Frustration Free Packaging!

(Photo stolen from Amazon's website)

3 years ago, I posted a rant about my frustration with toy packaging. I'm happy to report that Amazon is trying to help us and the environment with their new "frustration free packaging". They are working with certain toy manufacturers to have the toys packaged as simply as possible inside a plain cardboard box that is sturdy enough for the toy to be shipped in. If you want Amazon to gift wrap it, they will. The receiver will only have to tear a tape seal, open the plain box, and maybe open a couple of baggies of small parts inside and be ready to play with the toy. No more plastic that you can't cut through or endless twist ties. You get to the goods much faster and, best of all, the minimal and mostly cardboard packaging is much more environmentally friendly.

Now, the CO2 emissions from shipping the toy across the country, the resources used to manufacture the toy in the first place, and the materials some of the toys are made of that ultimately need to be disposed of when the toy's life cycle is over are still not environmentally friendly. But it's a small step in the right direction. And because Amazon is leading the way, with their gigantic volume they have some weight to throw around in terms of pressuring toy manufacturers to get on board with this. My overly ambitious hope is that we'll see these plain boxes show up next at our local toy retailers...

So, if you must buy new toys for the holidays this year, please consider looking on Amazon for the ones with frustration free packaging. And if you want to do better than that, buy, swap, or hand-me down used toys which have no packaging at all, don't need to be shipped across the country, probably have a lot of life left in them, and the kids will enjoy them just as much!

St. Patrick's Day...More Than Meets The Eye

Turtle this morning: "Mom, all of us have to wear green today or else the decepticons will pinch us!"

Hmmm...whole new mental picture of St. Patty's Day:

Ouch! Really don't want to be pinched by them!

The Fruits of My Labor

As the holidays approach, I often start thinking about craft projects to undertake.  I love being crafty, but sometimes this is my only craft "season". So as my family knows, from often being the recipients of my efforts, there tends to be one creative crafty project I actually complete per year.  This year's inspiration:  

The Pottery Barn fabric fruit set my son has.  And you thought organic produce was expensive!  This small pile of inedible produce was almost $40 after tax and shipping.  But it's been used and appreciated way more than anything else I could have possibly gotten with that $40 gift certificate to Pottery Barn.  I decided to make fabric fruit of my own for Turtle's cousin, who will be receiving a play kitchen for Christmas.  (It's so great that they are so young I can post what they are getting for Christmas on the internet and they'll still have no idea!)

A trip to Jo-Ann's scored me two $4.99 stacks of fabric squares in produce colors and a bag of stuffing.  I started drawing patterns for fruit sections on paper based on examining the fruit we already had.  I winged it, looking at the purchased fruit for help and realizing that the degree of curvature, length, width, and number of sections are what makes the difference between a fat tomato, small orange, and a slim banana.  

A little while later, I had an orange, banana, and tomato!  A bit lumpy, yes. Some accidental square-ish corners.  But I had the hang of it.  And, hey, I haven't used a sewing machine in about 5 years.  To make the fruit better than this, you have to sew very smooth curves with no angles in the seams from lifting the foot up and turning the fabric like I did.  And if I did it again, I would stuff them more so they would fill out and be firmer.  If I have time later, I plan to add leaves and stems and such, too.  But I was excited to move on and tackle strawberries.  

I found this great red fabric with black dots on it that reminded me of strawberries, some green for the leaves, the green ribbon the fabric squares came tied in for stems, and a little leftover quilting batting (from the last sewing project 5 years ago). I drew the pattern by thinking about a strawberry and decided it would need 3 panels.  Pottery Barn does not have strawberries, so I am very proud of myself that I did this one with no model.  

Here's the sewn and stuffed strawberries, awaiting finishing touches.  To make the leaves, I cut star shapes out of batting, then traced it onto the green fabric with one of those white sewing pencils.  Then I sandwiched the batting between two layers of green fabric, stitched along my tracing and cut just outside the seams.  It would be way easier to just use felt, but I was determined to not go back to the store.  So, this worked to make leaves that keep their own shape.  

