Fall Faves: Part II

I have a couple more items that are great for fall that I wanted to highlight for you all!


First up: There's just something warm & cozy about these sweet little, eco-friendly, waldorf inspired sweater babies. Made from felted wool sweaters and filled with clean carded local organic Nova Scotia wool, these dolls are the perfect size for little hands to hold and cuddle. What baby wouldn't want to snuggle up with one of these?

 And, okay, have you seen two of the newest prints for the Colibri snack & sandwich bags?
School may very well be in full swing, but that doesn't mean it's too late to grab up these new prints!

Hockey season is upon us - what better time to surprise your hockey fan next time he or she opens their lunch bag at school!

And mustaches are still all the rage. This one was a must-have for me [Andi] the moment I saw it.

Why not add them both to your collection?

[A few more fall favorites coming soon in our next newsletter. Watch your email later on this week!]

Back to School...it's only a couple of weeks away!

Okay, so here's the deal - like it or not, back-to-school is right around the corner. I'll admit, part of me likes it...and part of me doesn't.

But regardless, nothing can be done about the passing of time. We CAN make back-to-school fun though, at least in one small way...and that's lunches!

You are probably all familiar by now with our line of Colibri Snack & Sandwich Bags - complete with the new Wide Snack Bag great for storing wraps, cutlery, or even to use as a pencil case at their desk! Two of the newest patterns - the Foxes and Glasses both shown below - are my own personal favorites. I have bought one of each of them to surprise my girls with when they open their lunches on their first day back at school!

Other than the first & last days of school [and their birthdays] where I make their lunches for them, my girls are on their own for packing up their noon meal. Having fun patterned bags like these have helped make the job a little less like a chore.

But hang on to your britches...we have GREATLY expanded our littlerless lunch selection at our shop! I hardly even know where to start. Just take a look at the pictures below and go ahead and try to decide which ones to get!

[HINT: It may be easier to just buy a little bit of everything!].

Up first we have the Splash Box by ECOlunchbox and the Blue Water Bento Lunch Bag. The stainless steel lunchbox bottom with a plastic-free silicone lid [that is easy for kids to open & close] fits beautifully in the organic cotton lunch bag, making these a great pair of items for your child.

 

Then we have the ECOlunchbox stainless steel sets - from a three-in-one stacking rectangle set to the circular tri-bento pack to the ECOdipper for the smaller snacks to the stainless steel spork...it really is all you need for those school lunches.

And how do you carry all of the stainless steel containers? In your soft ECObento bag, of course! We have a variety of sizes and designs [starting with the snacksack, the lunchwrap or the bentobag which perfectly fits the round stainless steel container]  - and even cloth napkins to seal the deal!

All of these litterless lunch options are great for your kids in school or daycare - as well as for Mom & Dad to take to work! Get the whole family involved with litterless lunches and do it in style with all of the options here at Tiny TreeHugger.

Visit us on Facebook here or find us on Instagram! [@tinytreehugger]

New to TTH: Spring Edition Part II

Yesterday we posted about some new products in our shop that are perfect for the spring/summer season and promised that more was yet to come! So without making you wait any longer...

Let's see a show of hands...who is ready for picnics in the warm sunshine? Of course these next two items are also useful for everyday school/work lunches, but I can't get warm weather out of my head so that's how I'm imagining them being put to use!

There has been a lot of buzz about these SmashBox Collapsible Lunchboxes which are perfect for on-the-go outings. If you are using them for indoor uses, they can go from freezer to microwave - but how perfect are they for picnic lunches? These boxes are collapsible which is great for storage, and they even come with a reusable "spork". What more do you need?



You have all heard me rant and rave about the Snack & Sandwich bags that we carry...but did you know we now have a third size to offer you? Colibri (formerly known as The Sling Sisters) came out with the Wide Snack Bag to add to the collection. These are perfect for packing wraps, or to hold utensils for your lunch. Of course they can be used for non-food-related things as well, such as a toothbrush and toothpaste or make-up accessories.

[You can find other Litterless Lunch options here...]

And how many of you are counting down till your first beach day?? Of course you all know about both the AMP and AppleCheeks swim diapers that we stock - but we now carry a third option...you know, just to make your decision that much tougher! Introducing the Bummis Swimmi, available in 3 different sizes and 5 fun prints. Your babe is sure to be the talk of the waterfront with their stylish bottom!


Bummis didn't stop there with their swim line, though. We have carried their sun hats for awhile already, but new to their line are these co-ordinating UV tees and tankinis! With a UPF rating of 50 and specially woven fabric to offer natural protection, these are some beach attire items you can really get on board with!




So there you have it! Yet another amazing selection of BRAND NEW products that you can find at Tiny TreeHugger.

