The ABCs of a Healthy, Green Baby Shower

In case you missed our July newsletter, here is a great article we found posted by Stephen Franson, written by Christopher Gavigan, on the Healthy Child Healthy World site.

Especially during pregnancy, it’s usually best to keep it simple, healthy, and pure. Here’s our simple approach - with help from the ABC’s - to plan a baby shower that celebrates the life and health of the baby, as well as the Earth she’ll be living on.

Ask everyone to forgo fragrance. Avoid exposure to phthalates by making it clear in your invitations that this event is scent-free.

Buy eco-friendly decorations. Use potted plants, artfully arranged twigs, rocks and shells or even crystal bowls filled with seasonal fruit (a la Martha Stewart) for lovely, natural decorations.

Clean up using eco-friendly supplies. Look for natural products or use kitchen ingredients like baking soda and vinegar.

Dish up food on compostable or reusable dishware. Use your good china to really make the day feel special (and reduce an enormous amount of waste). Or go second best by using eco-friendly disposables. Check out The Biodegradable Store, Earthshell, or Royal Chinet.

E-vite your guests. Using email invitations (like evite.com) is a great way to quickly get the word out and track RSVPs. It’s also better for the environment (no paper, no waste, no fuel emissions from sending invites, etc).

Find the most natural setting. If you can have it outside, great! If not, at least choose a venue that will respect your green ideas.

Get your green game on. Choose waste-free games and provide green prizes like natural personal care products or soy candles.

Have a good time. This goes without saying, but really – after all this planning - just enjoy yourself during the party.

Inform your guests that this is a green shower. Make sure your requests are clear, so none of your guests feel awkward from missing the memo.

Judge not. Make sure that no matter what shade of green a guest is, she feels welcome and appreciated.

Know your guests. Some may take a little more cajoling to make the green jump.

Look for local. Whether it’s food or flowers, try to find all of the products you need from local vendors.

Need help? Ask! Hosting a green baby shower can take a lot of preparation. Have a team to help.

Opt for organic. Look for foods and beverages with the USDA Certified Organic seal.

Plan far in advance. Coordinating any type of party takes time. When you’re trying to make it as healthy and green as possible, you should start even earlier.

Quench your thirst with pure beverages. Keep mom and all her adoring guests healthily hydrated with filtered water (not bottled). Have a pitcher and plenty of glassware available.

Register for green gifts. Make it easy for your guests to find the perfect green gift by having the mom-to-be register at on-line stores such as Cypriana, Maple Grace, Our Green House or Better for Babies.

Strive for zero-waste. Use dishware instead of disposables. Look for products and packaging that are recyclable or compostable.

Try not to get neurotic. Do what you can and let go of what you can’t.

Unwrap. Encourage guests to rethink wrapping. Use a baby blanket, a pretty silk scarf, or a recycled paper gift bag.

Ventilate. Keep fresh air flowing by opening a window (even just a crack, for a few minutes if it’s winter.)

Write eco-friendly thank yous. Use e-cards to send your thank yous. Some services will even allow you to embed a video. (Your guests would love to see your new baby!)

eXamine gifts. I know you’re never supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth, but after your guests leave, decide which gifts are keepers. Just because your Aunt Mary gave you a bottle of expensive baby lotion (with risky chemical ingredients) doesn’t mean you should slather your new baby in it for sentiment’s sake.

Yank some plugs. (Hey, there aren’t many verbs that start with “y”.) Save some energy by unplugging unnecessary electronics and appliances.

Zip your memories. Have everyone email you their images and video and then zip them into a file to send to everyone else. You’ll save the memories of the day and save paper and chemicals by allowing everyone to only print what they love.

Source: Healthy Child Health World, posted by Stephen Franson, written by Christopher Gavigan









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Cypriana’s web store is now open!

Now you can shop at Cypriana 24 hours a day, seven days at week. Cypriana, your one-stop shop for environmentally-healthy, organic home and baby products has sprouted a fresh new web store at www.cyprianahome.com, where we will be able to serve our customers from around the country.

At both our store in downtown Kent and our virtual location, our mission is to offer quality products that are environmentally-friendly and home healthy while supporting fair trade. Our new web store will feature the same great customer service you expect from Cypriana, as well as our growing knowledge about the benefits of natural fiber and eco-friendly products.

At Cypriana, we are committed to providing safe, quality products that are gentle on you, your baby and the Earth. Stop by our cyber-store today to see what’s new at Cypriana!

Cypriana ~ the natural home store

The Making of a Green Mom

by Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff

I’ve always been a pretty sustainably-minded person. My father is a professor at UCLA whose specialty is Native American literature; I grew up going to pow-wows and taking cross-country trips to the Badlands. My nickname in college was, embarrassingly, “Flower.”

But, like most of us, my eco-focus stopped at water conservation and recycling. I bought conventional cleaning products because that’s what I was used to—even though I saw the “natural” cleaners on the same shelf, I wrote their claims off as marketing rather than turning over the bottles and comparing the labels.

I didn’t really make the connection between the environmental impact of how I lived until I met Christopher Gavigan at Healthy Child Healthy World. I was nine months pregnant with my third child, and we met to discuss my how I could become involved with the organization once the baby was born.

