Holidays · Eco-Chick

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Last Minute Eco Halloween Decor for Your Spooky House!!

Guest Post by Ellie Smith

If you are planning on having a party or a small get together this Halloween then obviously you’ll be thinking about preparing your house to suit. Instead of buying plastic decorations that will only languish in a landfill after the Halloween celebrations get creative and use everyday extras to spook your place out. You’ll save money and have more fun making your own scary (or just silly) decor.

If you have a traditional house with hardwood flooring and wooden beams this will set a great canvas already, aiding the mysterious and eerie atmosphere. You can build on this using recyclable materials and handmade creations. If your house is newer, turning the lights down, and covering the walls with dark-colored sheets can lend more atmosphere.

(Super) Natural Lanterns

Light your room naturally by carving out a pumpkin (or several) and lighting it on the porch, front steps, or in a window. You can be as creative as you like with these, see this site for great ideas. Light dark coloured, organic beeswax candles and burn intense sticks to add to the ambience and mood.

Wicked Windows

Paint recycled newspaper black and use it to black out your windows, placing it next to each other in a collage formation. This will create a haunted house effect and darken the lighting of the whole of your house. You can also drape glittery string or white silly string over them to create spider webs, adding to the spooky Halloween atmosphere.

Ghoulish, Ghastly, Ghosts

A quick and simple idea is to take unused tampons and turn them into ghostly decor. I’m not kidding! By simply flaring out the edges of the tampon and attaching googly eyes you can achieve a quick result in seconds. Hang them around the house with the already attached and most convenient piece of string.
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decor, eco, green, Halloween, Holidays

Post-Holiday Spa Goodies You Can Make Right Now

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by Stephanie Rogers · 12/26/09

Why is it that every year, despite our best intentions to relax and have a good time during the holidays, we end up running around crazy anyway? Entertaining visitors, attending parties, shuttling kids to various events and commitments, braving the crowds to pick up gifts, making crafts – there’s not much time left to squeeze in a little R&R, is there?

You might not be able to make it to the spa, but you can revitalize your skin at home on the cheap. These quick and easy homemade bath & body goodies have delicious holiday-themed fragrances and ingredients designed to perk you up, soften your skin and make you feel pampered and relaxed. You probably already have most of the ingredients in your pantry (especially if you’ve been making holiday treats!)

Candy Cane Body Scrub

½ cup granulated white sugar
¼ cup coconut oil, melted and slightly cooled
2 candy canes, finely crushed to powder
3 drops peppermint oil

Mix together all ingredients in a small bowl or jar. Make sure that you keep the mixture in a warm place before use so that the coconut oil stays in liquid form, and scrub away! It’s a great way to use up candy canes that you don’t want to consume, the scrub smells awesome and it’ll slough away all that flaky, dry winter skin.

Eco Beauty, Holidays, Homemade Beauty, Natural Beauty

In Praise of Stay-at-Home Holidays

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by Courtney Tenz · 12/22/08

Ugly Sweater Day - Back by Pesky Library, on Flickr

Call me a Grinch but it’s been a few years since I’ve celebrated the holidays and I’m really enjoying my non-Christmas days. It wasn’t necessarily a well-thought-out decision on my part to stop taking part in the family festivities but rather a serious of things that’s led me to skip the tree and the presents and all the running around that had begun to feel a requisite part of Christmas celebrations. Still, I’m happy I did.

Because while the occasion is filed as a top German tradition -– replete with outdoor markets, fruitcakes, gluehwein and a month’s worth of minor celebrations — since moving here I’ve used the three-day vacation as just that: a break. A few years ago, that meant flying to Turkey, where the 25th was just another day. This year, with my health keeping me grounded, I’m using the country’s three federal holidays as a chance to catch up on all the luxuries I neglect while working 60 hour weeks… like sleeping late and taking long, hot baths. Oh, and I might bake a few vegan lebkuchen to indulge the sweet tooth.

It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s the little things in life. And it keeps my December stress-free … which means my January won’t be the month of depression, as it is for many. Of course, I’m missing out on all the presents. But who needs another ugly sweater anyway? I buy myself whatever I feel like I need whenever I feel like it. And I’d rather see my family when we can actually hang out together without worrying about who will do all the cooking or driving around the mall parking lot looking for a spot. Or driving through a snowstorm to see one of the endless numbers of aunts and uncles that I have scattered throughout the Midwest.

None of that really sounds like I’ve made the holiday more eco friendly. After all, I can’t exactly proclaim innovation when I’m simply doing nothing. But by not celebrating, I’m also not wasting: no cutdown tree, no fake snow sprinkles, no lights racking up my electricity bill, no crinkled up wrapping paper and silly looking bows. All of that seemed pointless to me a few years ago, anyway, when I spent Christmas day working at a homeless shelter. You forget, in all your decorating, just how little some others have. So instead of letting things go to waste each year, I remind myself that this nothing I do is sometimes better than something.

Photo credit: (c) Pesky Library, courtesy of flickr Creative Commons

Holidays

Eco Chick’s Best of the Best Green Holiday Gifts

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by Stephanie Rogers · 12/16/08

Merry Eco Chicky Christmas! The editors of Eco-Chick.com have chosen some of our favorite eco-friendly gifts for your shopping pleasure, and get ready to drool, because this stuff is awesome. Here are 10 gifts including reusable bags, luxurious sustainable jewelry, organic cotton pillows, beauty products, tea sets and more to buy for friends and family or add to your wish list.