Next was hand stitching green ribbon to the center of each star and then stitching the star to the top of the strawberry, closing the strawberry as I went.   

Here is the first finished strawberry!  It was labor intensive, but totally worth it.  I had so much fun and was so happy with the result that I made 5 more, 3 for each boy.  It took most of my day today to sit around doing 6 strawberries, but it was really relaxing for me as I almost never get to just focus on working with my hands. And, I could talk to my family while I did it, so it was better than doing almost any other type of work that I usually find myself doing that requires brain power and my full attention.

Aren't they cute!  Turtle and his cousin will each receive a delicious basket of strawberries for Christmas.  His cousin will also receive all the other fruit I make over the next few days.  It's a lot of fun to make the kids their toys instead of just buying them and to know how much fun they'll have playing with them.  This was also a great craft for a busy person like me who doesn't often get to take the time because the items are small. You get to design, plan, and sew, but you can finish one piece of fruit in less than 30 minutes if you know what you are doing. So there is a great feeling of satisfaction and no danger that you will leave the project 80% done for years like there would be if I tackled trying to sew myself a whole outfit or something.  

I also picked up some colorful doggie themed fabric squares and was thinking the next small items I could easily make would be bean bags for the kids.  Rectangles stuffed with rice or beans- how easy is that?!  And I was even thinking of trying to create a dog chew toy out of some old jeans denim for my brother's new puppy.  But I have to figure out how to sew the seams super strong so it won't fall apart right away.  I have some old jingle bells that maybe could go inside...  

Be Mine!

My friend Casey wrote an anti-Valentines post on her blog Redneck Mother and I posted the following comment:

I didn't plan anything special at all. Then I pick up my son from daycare

to find that he has valentine cards and bags of treats in his cubby

purportedly from his classmates and that one mom brought cupcakes for

everyone. These children are less than 2 years old. They don't need the

sugar high or the straight to landfill plastic goodies and they don't

understand what the cards are for.

But what really bothered me was my instant reaction of mommy guilt that I

hadn't also brought valentines for his classmates to reciprocate, that I

didn't know that was the social convention even this young, that I am

probably perceived as the mom who never does anything special for the other

kids but just receives the treats that all the other moms prepare. I can't

believe I'm dealing with this crap already!!!

How do you buck convention without harming your child socially? It doesn't

matter now- but it will when he's in 3rd grade.

She was kind enough to bring my comment to the forefront to foster discussion.  This is something that I can see myself really struggling with over the years, so I'm all ears.  Casey is a free-thinking eco-friendly Texan (yes, they exist).  Her 9 and 4 year old boys and her garden thrive on free-range learning (homeschooling) and organic compost, respectively.  If anyone can help me with this, she and her network can.  I'll be checking in on Casey's blog for responses.  

BTW, the custom goth candy heart is courtesy of cryptogram.com.

Have fun!

New Year's Predictions

We enjoyed staying up past toddler bed time on New Year's Eve with my sister and a new group of friends and got to be a part of a fun tradition they started last year- New Year's Predictions.  On New Year's Eve last year they all wrote down predictions for the coming year regarding the lives of everyone at the gathering, kept them secret from each other, sealed them in a Sees candy box, and hid them away.  This year we broke out the box and opened it to reveal last year's predictions.  We laughed, we cried.  There were hilarious ones, obvious ones, many many that did not come true, and some of those were a shame, and a few surprises for the ones that did come true.  Then everyone sat and wrote down new predictions for 2008 and sealed them away again.  It was a fun thing to do and it led to some great conversation about how everyone's lives change so much in a year, often mostly unexpectedly.  Probably the biggest thing I took away from the experience was that reminder that what you think on January 1 about yourself and your life and relationships and professional role and what you want or expect to experience in the coming year can change radically and unpredictably by Dec 31.  So, it's great to make plans, goals, and resolutions, but you really never know where life is taking you...  

Do you have any cool New Year's traditions?  Are you making resolutions?  

It gets worse...

Update on the holiday cards:  One recipient got the unstamped card along with a special IOU envelope so that they can send back the cost of postage to the post office.  I didn't even know the post office did this!  Now I feel like someone making collect calls to my family and friends by sending these cards out.  Another person got the envelope, opened it, and found no card inside.  Really nice to know I managed to screw up that part, too.  Perhaps a New Year's resolution regarding postage?  

