12 Days of Conscientious Christmas, Day 2

Adorable Gift/Shopping bags, $1.49 each at Toys R Us.

Well, today is day 2 of writing about little ideas to make change in our lives towards a more eco-friendly, natural holiday season.  I am having so much fun this year, decorating and shopping and all the usual stuff.  And certainly, my kidz will be receiving lots of the usual.  But small steps are what I'm all about.  

We've never given them much for holiday candy, though I know it's a big deal if the many aisles of Christmas-specific candy at Target are any indication.  I like to offer perhaps one small item, but virtually everything I pick up, even the fancy luxe versions of chocolates like Dove and Hershey's Select and Ghiardelli are loaded with artificial flavors (like petroleum-derived vanillin) and preservatives.  Yuck.  

But then I was at that famous Big-Box toy store, Toys R Us.  They've struggled in recent years thanks to Target and Walmart, but they seemed to be doing a brisk business.  I have a wooden advent box that I use every year (instead of the throw-away paper kind) and was seeking small items to put in it for the kidz.  And boy, was I in for a surprise at good old TRU--they had a huge display near the checkout of natural and organic and kid-friendly treats! I was shocked and thrilled. They offered Yummy Earth lollipops, Fruitabu fruit leather, and more!  

I also picked up the shopping bags featured in the picture above.  TRU had a pretty good assortment and the tag says 100% recyclable.  They are a nice size to hold gifts and later reuse as gift bags, or to repurpose as grocery or other shopping bags.  I plan to use them to wrap gifts, and who knows how their new owners will use them?  And if you've bought paper gift bags at Hallmark or elsewhere lately, you know that $1.49 is a bargain for one this large. These are readily available in many stores now, and most stores are selling them with their logo featured prominently (free advertising!).  I like these because instead of having a massive Toys R US logo they have bright, fun prints.  

So there you go--even the big box stores are making efforts toward eco-friendly living.  Green has definitely gone mainstream!