We sat in his no-VOC painted office filled with oxygen-emitting plants and as he explained to me what his mission and focus was I basically had a panic attack. We talked about lead and VOCs in paint, furniture and carpets; I was in the process of remodeling my house and had been living and working as the workmen stripped old paint and installed new carpets. He told me about pesticides and how they work their way up the food chain; I vowed to eat less meat and make it organic, and to buy locally produced food as much as possible. I went home and got rid of all my chemical cleaning products after learning how much they contributed to indoor air pollution. When my baby was born, I took Christopher’s advice and used BPA-free bottles after breast-feeding. With the other two babies I had used disposable diapers; with this one I alternated between cloth, flushable inserts and chlorine-free disposables in a pinch.

I started doing my own research. And I quickly realized how much of an impact the things I bought for myself and my family have on the environment—and the marketplace. For example, most clothing is made of cotton, which is one of the most heavily sprayed crops in the world, accounting for 25 percent of all pesticides used in the U.S. according to the Sustainable Cotton Project. It takes an astounding one-third of a pound of pesticide to make one t-shirt and two-thirds to make a pair of jeans. (Dump a pound of flour into a bowl and keep that visual in mind the next time you go shopping.)

Let’s say one manufacturer makes the decision to buy conventional cotton, and a second manufacturer decides to make a similar t-shirt in organic cotton. They make the shirts, and put them side-by-side in a store. Now if everyone in that store has made the decision to not buy conventional cotton t-shirts but buy organic cotton instead, that regular cotton t-shirt will go unsold and the other will sell out. The next time the first manufacturer goes to make his shirts, hopefully he'll choose organic cotton. The organic cotton farmer will have more business. There will be more competition in organic cotton and the price will go down. And so on.

This analogy could be applied to food, makeup, furniture, clothing, cars—I was astounded at how simple and easy it was for me to think outside of the box when it came to shopping. Just putting a fresh perspective on it also helped me look closer at whether I truly needed something, or just wanted it. When I did end up in a shopping situation, I looked at labels and origin and typically ended up putting back on the rack what I might in the past have purchased.

So I stopped buying so much. And when I did, I tried to buy clean and green. Organic cotton denim. Paraben-free makeup. Recycled gold jewelry. Formaldehyde-free nail polish. When other women complimented me on what I was wearing, I told them, and typically they were amazed when they realized the eco-options that were out there. It’s no longer about granny panties and granola. Sustainable style is today’s haute couture.


Cypriana ~ the natural home store

Saving the planet one orange peel at a time

Oranges are one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast. Did you ever wonder though, like I did, what can I do with these orange peels that would be more eco-friendly for the earth instead of just throwing them in the trash? There are a lot of great uses for an orange peel that you may not have thought of.

Did you know you can use orange peels to clean your fingernails? Yeah, just turn over the peel where you'll find the soft white side and just dig your fingernails into it. It's a great way to clean out any dirt and grime and also add a nice citrusy smell.

Have you ever heard of a stock box? Well now you have and it's a great way to make vegetable broth with your orange peels. Just get a plastic bin and add any fruit or vegetable left overs, like your orange peels, to it and put it in the freezer. After your bin is full, add the contents to a soup pot covering it with water and boil it down You now have a great vegetable stock for soup or anything else like pilaf.

I have a coworker who loves to go camping so she would probably find this next orange peel idea very useful. You can use fresh orange peels to help you start a fire. Orange peels are loaded with highly flammable oil that will help you start your camp fire and make your campsite smell nice too!

If you have cats, you can use orange peels to keep them out of areas you don't want them to roam. They're not fans of the citric acid and oils in the peel so they'll shy away from them. Just leave them in areas you don't want your cats to go.

If you love the smell of citrus, you can dry out the peels to make sachets for yourself or as a nice gift. You can even use shreds of dried out orange peels in soap for a gentle abrasive as well as giving your soap a nice citrusy scent.

Overall, don't forget you can just throw your orange peels in a compost box. Definitely a great way to "green" your lifestyle. There are so many great ways to use an orange peel that you no longer need to just throw them in the trash. Remember, "reduce, reuse, recycle"!

Source: www.thegogreenblog.info


Cypriana ~ the natural home store

The Kemby Sidekick is a stylish, two-in-one diaper bag

Every parent on the go knows how challenging it is to juggle baby, a diaper bag and the other necessities required for even the briefest of trips. Whether you are going to the library, the grocery store or across the country, you will LOVE the Kemby Sidekick.

This stylish two-in-one bag can be used as a diaper bag as well as a baby carrier. Some of its many features include: separate compartment for diapers and wipes, changing pad, roomy pockets, key clip, cell phone pocket, wipes case and more.

Available in three colors – blue, green and brown – the Sidekick is made with baby-friendly fabric that easily wipes clean. It is designed to hold babies with good head control up to 35 pounds, and it can be worn three ways: over the shoulder, across the shoulder or around the waist.

If you are a new mom or dad or know an expectant couple, you need a Sidekick. Stop by Cypriana in downtown Kent to get yours today!


Cypriana ~ the natural home store

What do you give the graduate?

When I think of summer, I think of graduations and what a promising time of life that it is. It is such an exciting time of renewal and adventure as students move on to the next phases of their lives. Knowing what to get your favorite graduate can be challenging though. Will he be going off to college or traveling? Is she furnishing her first apartment, or moving across the country for her first job?

No matter what your graduate will be doing next, a DreamSacks comforter or throw is an ideal gift. Made with bamboo, DreamSacks products are a thoughtful way to wrap your graduate in warmth and softness, no matter where life takes him or her. DreamSacks come in a handful of neutral colors to match any décor and style, and they wash up beautifully. If you’ve never felt bamboo fabric, stop by Cypriana today to see why DreamSacks make perfect graduation gifts. One touch and you’ll be convinced!

Cypriana ~ the natural home store