All Natural Mommies

Archive for the ‘Holidays and Celebrations’ Category

You’ve made it through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and now New Years without comprimising your green values.  So, how do you have an earth-friendly Valentine’s Day?   Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Purchase recycled or tree-free cards.

• Have your children make homemade cards from recycled paper, construction paper, old magazines, etc.  Cards made with a child’s creativity are always treasured items.

• Your child can make treat bags for her friends at school.  Cut pink, red, or white tulle into squares.  Lay flat.  Place a small pile of candies or treats in the center of the square.  Pull up the sides and tie with a ribbon.

• Recycle empty glass jars into a teachers’ gifts.  Fill the jar with chocolate, candy, or homemade cookies.  Cover the lid with scrap fabric, add a hand-printed label (in your child’s handwriting is even better) and you’re done!

• Give Green Flowers- order your Sweetie’s flowers through suppliers who offer organic options.  Look for the VeriFlora seal, which indicates sustainable growth.

• Buy Organic Chocolate – There’s no need to give up chocolate completely.  Organic chocolate is pure, rich, and delicious!

• Give natural, organic bath and body products to the spa lover in your life.

• Make a special dinner at home, instead of heading out to a busy, expensive restaurant.

• Plan a family outing.  Whether it’s a trip to the park or zoo, or a drive to explore a new area, a special trip will make Valentine’s Day memorable for the whole family.

What’s your family’s favorite way to celebrate Valentine’s Day?

Christmastime is ‘the most wonderful time of the year.’   While giving and receiving gifts is highly anticipated and remembered at Christmas time, there are many more activities that families can enjoy together to  make Christmas memorable and wonderful.

One of these activities is decorating the Christmas tree.  The Christmas tree occupies a central spot and is the most visible display of Christmas in most homes.  Soon after Thanksgiving, families will begin their search for the perfect Christmas tree.  Bring the whole family along on your journey to a tree farm and encourage the children to help find a great tree.

Once a tree is selected, the real fun begins!   Help the children make special decorations and label them with the child’s name and the year.   It then becomes a tradition to make a new ornament each year to be placed on the Christmas tree with the previous years’ decorations.  This is a fun way to see how your child’s interests change from year to year.

Another activity that can help to create special memories at Christmas is baking cookies.  Choose your family’s favorite recipes and spend a chilly afternoon baking in your warm kitchen.   Based on the ages of the children, they can help by measuring and mixing some ingredients, or decorating the finished cookies with colored sugar or icing.  Helping in
You can even sneak in a little math by talking about measurements and fractions.

Children may also enjoy filling fruit or treat baskets to give as gifts to friends and family or for charity.  Gift baskets make especially wonderful Christmas gifts because they are home-made. Add in some of the cookies you baked for a special treat.

It is very important to reach out to family, loved ones and friends during the Holiday Season.   The Holidays give us a chance to catch up with distant friends and family.   Many families choose to write a Christmas letter to send with their Christmas cards.  You can easily involve the children with the letter writing.  Ask each child for his/her favorite moment or event from the past year and include it in the letter.

Then there’s probably the most anticipated activity of Christmas – finding out what wonderful gifts Santa brought on Christmas Eve. Parents sometimes go to great lengths to keep the Santa Clause tradition alive for their children.   The carefully planned actions to hide Christmas presents and then to magically place them under the Christmas tree to be found on Christmas morning is one of the most wonderful ways to create unforgettable  memories for children at Christmas.

I’m sure there are plenty more ways to make the Holidays memorable for our children.  The most important thing is to avoid as much stress as possible, relax, and enjoy your family!

What are your favorite family traditions?