**And don't forget that not only can you order online [as always]...BUT we are now open Tuesdays 10am-6pm and Wednesdays-Saturday 10am-3pm [CLOSED Sundays & Mondays] at our new storefront in Winnipeg! Find us at 230-600 St. Anne's Road in the Seine River Professional Building on the second floor.**

Teaching Responsibility

A while back one of our Facebook statuses was "What kinds of chores do you give your kids? (And what ages are they?)" The responses we got were as follows:

Jen said: "My son is 21 months, and he tidies his toys, stacks his books, and helps put his diapers in the cupboard whenever I do laundry. He loves helping!"

Jessica said: "My 5 yr old feeds and waters the dog and birds wipes down the table and helps clear the table after dinner. My 3 yr old picks up toys puts dirty clothes in the laundry cleans the lint trap etc. They are great helpers."

Deborah said: "My 2.5 year old helps set the table and clear it. She helps with her toys. She tries to help with sweeping."

And we can't forget what Krista had to say: "A's primary job is making laundry and she is on floor dirt patrol, she cleans all dirt/rocks/food/etc that she finds. We are hoping she will be as detailed orientated when she needs to use a broom or vacuum instead of her mouth. She's 10 months. : )"  


Kids as young as two (and even younger) are capable of helping out with things around the house as these few comments have shown. So what kinds of things do YOUR kids help out with?

I came across an article (yes, on Pinterest) entitled "The Key to Avoiding Entitlement." I encourage you to read it in its entirety, but the main message it was getting across was to stop doing stuff for your kids that they can do for themselves! Otherwise they are developing a sense of entitlement that won't serve them well as they get older.

What are your thoughts on this? Should kids - whatever their ages - be encouraged to do everything that they are able to do for themselves? Or is it still okay for parents to do things for our kids? It could be for a variety of reasons - maybe we just don't have time (or the patience) to let them do things themselves. Or maybe, quite simply, we WANT to do things for them.

In my personal experience with my own daughters (they are 8 and 10), they thrive on responsibility. Sure, this doesn't mean they won't complain about it from time to time - but I believe it serves a purpose to allow them to feel a sense of accomplishment and responsibility.

Two years ago - when they were in Grade 1 and Grade 3 - I stopped making their school lunches for them. I decided that this was a "chore" that they could take on themselves on a daily basis. I am happy to say that almost a year later (we started in March) this is still going strong. They do it all from start to finish - they get everything out of the fridge and cupboards, they make their sandwiches, put things in containers, and clean everything up afterwards. It took a little while for them to get into the groove but kids are quick learners and now it's like second nature for them. I have a list on the fridge that reminds them of what all needs to go in their lunch and they are good to go!

I have a ways to go yet to instill other regular chores in my kids - but I'm working on it! Dusting, vacuuming, emptying the dishwasher, folding laundry - these are all things that they are capable of doing. I don't think that kids need to run the household just because they can - afterall, kids should still have time to be kids - but instilling the value of hard work and responsibility are things they can carry with them as they grow up, leave the nest and start a home of their own.

(Our Snack & Sandwich bags are great for making lunches - and you can read my review of them here.)

*************************************************

My name is Andrea (Andi) and I have the privilege of working part-time alongside Pam to help her with "a little of this and a little of that" as she strives to bring superb customer service to all of you through her Tiny TreeHugger business.

I am a 34-year-old mostly stay-at-home mother of two girls (aged 8 and 10) and have been happily married for 11 years. I am a Pepsi-loving, game-playing, guitar-learning, Nutella-craving girl [among many other things that make me ME]. I cloth-diapered my girls when they were babies and enjoyed the cost savings as well as the feeling of helping the environment - one cloth diaper at a time.

Thanks for checking in and I'll see you again both on this blog and on Facebook!

The Bag Lady

I can see myself very quickly turning into what some might call "The Bag Lady." I'm talking re-usable snack & sandwich bags.

I have had my eye on these bad-boys for over a year now but to be honest wasn't quite sure I wanted to spend the money when I was having to buy saran wrap and zip-lock bags anyway for other things. 

But oh my...when I finally took the plunge this summer prepping for back-to-school, once I actually had my hands on my very own collection of said bags? I could not stop looking at them and yes, even touching them over and over. They were so pretty!

[Side note: I am also considered a bit of a "Bag Lady" when it comes to purses, as I love to co-ordinate fun colors with my outfits...so this seems to be sort of a branch-off of that obsession!]

The bold solid colors of the Kanga Sac collection are great as well, but for my first purchase I chose to go with some fun prints from The Sling Sisters variety. The options are endless - patterns for young children [boys, girls and unisex], ones for older kids [such as bicycles, skateboards, big flowers, etc.] and then there are some that are more than suitable for adults [like the prints pictured here from my own personal collection].