Twist Ties from Hell

If you've bought a toddler toy lately, then you understand the title of this post.  One of the parenting magazines timed how long it took to extract bulldozers and dolls from their packaging and it was over 15 minutes in many cases.   That's where I read the best recommendation- to remove the toy completely from the packaging, install any required batteries, test it, and wrap it so that it is ready to play with instantly.  We did that for all of our gifts to toddler this year and it was great!  You can always save the original box, too, just in case, but why make the poor kid suffer waiting while you mangle the cardboard, slice your fingers open on that tough plastic, and send pieces of cut twist tie flinging all over the room, or worse, painstakingly try to unwind them.

 

It's too bad that toy companies feel compelled to have the toys "on display" or able to be touched & played with within their boxes, because I think that is what necessitates all the twist ties and tape and molded plastic to hold each accessory in the box and make it harder to steal.  If the toy and all of its parts were just inside of a sealed box, maybe with a window, less packaging would be necessary.  But, obviously over the years it has been found that consumers are more attracted to the exposed looking toy and so all the manufacturer's have gone in that direction.  Apparently, there has been a groundswell of consumer complaints, so the Washington Post reports the good news that we may see changes soon.  

Of course, besides the waiting, frustration, and injury that toy packaging causes, there's the environmental impact of overly packaged toys.  Answers to that include getting used toys, seeking out simply packaged toys, and at the very least, recycling.  But, if you don't feel you have a choice for certain products, check out these tools that have now been created to aid you in extracting your consumer good.  

Anyone have tips on companies with minimal or environmentally friendly toy packaging?  And while we're at it, eco friendly toys?  

Why Do I Bother?

(I promise most posts will NOT be this long. But I have to vent on this one!)

So, are we sending holiday cards this year?    I don't know. Should we?   Did we last year?   Yeah, with his Baby's First Christmas picture, remember?   I guess we should.  OK, I'll try to if I have time. 

Go online. Too late to order them and get them in time to send them out in time to arrive by Christmas. Kinko's has those machines, though, right? Scroll through iPhoto. Crap. No decent shots of the 3 of us in the last few months except for in our Halloween costumes. I'll have to take a photo of him.

Home from work because he's sick. Need that photo. Hey- let's bundle up and go to the park and wear a cute wintery hat and try for that photo! OK, baby, go ahead and play. Just keep climbing and sliding, Act natural. Click. Click. Hey- over here! Click. Look at Mommy. Click. Hmmm....blurry, pale, too dark, face blocked. Ugh. Click. Click. Fall, cry, coughing fit, frozen little fingers, losing light, energy and patience, let's go home. One of those will have to do.

Lunch, nap, upload pics, choose a semi-decent one, transfer to flash drive. Wake up, pack a cup of milk, snack, book, flash drive. New diaper, shoes, jackets, hats, grab purse. Off to Kinko's we go.

