Dabbawalla Bags & Packs
I first discovered these awesome Dabbawalla bags while my kids and I were visiting a friend over the summer. My son got the opportunity to go to his buddy’s camp for a couple days, but he needed a lunchbox, so we borrowed his friend’s Dabbawalla and I was instantly hooked. See, I have this issue with lunchboxes. I hate almost all of them. I buy them very frequently though, in hopes that the next will be “the one”. Alas, junk sticks in the corners even after rinsing, the metal ones rust, the cute soft lunchboxes get thrashed, and the worst are those that test positive for lead(!!). I’ve tried them all. The reason I so loved this Dabbawalla one was because it’s totally machine-washable, it has no corners for crumbs, it’s light enough for kids to tote around, and the design is simple and clean. And they’re made from an eco-friendly neoprene-like fabric that carries a certification which tests for over a hundred harmful substances. Perfect!
(Available in the UK from Peanut & Pip.)
-Kaela
Acme Party Box Company
There are some really great blogs around of very talented designers who do nothing better than throw the most beautiful, picture-perfect parties. I love looking at these blogs and imagining that I too one day will be so organized that I can pull together such a feat — that I will be on time with printed invites (for once!), that the birthday cake will be made the day before (and perfect), that the table will be perfectly decorated, and that the favour bags are home sewn and filled with cute, usable objects that are earth friendly on top of it. And that I wear a pretty dress, my hair looks nice and I have some make-up on for crying out loud!
If you’re like me, and love a pretty party but are somehow too busy, un-organized, or maybe not creative enough to organize your own, I suggest you tun to Acme Party Box NOW. How cute, HOW CUTE, are these party supplies? I can’t get over it — if only I knew about them before!! Think about it — the only thing you need to do is order a box! Everything you need for a perfect party is included — the favours, the crowns, the table setting, decorations, invitations… And trust me, it’s all SO cute and thoughtfully put together, you can’t possibly not be impressed! Beautiful fabrics, Holtztiger animals for centre pieces, little jars with straws for glasses, soy wax candles for the cake, and so forth… And, unlike the many plastic party goods that end up in the trash, the Acme products can be re-used over and over again (or composted).
I think the woodland theme is my favourite…
xxx Esther
Klean Kanteen at VUPbaby
At the beginning of the school term, my son’s teacher asked that all kids bring in a water bottle to keep in the classroom. I sent my husband to the sports store next to his office to pick up a non-plastic water bottle… and he came back with a large, clunky thing with a screw-on lid that took about ten minutes to open. I’m not sure this is what the teacher had in mind for quick water breaks. So I turned to VUPbaby who specialize in BPA-free, non-toxic drinking products. I ended up with a Klean Kanteen bottle which is perfect. It’s a lightweight, stainless steel bottle with an easy-to-use sport cap, and it comes in cool colours that kids love (we got the orange!). Klean Kanteen also makes bottles for grown-ups and sippy cups for babies.
-Courtney
Retro-inspired Personalized Lunchboxes
These gorgeous personalised lunchboxes by Feterie are high on my birthday list for my children this year. With a bit of a retro-cool vibe, they are of lightweight tin construction and as functional as they are stylish. I think they’d be great for toting around paper and coloured pencils too, or whatever knick-knacks it is kids love to drag around (footy cards in my son’s case). I can also imagine them being great for keeping all my daughter’s hair paraphernaila together — those elastics, clips and ribbons crop up all over the house, yet when we need to tie her hair each morning for school, there’s never one to be found! Feterie ship world-wide.
- Sara
WasteNot Sandwich Saks
With school now back in full swing (finally!), I must say I am quite happy to be back in the routine… and yet, on the flip side, I am not at all psyched about the part about making and packing the daily lunch. That being said, I recently stumbled upon this Etsy site the other day and thought it was such a great idea, especially for those, like me, who have relied on the plastic “baggie” for my sandwich and snack packing needs as I didn’t really know of an alternative.
The WasteNot Saks are not only stylish and easy to open but are lined with water and stain-resistant nylon. On the website it says “After using, you may simply shake out the crumbs, turn the bag inside-out and wipe the liner down, or if you have a particularly goopy PB&J that day just toss it in the washing machine and line dry.” The other plus — they come in a variety of very cute and kid-friendly fabrics making lunch-time at least pleasurable for someone!
-Dina
We All Screamed for Ice Cream
Recently, we had friends come stay with us for the weekend and they always show up bearing gifts and fun things to keep us occupied. That being said…when they unloaded this pink ice cream maker from the trunk of their car a virtual riot ensued. My girls screamed at the sight of it and wanted to unpack it, make it and eat it STAT. I screamed (to myself) about where I was going to store this thing that I needed like a hole in the head. And then, our friend screamed as they almost dropped it while carrying it into the house.
