less.   (Better yet, give your valentine a detailed wish list.)  I hope either way you end up with a decadent treat this Valentine’s Day!

Today our post comes to you via Parenting Press, an online site packed with resources to support you in your child-rearing adventures from  birth to the teen years.  The January newsletter contained this short article outlining the brilliant (and very green) strategy of gift swapping.  It involves getting rid of unwanted stuff, cleaning out closets, and then having the chance to get what you really wanted–all for free!  You may want to round up a group of families with varying ages of kids and involve the little ones in this easy “stuff swap!”  The following piece is entirely written by Parenting Press.

In keeping with New Year’s resolutions and the general 2010 focus on going green, get together with friends and family to swap things you no longer want or can use (maybe even including the white elephants that arrived as holiday gifts). Take over a large room in someone’s house or the meeting room in an apartment complex and consider setting up “stations” by kind of item (sports equipment, clothing, craft supplies, toys, books, furniture) or by size (little kids, grade school kids, teenagers, adults). Be sure to create a space for odds and ends: the incomplete puzzles, fruitcake tins, jars of buttons, fabric remnants, old magazines. Chances are, what you consider trash is ideal for a neighbor’s next craft project­ or Cousin Kyle’s science fair entry!

We hope your 2010 is filled with rich experiences and quality time with family and friends.  (Notice neither of those things hurt the environment or cost a penny!)  Whether you opt to start your own garden, cloth diaper your newborn, or switch from paper towels to rags, may you relish the green adventures in store for you this year.  If you’re looking for inspiration, check out our post on The Green Year, a great handbook for a daily dose of conservation wisdom.

I won’t officially call them resolutions, but my eco-hopes for the year include expanding our raised beds, strapping both children into the bike trailer for errands, and spending more time in the great outdoors.  Picking, freezing, and canning local produce (including our own) is my fantasy but we’ll see how it goes with two small children in tow.   Wouldn’t it be incredible to be able to put away enough fresh food to sustain us through next winter?  Sigh…

If you’re looking to cut costs in 2010, fear not!  On the 4th we’ll begin “Money Saving Monday” a weekly series through January that will feature frugal, eco-conscious resources.

What are your green dreams for the coming year?  What’s standing in the way of achieving them?

Are you still suffering flashbacks from wrapping, taping, and then cleaning up mounds of paper this year?  Even if you tried to go green by using recycled paper, wrapping everything and then cleaning up the holiday mess is labor intensive.  You may never have had have time to sew up a batch of gift bags before the holiday crush, but why not do it now?  Holiday fabric and ribbon are on sale and it will only take you about two hours to make bags that can wrap up all your gifts for years to come—with no waste and no yearly cost.  (My mom is still wrapping our gifts in festive bags that we’ve used for over thirty years!)  While you’re at it, whip up a few out of simple patterned fabric and have bags that can be used for birthdays, Valentines, and random surprises.

I am NOT a talented seamstress, but I’ll walk you through the steps so that you can stitch up some holiday bags yourself.  This one is made from ribbon we got for seventy-five percent off and fabric I had left over from my daughter’s curtains.

You’ll need:

• Fabric (as much as you’d like to make small and large bags)
• A sewing machine (Try to borrow one for an afternoon!)
• Fabric Ribbon
• Pins (optional)

First fold the fabric so that the outside pattern is facing inward.

Then cut two six-inch pieces of holiday ribbon.  Lay the pieces on top of each other and sandwich them between the seam toward the top of the bag with the ribbon strings extending inward.

Sew a seam around the three sides of the bag, including the ribbon in the seam.  Then turn the bag inside out.  Finish off the bag by doing a rolled seam on the top edges to prevent fraying.  You’re done!

If you have time and skills you can applique patterns onto the bag front or stitch on decorative ribbons.  You can also use iron-on letters to personalize bags for each of your children. (My mom finally gave me mine after I’d had it for my entire childhood.)

The finished bags look really cute, pack up easily, and won’t cost you a dime for decades to come!  I hope you get a bit of time to make things easier on yourself next year.  If you’re swamped you can ask a crafty family member to whip you up a homemade set or buy a Wrapsacks set of gift bags on Amazon.  Have you found a way to avoid wrapping paper?  Please share!

Even small tots can participate in the holiday preparations with this simple craft.  If you use cloth napkins instead of paper on a regular basis, you may want to dress them up a bit for the festivities.  This simple craft should be done within an hour and will help your little one contribute to the holiday table.  If you already have a few of your child’s paintings to use, you’ll be done in just minutes!

Materials needed:

• Paper
• Tempera or watercolor paints
• Paintbrushes
• Tape
• Ribbon

Technically, these aren’t napkin rings at all, but simply decorated wraps for your cloth napkins.  Pick out the colors that will accent your holiday table and then set your child lose on a blank canvas.  When the painting is dry, cut it into two inch strips.  Roll your cloth napkins up and use the painted strip as a ring.  Cut and tape it shut.  Then add a decorative ribbon on top.  Done!