Now, so I make my girls [ages almost 7 and almost 9] make their own school lunches and let me tell you, these bags make it extra easy for them to pack their lunches. Last year I was having to often help my youngest one battle with the saran wrap, and many times the amount of saran wrap she had already ripped off the roll was far too much than what was needed for her small sandwich. Talk about waste!!

But with these bags, they just place the sandwich in the bag and zip it up.  Done! Same thing with snacks - like crackers or snap peas or grapes. No fiddling with zip-locks [especially on the no-name cheaper brands with can often be finicky], just place the goods inside and zip it up.

Some of you  may be wondering [as I was] about the size of the sandwich bags. I don't know about your kids, but mine don't take full sandwiches yet. They take a half sandwich which is just a smidge too big to squish into one of the snack bags yet it doesn't nearly fill up the sandwich bag. I was worried that the sandwich would slide all around in the bag and have completely fallen apart by the time lunch came around. But this hasn't been a problem at all. They put the sandwich in the bag and simply fold over the remaining material before placing it in their lunch bags. Easy peasy!

If you're still not convinced, get this: You can use them yourselves too! And I don't mean just for lunches. I'm talking about sticking them in your purse. As someone who has a lot of purses, like I mentioned earlier, I am constantly switching over my load from one purse to the next. Now this task has gotten a lot simpler since I have a sandwich-size bag that I keep all of my toiletries in [lotion, hand sanitizer, deoderant, etc.]. I also use one of the snack-size ones for a few smaller items [like an extra hair tie, a couple of bobby pins and those feminine products]. Not only does it make things simpler to transfer, but it's also so convenient to locate an item now in my purse. No more digging around through everything to find what I'm looking for!

So there you have it. Thoughts from The Bag Lady!  :)

Back to School

Time to start thinking about back to school!!

We are only a few weeks away from returning but I have been seeing photos of friends sending their little ones back already.

Think about packing lunch and snacks in a reusable bag like the KangaSacs.

Muffin, banana, sandwich? Sure!
My favorite colour is the turquoise, what's yours?

How about the NEW AppleCheeks All Purpose Storage Sac? These babies can be used for A LOT too.

Available your choice of the Wild Child print or Cherry Tomato.

Sac can also be used for:
• Wipes & spray, clean or soiled diapers & swimmers, baby essentials, pacifiers.
• Art supplies, pencil case, loot bags.
• Small electronics or portable gaming systems.
• First aid kits, hiking essentials, camping or beach gear.
• Toiletries, makeup, travel supplies, menstrual products.
• Credit cards, pocket change, receipts, jewellery.
• And so much more!

Besides snacks what would YOU use these bags for? 

Winner announced!

Grapes and strawberries, this is what Tamara P said she would put in her snack bags if she won. And CONGRATS!! You have won a set of snack and sandwich bags from the giveaway ending yesterday. We have contacted you and look forward to seeing which fun print you choose.

PS More Sling Sisters sandwich bags arrived on Friday and will be updated this week!

Congrats again Tamara P.

Have a great week everyone! It is spring break here so we have all the boys at home this week in between pickups, meetings and shipping [& a few playdates and outings thrown in the mix too].

It's all about the SNACKS! & a Giveaway...

Lori from The Sling Sisters tells us how she does SNACKS

Let's be honest, we all love to snack!  Our reusable snack bags take it to a whole new level by making snacking more fun and yes, even fashionable.  I've tried to convince myself that only healthy foods fit in my snack bags, but in reality a handful of jelly beans in my Over the Rainbow snack bag makes me so happy!

I store our snack bags in a drawer in the kitchen and the kids love getting to choose their bag for the day.  One of my favourite things is that the kids get to choose their own prints and they love them so they are really good at knowing where they are. 

Here's how it works:

Step 1: find a snack - our bags are water resistant so you can use sliced up fruit/veggies or anything that has a little moisture (no soup or yogurt!)

Step 2: choose your favourite bag - the small bags hold 1 full cup or 1 apple, 2 mandarin oranges if they are peeled and separated, the large bags hold a big sandwich, bun, bagel, or a few muffins

Step 3: pack it or eat it!  Enjoy that your child will be able to open and close quietly all by himself (2yrs +)

Step 4: pull lining out and wipe or toss in the washer/dryer 

Repeat!

Thanks Lori! Now I feel like snacking...

Are you up for a giveaway? You have a chance to win a set of snack and sandwich bags!! 

Follow the instructions below and make sure you do what the entry says for it to count or else it will not count! Ends March 24th, 2012. Please contact us if you have any questions :)