Summer though is really all about the joy of ice cream so after getting it set up inside I decided that it wasn’t such a bad idea to just make it at home. Making ice cream is actually quite easy and the great part about making it in-house is that you can control what is in it (all natural ingredients, organic milk, fresh fruit, etc;) In 15-20 minutes you can whip up soft-serve ice cream, sherbet or frozen yogurt and I love the cute little dispensers on the side for sprinkles and nuts. So while we all screamed initially for different reasons, this is one of our most prized summer indulgences!!!
Kitasticks Chopsticks
Esther did a brilliant post a while ago on how to make your own child-friendly chopsticks. I admit to being a bit lazier and got my girls some Kitasticks — chopsticks that can be linked to together and are super easy to use. These great little sticks were designed by a Finnish design collective, (it is always a success story when Northern European design meets Asian design) and I picked them up at Merci. The kids love them — the prospect of using chopsticks rather than their usual forks and knives got them so excited that they insisted on eating a sandwich with their new chopsticks. Not exactly what I had in mind, but oh well…
- Emilie
Tea Time for Tots
For the past few years my family has had the good fortune of spending a month living in London. We are always quite sad to leave, but memories of London remain with us day to day via our much improved vocabulary, our deep appreciation for the BBC & Peppa Pig, and our proclivity for afternoon tea. You don’t often see children drinking tea in the states, however some of my friends love to serve their children chilled chamomile or herbal teas. At first I thought it was a bit strange but now I think it’s a fantastic alternative for kids and at least one of my girls is catching on. I found these German designed tea-bag cup loungers from Donkey Creative Labs and I think they are absolutely hilarious. They come in all sorts of themes — mostly for adults — but I thought they were so cute I just had to share.
-Dina
Beaba at VUP Baby
I’ve raved before about the Beaba Baby Cook — it is one of the few must-have baby gadgets I always recommend to new mums. And the baby spoons from Beaba are also my all-time favourite spoons — they’re made from BPA-free silicone and have nice, long handles for easy feeding. I have one in every colour!
Actually, when it comes to the Beaba brand, you really can’t go wrong — all their products are great. And they’re now conveniently available from VUPbaby, the ultimate source for non-toxic baby products.
-Courtney
Berry season
I remember as a kid I came home during lunch break and my mum sent me to the neighbours (who had a strawberry farm) with a very little amount of money and I came back with a wooden crate filled to the top with strawberries — the reddest, sweetest, biggest and tastiest variety you can imagine. Before I came home I had eaten about a third, for lunch we had another third (on bread, with a little sugar), and the rest was eaten with yogurt for desert. Bliss.
Last week, in my father-in-law’s Mr. McGregor-like garden I picked a generous amount of raspberries, and quickly made raspberry jam (my favourite ever jam)! And yesterday I picked the few redberries from our neighbour’s shrub that came peeping through the hedge, and made blue redberry muffins of them. I just love berry season! Can’t wait for the blackberries to be ripe (blackberry jam is my second favourite jam)…
Have you been eating berries? Any good recipes to share??
xxx Esther
P.S. That cute cutting board is from Tas-Ka
Let’s have a picnic!
How cool are these picnic suitcases? My kids were each given one so they could bring their own picnic to the park. They are filled with a melamine plate, a bowl, a cup and cutlery, and there’s enough space left over for food and drinks. We love them — they’re so practical and stylish! They’re made by the original French brand Minimo, and available through supercool website Peanut and Pip, where I noticed a lot of the Minimo goodies are for sale!(!!)
xxx Esther
A Non-Drippy Sippy
We built the pyramids. We sent a man to the moon. We even figured out how to get internet access on an airplane. And yet — someone STILL has not figured out how to design decent sippy cup for kids! While I am thankful every day that my girls drink out of a cup, the wounds are still fresh from those days of searching for the pieces to put one back together after running it through the wash — not to mention the never ending stench of rotting milk trapped in the straws, and the clutter in the cabinet of mismatched tops and bottoms. I have tried MANY over the years and have never really been that happy with any of them. For a long time the front-runner was the sleek looking Sigg which was durable and only TWO pieces — but I found them to be too small and tough to open. And now, although we are not quite there, the recently discovered CamelBak is the best one to date. It is very kid-friendly, BPA free, does not leak, and is easy to clean (although three pieces.) It holds up great after a lot of abuse and it is a nice size. They also have great ones for adults and are available all over the web and at Whole Foods.
-Dina
Smiling Planet — earth friendly dishes for kids
I’ve admired the lovely plates from Smiling Planet for months now, spotting them in a few of my favourite online shops… and I finally just got some for my kids and am so happy with them — they’re not only beautiful (I love the ‘white peace’ design, pictured), but they’re quite clever because they have an outer rim around the plate which keeps the food in place (a feature that is quite handy when you have a one-year-old who is just learning to feed herself!).