Green-eyed Monster Bag – Get yourself a super-cute and unique reusable bag by Green Eyed Monster. Each GreenEyedMonster tote is made of 100% post-consumer recycled cotton fabric and recycled plastic bottles by a hip woman-owned company in New Hampshire.

Saaf Hair Oil and John Masters Shine On – Starre can’t stop singing the praises of Saaf Hair Oil, which restores strength, shine and moisture to even the driest of hair (only available at Beautorium in the U.S.!). We’re also big fans of John Masters Shine On, a pomade that adds volume and shine.

Woolly Mammoth Ivory Bracelet by Monique Pean – Monique Pean’s line of luxurious sustainable jewelry is inspired by Alaskan culture and created from conflict-free diamonds, 100% recycled gold and genuine (and extremely rare) ancient ivory. 10% of profits are donated to the Alaska Native Arts Foundation. They’re pieces to lust after, indeed.

Alabama Chanin Large Boudoir Pillow – This 100% organic pillow pairs the sexiness of a corset with the sweet innocence of white cotton. 12” x 20”, stuffed with 50% white goose down and 50% white goose feathers.

Solio Magnesium Edition Charger – Power up your small gadgets like cell phones and mp3 players with this hybrid solar-electric charger. It’s made with recycled materials and Solio has a takeback program so you can ensure that it gets reused when you’re done with it.

Fleece Mini Dress/Tunic by Gaia Conceptions – How could anyone resist the coziness of this beautiful organic hemp and cotton fleece dress? It’s perfect for layering, comes in a wide range of gorgeous colors and can be custom made to fit your body perfectly.

NVEY Eco Every Occasion Gift Set – A gift set of natural, organic cosmetics that perform better than most conventional brands. This full-sized starter set contains face powder, blush, lip gloss and eye colors, all in your choice of shades.

Lucina Berry Cluster Hoop Earrings – Fair trade, brilliant red choclo seeds from Colombia are strung on silver Bali hoops for an effect that’s organic, but far from granola.

Offhand Designs Zhivago Weekender in Punch Bloom – Handmade in the San Francisco Bay Area from reclaimed fabrics and accessories, this weekend bag is chic, unique and can be used for travel or as a handbag. Pink chenille flowers on dark brown with a hot pink lining.

Rishi Organic Black Tea Set – Two varieties of black tea (Organic fair trade breakfast & organic fair trade earl grey) come in a pretty bamboo gift box along with a glass teapot and a stainless steel coil filter. Available at Whole Foods or directly from Rishi.

Green Gifts, Holidays, Shopping

How to Rock an Ugly Christmas Sweater, Eco Chick Style

7 Comments

by Stephanie Rogers · 12/10/08

Image via: Flickr user tifotter

If you celebrate Christmas, then at some point or another in your life, you’ve undoubtedly received – or have been forced to wear – an ugly Christmas sweater. They’re frumpy, garish, and unflattering on just about everyone, yet we seem them on countless people during the holiday season all the same.

Recently, wearing hideous holiday sweaters has become a sort of hip ironic thing to do, to the point that people are throwing ‘ugly Christmas sweater parties’ to celebrate them in all their unattractive glory. Like the mighty mullet, ugly Christmas sweaters have been elevated to a pop culture phenomenon (check out the awesome gallery at The Daily Green!).

Somehow, guys can wear the most hideous Christmas sweaters and look hilarious, yet most girls end up looking like your dorky 2nd grade substitute teacher who wore holiday-themed turtlenecks under a denim jumper.

So, how do you rock the ugly Christmas sweater if you’re invited to one of these parties? Check out these tips to wear the trend and still look sexy. Of course, you shouldn’t run out and buy one of these polyester nightmares new – get yours at a thrift store or borrow one from a friend or family member. The whole point of this trend is to get at least one more use out of these ridiculous wastes of polyester/cotton/wool/grandma’s sweat ‘n tears.

Images via: The Adventures of Short and Tall + The Daily Green

Choose a cardigan. Layering it over a cute cami puts the spotlight on the sweater and gives you a more streamlined look. It’s hard to find holiday sweaters with a flattering cut – most of them are super bulky and make even petite women look like linebackers – but cardigans, especially if worn open, give the illusion of leanness.

Belt that XXL and wear it as a dress. If all you have is Grandma’s ginormous sequined Frosty the Snowman sweater and it comes down to your mid-thigh, work with it. Belting it keeps it closer to the body so you don’t look like a shapeless blob.

Images via: Badger & Weasel + Flickr user Camels & Chocolate

Wear it with a skirt or layer it over a dress. Show a little leg to make up for all the ugliness on your top half. Leggings and tights look cute and keep it feminine. Whatever you do, don’t wear sweatpants or you’ll look like the Abominable Snowman after stumbling into a holiday convention for secretaries over the age of 55.

Hey, sometimes you’re invited to an ugly Christmas sweater party and all you have available to you is the selection at Goodwill. That’s ok – you can still rock it. Don’t forget that the whole point of wearing an ugly Christmas sweater is that it’s ugly. At least at an ugly Christmas sweater party, everyone else looks stupid, too.

Fashion, Holidays