Why waste money on plug-in devices that spray chemicals into the air when you can scent your house with natural ingredients? This time of year, I like to buy whole cloves in bulk from the grocery store to make a simple homemade air freshener. All I do is take a small saucepan, fill with a cup or two of water, then sprinkle in a small handful of cloves. Keep the pan on low heat and let the spicy smell waft into the room. Of course, this does expend a bit of energy. I’m working on a bicycle-powered version of this little trick. . . .

Do you have any homemade potpourris or air freshener ideas? Do let us know!

After months of grogginess, we recently experienced a night with eight continuous hours of sleep.  It was life changing.  Suddenly we could complete our sentences and even remember where we left our keys.

People who regularly doze for sizeable chunks have no idea what an uninterrupted snooze can do for a sleep-deprived family in those first few months.  It revitalizes body and soul, regenerates our sadly withered coping skills, and helps us see the world, and our baby, in a whole new light.  (Think precious bundle instead of ten-pound heartless, sleep-depriving dictator.)

If someone would have offered to take my child for a night so that I climb between the sheets at 8am and get long hour stretch of unconsciousness, I think I would have cried with sheer happiness.

If you can’t manage taking baby for the entire night, volunteering for just a few hours of babysitting is also a tremendous help.  Parents can slip out for a coffee date or even flee to the cinema to play hooky from child rearing for just a few hours.

So, if you haven’t found the perfect present for the frazzled new mom in your life, give the gift of your time.  I truly believe that most new parents would value the break over any material item you could possibly give them.

Do you have other ideas for no-cost gifts for new parents?  Please share!

I do not usually seek out low-fat cookie recipes (what’s the point?), but my favorite gingerbread cookie just so happens to contain just 3 grams of fat. We bake these year-round, but they’re especially delicious around the holidays.

Aww, how could you eat this little guy from Shrek? Well, he is full of sugar and spice and everything nice. . . .

(Modified from the Joy of Cooking)

Gingerbread Cookies

Mix together:

3 cups of flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 ¾ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Beat until well-blended:

6 tablespoons softened butter
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg

Add and beat in:

½ cup molasses

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until smooth. Divide dough in half, wrap each in plastic, and let stand at room temperature for at least two hours. (I have skipped this step with no ill effects!)

Roll dough out on floured surface until ¼ inch thick. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Bake in a 375-degree oven 7 to 10 minutes. Cool on racks. Decorate with icing if desired. Then enjoy!

If you’re scrambling to get your holiday shopping done in these last few days before Christmas, you may want to consider a radical idea: A holiday without presents.  It may sound dismal at first, but consider that it would also be debt-free, stress-free and waste-free.  What would that be like?

You’ll still get the holiday songs, family togetherness, great food, and cheer.  Plus, if you have a new baby she’ll never know the difference and won’t remember either way.

If you’re not willing to give up presents entirely or if you have older kids that would protest the shift, it is nice to at least reduce the gift hullabaloo.  In our extended family we simply draw names for nieces and nephews and skip gifts for adults.  The price limit for children’s gifts is just ten dollars so we have to be thoughtful and work within a small budget.  It has made the holidays so much more relaxing for all of us!

Families who really love gift giving can experiment with homemade presents or perhaps give gifts of experience such as children’s museum memberships or tickets to a children’s concert so that you gather memories instead of stuff.

Does your family have any strategies for limiting the gift giving craziness?  Do you find that it’s tricky to reduce holiday gifts when you have older children?  We’d love to hear how you manage it!

Searching for a somewhat bizarre gift for your eccentric uncle or this year’s white elephant gift exchange?  The following four are somewhat functional but mostly just weird presents for your holiday list.

If someone you know is struggling to sell a house this holiday season, they may need Ecojoe—the Original Eco-Friendly St. Joseph Statue Home Selling Kit.  Who the heck is St. Joseph? He’s the patron saint of real estate.  For years he’s been buried in the yards of those hoping to find an interested buyer.  Does anyone really need an eco-friendly, biodegradable statue of a saint?  Probably not, but it is a fun gag gift that may bring stressed out homeowners a laugh.

The I Am Not a Paper Cup mug is wonderfully deceptive.  Crafted from a ceramic mug and a silicone lid, it looks identical to a paper cup but is far eco-friendlier.

We’re sure you’ve been asking yourself, “How can I spoil my feline friend with eco-friendly products?” The Green Organic Eco Friendly Cat Bundle of Products is a helpful kitty gift basket that includes citrus magic litter box odor eliminator and bath wipes—among other essential cat grooming items!

Our favorite eco-friendly gift is the Elephant Poo Poo Paper Notebox.  Yes, this thick, high quality note paper is made from elephant dung. Recycling the feces of large mammals has never been such fun!

Have you come across any fun eco-friendly products lately?  We’d love to hear about your finds!