It's the Lexington Family NO GIFT WRAP Challenge

I read somewhere (oh wait, that was in Lexington Family, wasn't it?) recently that we dump something like 4 million TONS of wrapping paper in our landfills during the holidays. Unbelievable! These scraps of paper are going to be hanging around for years!
And we Americans use 38,000 MILES of ribbon each year, also unrecyclable.
So I am presenting to our readers a NO GIFT WRAP Challenge. See if you can get through the holidays without using a single inch of gift wrap. That is my goal for this holiday season and I'm going to try and post a new gift wrap alternative every day for the next two weeks. Follow along here for some great new ideas and PLEASE share your own ideas.
Here's a little motivation for you. Post a comment or suggestion to one of my NO GIFT WRAP Challenge posts in the next two weeks and you will be entered to win a Holiday Prize Package (unwrapped). It includes the book "A Green Christmas" written by Sheherazade Goldsmith.
Isn't that a great name? So cool to be named after an Arabian Princess who kept herself from being beheaded by entertaining her king with a new tale every night for One Thousand and One Nights. Sure hope she doesn't got by something as mundane and Sherry. Surely not.
So my first idea for NO GIFT WRAP is actually something my daughter and I came up with last year. We wrapped up several gifts in little metal lunch boxes that we repurposed. This example actually came from a scrapbook company and had cardboard letters in it, but I've seen little lunch boxes like this at the dollar store too. We glued on some pretty paper scraps and added a few stickers and this made a great container for a gift card, a scarf, jewelry, or any other small gift.
Now show me your cool ideas!

Kid Power Rules!

Here's another great toy I ran across while doing research for our Holiday Gift Guide (see our December issue hitting the streets Wed., Nov. 26). Its a line of trucks made by Sprig Toys that are totally kid powered!

Yes, I said, kid powered! NO BATTERIES!!! Your kids power the energy for the lights and sounds by driving the cars around. Now your kids actally get a reward for being active.

You can find Sprig Toys locally at Toys R Us.

The Space Shuttle Gets Even Cooler!

So I decided I needed to buy the Mega Rig Space Shuttle for my nephew, who is 7. I checked out the price at Amazon.com and was suprised to see an option for "Frustration-Free Packaging" for some of the Mattel toys, including this one.

Frustration-Free? Sounds right up my alley. How many hours have I spent bending those dang wires to free the Polly Pockets from their plastic bondage? How many nails have I broken trying to pick the ultra-sticky tape off the backs of Littlest Pet Shop creatures?

So I clicked on the Frustration-Free option and sure enough, when the Mega Rig Space Shuttle showed up at my door is was efficiently packed in a single brown cardboard box. No clamshell plastic containers, no wires, no rubberbands, not a strip of sticky tape in sight.

Now my nephew (sssshhhh, don't tell him) can play with his toy the minute he opens it and not 20 minutes later when Aunt Laurie finally gets all the wires off. And ALL of the packaging can go in the recylcing bin. And the dog won't get hold of any of those little plastic pieces that fall off when you remove the rubber bands. He'll be so disappointed. He lives for plastic. He thinks Polly Pocket shoes are bubble gum for dogs.

I snagged these photos off the Amazon site so you can see how much less packaging is used. On the left is the toy, the center is the traditional packaging, and the right shows you what I received.

Coolest idea ever! All toy companies should do this. Are you listening Polly Pocket?

Right now this is only featured on 19 of the top selling products. Send an e-mail to your favorite toy company this week demanding more packaging that is environmentally-friendly and Mommy-friendly.

Totally Cool Space Shuttle

More cool stuff is arriving every day in our office. Did I mention that some lucky readers will be winning all these cool Holiday Gift Guide products? More on that in December.

I love the line of toys that Mattel has come out with this fall. I'm not going to show you the one that made the Gift Guide but this Matchbox® Mega Rig® Shuttle Mission is a close second.
The best part of this building system is that it starts as one gigantic space ship and but then it breaks down to 30 different combinations of space vehicles for kids to create. Its got cool accessories, like a space arm to grab things, an ATV and a UFO with a space alien inside.

I wish I had a little boy! Do you suppose my 15-year-old daughter would get mad if I bought her this?

It retails for around $45 at most major retailers.

Really Cool Green Toys

In my search for great stuff for our Holiday Gift Guide I have come across another company I really like - Plan Toys. This company takes their commitment to the environment very seriously. The wood comes from organically-grown rubber trees that can no longer produce latex. Their glues and dyes are non-toxic and child-safe. The packaging that the toys come in is recycled and recyclable.

I have a favorite toy that I'm hoping will make our Holiday Gift Guide in Dec., but there are loads of others from this company that I wish my girls had not grown out of. The doll house above is one of those favorites.

The cool thing about this doll house is that not only can the kids move furniture around but they can also reposition the 2 halves of the house and the staircases, very helpful when you have more than one kid playing.

You can see all the great Plan Toys at http://www.plantoysusa.com/ and you can purchase Plan Toys at loads of on-line sites including 2 of my favorites: http://www.iqkids.com/ and http://www.reallygreattoys.com/.

Stay tuned - more boxes are arriving daily (think dinosaurs)!

More packages at my door!

It's Holiday Gift Guide time around here! More and more packages arriving every day with samples of products that might just make it in our December issue. While I can't show you everything that has arrived (that would ruin the suprise) and can show you some of the other cool products that these companies make.

One of my favorite new finds is a company called Boon. They make really slick looking, innovative baby and child products and toys. My favorite product (shhhhh, its a secret!) will probably make a debut in our Gift Guide, but the photo above is one of my other favorites from their line.

These Odd Ducks are just so fun! So much more unique than your average Joe Duck. These ducks are called Squish, Bob, Jane and Slim.

They are also BpA-free, Phthalate-free and PVC-free so you don't need to worry when Junior gnaws on Bob's head.

Check out the whole line of products at http://www.booninc.com/.

We Have a Winner!!!

UTE! You are the winner of this fabulous scooter. Send me an e-mail at events@lexingtonfamily.com and I will tell you where you can pick up the scooter!