Yes! No waiting for the photocard machine. We'll be in and out in a jiffy. Sit on the floor. Here's your milk, cookies, book. Touch screen. Begin. USB drive in. Error: Unreadable. Damn! In line at the main counter for help. Can you find a picture of a dog? a baby? a snowman? a star? Look! A computer! Look! A flower! Associate finally helps us by transferring pics to the store's USB drive for me to borrow. Back to photomachine where we wait behind woman using it to make copies of her son's professional photos because it's cheaper than ordering them from the photographer's studio. She tells us this sotto voice and engages boy in appreciating her hand-made Santa jewelry, reminiscing about the days she taught pre-school, and general chatting about the holiday season. This successfully occupies him until she's done. Bye Bye! Our turn, finally. USB drive reads, select photo, select background, Hey! No, Sweetie, you can't pull that. Please stay by Mommy. Here- what's in my purse? Have my work keys. Try to open this locked cabinet. Select font, select color, type in message. Oh- do you want to help me? Heft. Press here. Mommy, no help! No! Painfully slowly point at each letter and allow him to press it himself until message is done, then argue & listen to him whine when it isn't his turn anymore and I need to finish. Review order. Print. Whirr hiss grind beep beep beep beep. Warning: Printer ribbon error code 2378. OMG. Let's go! Back in line at main counter for help. Try to maintain place in line, supervise playing "mark, set, go" back and forth across the store, and watch photocard machine like a hawk keeping other customers from touching it and canceling my order. More milk! More snack! Sorry, baby, we're all out. Have to wait until we get home. Let's dance! Let's play "If you're happy and you know it..." Here-take these boxes off the shelf and stack them. Clerk finally opens machine, begins installing new printer ribbon. Stacking, unstacking, pulling books off shelf- No! Let's put these back. OK, let's look for wheels. Oooh! Look- a big wheel! Go run and touch it. OK, now come back. Whoosh, first photocard is printed and spit out of machine. The corner is cut off. Whoosh. Second one comes out. We're on our way. 2 of 40. 3 of 40. 4 of 40. Home! Home! More milk! Ugh. Let's take a walk! Can you stomp? Can you walk backwards? 8 of 40. Let's count. What's under here? 13 of 40. Here's Mommy's phone. Hello? Hello? 22 of 40. I know! We need envelopes for these photocards. Walk to find envelopes. Sold out of the right size. Can you find a blue one? Yes! Yay! Good Job! What about purple? Yes! 31 of 40. Pick out off-white wrong sized envelopes, wait in line to purchase. I know, Sweetie. We're almost done. I promise. Get off the floor. Get up. Hey, you need to get up. Don't roll on the floor. We're going home soon. Ouch. 37 of 40. Let's go get our pictures! Ooooh- look at the picture! No, don't touch it. Where's your book? Put that box back! No, I can't carry you.

Almost an hour later, we have successfully made 39 photocards that aren't cut in the corner and have 50 non-matching oversized envelopes, have forgotten a sippy cup labeled with his name on the store's floor, have left behind a wake of cookie crumbs, rearranged products, and annoyed customers and clerks. He's hungry and thirsty and bored and cranky. I've got a splitting headache and am exhausted.

After an hour at home spent decompressing and recovering, we're okay. I'm glad I made the cards, regardless.

The next day we print out address labels and sit as a family assembling the cards. Mommy puts the photocard in the envelope, sticks labels on, kiddo peels and sticks the stickers on in random locations on the back of the envelope, occasionally actually "sealing" it, Daddy checks off the recipients from our list, and we put the finished card in a stack.

When we're done, we take a family walk on a crisp, sunny winter day to the neighborhood mailbox. We lift him up and let him put the envelopes in the box himself. Yay! A feeling of accomplishment.

5 steps away from the mailbox, I replay the preparations in my mind and realize that I didn't stamp any of the envelopes. Cry or laugh? Sometimes it's a tough call.

In this case, only thing to do is laugh at the complete idiocy and irony of it all. Clearly this is the final sign in a series of signs that I was not meant to send holiday cards this year.

We concoct a plan as a last ditch desperate attempt to salvage the situation. Go home to create two big notes to the mail carrier explaining what happened and begging for the envelopes to be returned to my house for stamping before being taken to the distribution center. I walk back to the mailbox alone and feel defeated. I tape one to the front where he will open the box and put one inside so it will land on top of the mail. I wonder if what I'm doing is a federal offense. Walk home and officially let it go.

Update:
One envelope returned 2 days later mangled by postal machine with no other markings.
One another 2 days after that with "insufficient postage" stamped on it.
Another one the next day, folded and dirty with a different kind of "no postage" stamp in a different ink.
Two friends called and said "I loved your card!". Those must have slipped through somehow.

It was suggested to us that maybe the post office will just send most of them through in the spirit of the holidays. I let that idea give me comfort at first, but...one has now come back to me with a rubber stamp from its destination city in the Midwest, which means the USPS used fuel to transport it all the way there, notice it had no postage, and then transport it all the way back so that they could get 43 cents from me.  I guess the cost-benefit ratio must still be in their favor, but that's just unbelievable to me!  

Happy Holidays!