One of the bonuses of my son attending preschool is that he has a new appreciation for art. One major downside to this newfound love of drawing, painting, doodling and crafting is that I now have art littering decorating the house. What to do with all of the art projects we’re debating throwing away collecting is clearly beyond me.
Case(s) in point:
Go fish. Lots of crumpled paper, a little glue, and loads of ”don’t throw that paper on the floor, please” can get you this masterpiece. It sure adds a lot of ambience to our ottoman, don’t you think?
At one point I tried to be organized and put all reject memorable art projects into a folder. Result? New meaning to junk drawer.
In theory, a bulletin board is a great place to showcase a child’s scribbles artwork.
Somehow the art projects migrated to my nightstand by mandate that I have artwork by my bed.
And when you just don’t know what to do with that paper bag costume your kid insists on bringing home, it ends up in a most unusual place. The floor, of course.
If you have any bright ideas of what I can do with at least the mildly appealing artwork, I’m all ears.
I can’t believe I did it, but the lack of high fructose corn syrup must have gone straight to my non-sugary brain: I bought pencils, puzzles and card games to give out to kids for Halloween this year.
Oh, yes, I did.
My friend Caitlin was on the fence about the candy-overload dilemma. Me? I took one look at the Halloween candy aisles (yes, plural) at Target last week, and nearly vomited up my vegan animal cracker. Too many treats, too many chemicals and artificial flavors. Too much junk.
So I went the way I never thought I would and opted out of candy-buying for this Halloween. What the heck, I figured. The kids will survive. They’ll get plenty of candy elsewhere, right? They may scoff at my offerings, but I’ll feel better knowing I’m not contributing to their dental decline.
And then I presented my case to my better half. Who simply said. No you didn’t. But, oh yes, I did.
Upon further thought about it, however, I regretted my decision. Isn’t this what Halloween is about? It’s not about pushing my anti-HFCS stance on poor innocent kids knocking on my door. It’s about the sugar high, the rush of counting out our candy stockpiles, trading with friends. Where would my lame-o Disney puzzles end up in the piles of Skittles? Likely on the floor or in the trash. And pencils? They’re worse than the pennies my grandmother used to give out of her plastic pumpkin.
So I caved and went for the full monty.
Because nothing says Happy Halloween like good ol’ fashioned Hershey bars, right?
Plus, the dentist told us chocolate was better than gummies.
I’m not a hysteric about making my house an organic haven, or making sure my kid can speak Tibetan by age 4, or worrying about the effects of Dora the Explorer’s shrill voice on my son’s eardrums.
But lately, I have taken to trying to eradicate certain ingredients from our food, like high fructose corn syryp, and after talking to my new BFF, Dr. Harvey Karp, making an effort to rid our lives as best as possible of endocrine disrupting chemicals.
What are EDCs, you ask? Good question. I wrote all about it today on Babble in an interview with the doc.
And he put the fear of freaking g-d in me about all the toxins in all the products we use on our bodies and in our house. Like phthalates in beauty products, insulating agents, chemicals in carpets and flooring. It’s not just the chemicals alone that are scary. It’s the research being done about how these chemicals compound in our bodies and may cause autism in our children. (The Ecology Center published a report yesterday showing test results on various household items in a similar vein. You can find their database of tested products on their site, healthystuff.org).
We all know BPA is the devil, but that’s just the one that gets all the buzz.
Luckily, though, there are things we can do. We can use “green cleaners.” (For a good list go to: Healthy Child Healthy World.) We can use natural beauty products on ourselves and kids (I listed a smattering of recommended products on my article.) We can buy organic foods.
We can vigilant without draping ourselves in hemp all day and living in a tent. And best, we can talk about it, create more awareness and try to get companies to get the toxins out of their products. (And try to get Sigg to give us a freaking explanation for what’s going on with their BPA-laced bottles!)
If you guys have any tips about this topic, I’d love to hear it as well.
I have a problem with fall holiday promotion starting in August, but like her, I conform as well. I start looking for my son’s Halloween costumes just as soon as I feel a cool August night hit. Or when those damn catalogs start to arrive and I worry that I’ll be left roaming the aisles of Party City on Oct 29 with everyone and their mother, father, grand-uncle and step-sister sifting through disheveled piles of green wigs.
Luckily, though, when you start shopping for Halloween in August, you have your choices of costumes. They may be the experts in bad advertising (as Marketing Mommy says, badvertising), but I think I’ve got the market cornered on the worst kiddie Halloween costumes on record. If you’ve seen worse, please let me know.