All the dishes are made from 100% recycled, high grade polypropylene plastic and contain no BPA, no lead, no toxic inks, etc. Unlike most plastic dishes, these are completely safe for your kids to use, and are also virtually unbreakable — even the designs are printed sub-surface so children can’t scratch them.
You can order them online from their website, or from Shak-Shuka if you’re here in Europe.
-Courtney
Egg Heads
Last Easter we decided to make some Egg Heads with the mustard & cress seeds we got in our lunchbox from Kew Gardens. Now I’m not in any way saying this was an innovative idea — most of you probably grew some of these little men/women yourself as children. But for some reason my childhood missed this particular activity… something I now plan to take up with my Mum and Dad as it is a reaallllllly cool thing to do!
I am not the slightest bit green-fingered and manage to kill all plants/greenery in my care (even cacti have a hard time living in our house and my husband doesn’t understand why I still buy herbs in pots as they always die within days), but mustard and cress are stubborn little plants and grow despite a lack of due care and attention. And they grow very quickly so you see results on a daily basis — appealing to my impatient nature.
So if you never made egg-creatures as a child then I urge you to take this eggcellent (terrible – I know!) holiday as an opportunity to redeem your deprived childhood just as I did. Your kids will love it too! Here’s how to make them: (more…)
Meri Meri Cupcake Kits
How cute are these cupcake kits!!!! What a simple solution to make you look like a baking rock star! Meri Meri has something for just about every occasion and the quality is just beautiful. Now that the coldest months are rolling into the city I like doing cooking projects in the afternoon to deal with those often painfully long hours between the “end-of-school” and the “start-of-dinner”. There are tons of other really adorable and creative things on the website as well — invitations, thank you cards and notepads. And speaking of cupcakes… I want one.
-Dina
A Hearty Breakfast for Valentine’s Day!
With Valentine’s Day approaching soon, I couldn’t resist purchasing this amazingly cool heart shaped frying pan. I’m not yet sure whether I’ll serve the pancakes or the eggs, or maybe both… But I’m positive my family will love them (and me)!
I got mine from this shop here in the Netherlands, but it’s — among other places — also available from this UK website.
xxx Esther
Gift ideas for the Mini Master Chef
My family is in the grip of ‘Masterchef’ fever! My kids are so enthused by this reality television program that I practically have my youngest deriding me for not making the terrine for his school lunch. And while the downside for me is that the bar has been raised (my rather unspectacular cooking now looks even more… unspectacular), the show has reinforced the value of good eating, team-building and the importance of accepting constructive criticism. My daughter particularly has been caught by the cooking bug. This morning she made us a lovely, albeit slightly burnt dish of scrambled eggs, grilled tomato, and baby spinach — we devoured it… every char-grilled morsel!
A friend recently introduced me to a great children’s cooking website called Wholesome Productions which creates a fabulous range of children’s cooking kits. They also sell party cooking kits for those brave enough to host their own kid’s cooking party. (more…)
Cookie Cutters
Cookie baking is big in our house, especially when the weather is grim like today, and as you can see from the picture we’ve started to collect quite a variety of cutters. My son loves picking out which ones to use (currently the bear and the lion are particular favourites). I pick cutters up from all sorts of places but I do find Cakes Cookies and Crafts Shop a corker — especially as they usually offer 4 for the price of 3. Cox & Cox also do some good ones (but more on them later as they definitely deserve their own post).
Today however we used our new kid-friendly cutters
Personalised plates
Aren’t these personalised plates just fabulous? My kids get a real thrill from seeing their name on things so I think they will be super excited when they receive theirs. The perfect Christmas or birthday gift for someone special — personal, functional and a lovely keepsake for when they grow out of them. What’s more, they are BPA-free, made of a lightweight yet durable melamine and are dishwasher safe. So, they tick all the boxes in my opinion! I bet they could even entice the fussiest of eaters.
You can order them from BébéOnline or, if you are local to Melbourne, from ‘Bebe Boutique’ in South Yarra.
- Sara
Non-toxic baby products from VUPbaby
Over the past five years since the time my first baby was born so much has been learned about the dangers of toxic plastics. It is now an undeniable fact that BPA, PVC and other like chemicals are dangerous for our babies. In fact, just this past Monday, the BBC reported another study which highlights the dangers of plastic chemicals. Scary!
Thankfully, the newly launched UK website, VUPbaby has come to the rescue of the growing population of concerned parents. VUPbaby is entirely dedicated to providing parents with non toxic baby products from around the world. Whether it’s bottles, soothers, toys, or utensils, everything is non toxic and carefully vetted, many of which are exclusive here in the UK.
Now, instead of trekking half way across London to find the BornFree baby bottles, I can easily order them. And they even sell the cool Foogoo Thermos that Dina raved about a while ago.
To receive 10% off your first order at VUPbaby, just enter promo code CCINO at check-out!
-Courtney