The Man Eating Shark: “Let’s go to the ocean for winter vacation” has new meaning after you’ve scared the bejesus out of your kid with this costume. (photo courtesy of Sensational Beginnings)
Native American Boy: Because nothing says PC Halloween 2009 like dressing your kid up like an ‘Injun. (photo courtesy of Chasing Fireflies.)
Marie Antoinette: If she can hold her poor little head up from this wig, she can eat her cake. (photo courtesy of Chasing Fireflies.)
Dementor: I don’t even know what this is and I’m not sure I want to. (photo courtesy of Chasing Fireflies)
Baby Yoda: because every kid should wear a costume…
… that matches his dog’s. (photo courtesy of Buy Costumes)
And, my personal favorite:
Baby Elvis: ‘Aint nuthin’ like a Hound Baby. (photo courtesy of Amazon)
I rarely use my blog to wax poetic about various causes as you all probably know. I’m just not that deep. But there are a few causes that I will advocate for:
And…
- High Fructose Corn Syrup in our products (No blog post, but it doesn’t mean I don’t care.)
Since Liz first posted about HFCS in our food, the dangers of HFCS and the brands that were doing things to eradicate it from their products, I’ve been vigilant about checking labels and weaning out HFCS from our home. (The candy Dots aside, because, hey, I’m pregnant and not perfect.)
I thought I had been doing a good job until recently, when I went to eat my high fiber breakfast of champions (remember the anemia-induced digestive problems?) – presented by Kelloggs Raisin Bran and Frosted Mini Wheats – only to find that they both have HFCS in them. So does Post Raisin Bran. (Yes, I like sugar cereal).
I was so pissed. As Liz points out in her post two days ago, marketers and big name brands like Kraft and Pepsi have responded to consumer demand and have taken the HFCS out of their big name products. We’re making progress.
But, as with all major movements, we still have a ways to go to get more big brand names on the anti-HFCS bandwagon. And g-ddammit, I need my fiber, so please, Kelloggs and Post, please step on it?!
P.S. next on my activist watch, endocrine disrupting chemicals… watch for my interview with Dr. Karp in next month’s Babble. You won’t want to get your nails done ever again.
Every year I kvetch about the preparations for my son’s birthday and how I’m not going to go crazy with it all and EVERY YEAR I IGNORE MY OWN ADVICE. (Warning: overuse of the CAPS LOCK button ahead.)
It’s like I get amnesia every March when I start thinking about the birthday planning. Or maybe it’s that the relatives start asking me in November what I’m doing for the upcoming festivities in APRIL and I can’t help but get into hysterics. Remember? I have lots of relatives, none of which who live here.
This year, though, because of my frugalness, and because he’s only going to be THREE, I vowed to tone it down a bit.
Meaning of course, instead of ordering invites from my favorite website, I handwrote all THIRTY invites. (It’s called the “No Child Left Out of Birthday Parties Act” that our preschool class rigidly enforced. I was all for it until my hand ached so bad I had to ice it the next day. And realized it basically threw my budget out the window)
Thank you to @Uniball_USA for the awesome pen used to handwrite all invitations.
I did, however, come up with a brilliant idea for the aforementioned preschool class wherein all the moms pitched in $10 to avoid spending a ridiculous amount of money to buy 16 separate birthday presents (he has 14 friends outside of his class, what can I say?). This not only saved a huge headache from gift shopping, but it also allowed me to avoid getting my son a birthday present.
There, I said it. Everyone else’s kid got a box of Magnatiles, and we, cheap frugal parents that we are, are going to give him his old Hanukah presents that I forgot to get out of the basement closet in December. And maybe a $20 Little Tikes swing he HAD TO HAVE out of the new catalog.
He’ll never know what he missed out on until he can read this post.
I also decided to schedule his birthday party from the hours of 4-6 pm. This way, I figure, I can really cut down on the amount of food (food= MONEY) the adults will eat at the party. Because we all know how much pizza I we all can scarf down during those “lunch time” parties. (At 11 o’clock I can eat at least 4 pieces, hello!? They’re kiddie size.)
I figure those adults who want to join the kids eating dinner at 5 pm will really stand out. It just screams “I’m on kiddie time” if you can force your body to eat that early. I’m not above it (I usually start getting hungry around 4), but I’m thinking some others won’t admit that.
As far as party favors, go, though, I couldn’t totally skimp. But instead of ordering $100 worth of tchotke from Oriental Trading Company, I found these really cheap cute cups and plates from everyone’s favorite store, Party City. And because I gave them my email address, I got $5 off my total bill. And probably sold my soul to the devil.
I’m guessing for $1.99 a pop these aren’t BPA and lead-free. The kids will live.
This has gotta be the cheapest most hassle-free and fun birthday yet. At least for the neurotic Jewish mother living in a posh neighborhood trying not to look like a cheapskate set.
