Thursday, December 27, 2007

Review- Perennial Toys

Anyone can make your typical rubber duckie but it takes imagination, thought, and a real want for awareness to make King Eiders and endangered animals. It's also very rare these days that you can find a bathtoy that floats upright instead of falling over on its side in the tub and staying that way. Most companies could honestly care less but Perennial Toys takes that extra care and time.

A few months ago, we were lucky enough to receive a King Eider Arctic Habitat Gift Set to review from Holly at Perennial Toys. With this set for children ages three and above, you receive a king eider and floating iceberg made of phthalate-free plastic with recycled content, a bar of 100% pure soap shaped like a baby duck, the My Arctic 1-2-3 children's book, an education coloring book on the King Eider, and it all comes in a 100% cotton mesh bag with their business card as a magnet attached.

The point of the set being packaged this way is to reduce waste and all that tossable packaging you usually get when you buy something. Perennial Toys really does care about the environment and they try to show that through their products and business practices. I guess you could say that not only do they talk the talk but they walk the walk as well.

I love their "mission statement" which reads "Perennial Toys is dedicated to creating toys and gifts that enhance a child’s understanding of Earth’s habitats. We focus on aquatic habitats and the endangered animals that depend on these sensitive environments. Each Perennial product also reflects our mission to manufacture and promote eco-friendly toys and gifts. A percent of your purchase supports wildlife conservation efforts".

Fun new friends that have recently been added to their line are the Arctic Polar Bear and the Narwhal Whale. Both are adorable and come in gift sets of their own (habitat set, pail set, etc).

Knowing that this company truly cares and also considering the fact that they are local (based out of Albuquerque, NM) means I will definitely be buying from them in the future. What greater gift can we give to our children than the gift of awareness and responsibility?

Friday, December 14, 2007

MomCentral: What To Expect Guide To A Healthy Home

I always enjoy doing reviews with MomCentral because of the things they send me. What can I say? The variety appeals to my A.D.D! haha. This time I got to check out the new booklet "What To Expect Guide To A Healthy Home" by Heidi Murkoff (who also wrote the famous "What To Expect When You're Expecting book").

Inside this new What To Expect guide are many tips to help families battle germs and illness especially during these cold winter months. Ms. Murkoff tries to cover the main germ attracting rooms such as the Kitchen, Bathroom, Playroom, and Bedroom plus tips to help you teach your children how to battle and avoid germs.

There is even a section devoted to "Fighting The Flu" which has tips on ways you can use to avoid getting the flu or worst case passing it on to others. As we all know, every year there is a fresh flu scare that has us all running and ducking for cover. Many people believe in faithfully getting the flu shot for their family and themselves every year without fail. Others like myself though run the other way despite my suppressed immune system.

The paragraph on getting the flu shot was the only one that I differed in opinion from Heidi on which is pretty good when it comes to me and guides. Despite my own feelings though I felt that Ms. Murkoff is just providing information to people about the flu shot and in no way telling you to rush out and get it which I think is cool. So like me, she let's people decide for themselves and that's what everyone should do. She also doesn't just focus on the flu shot but goes on to suggest other helpful ways to try to save your family some misery. Kudos to her!

If you would like to read the guide for yourself then you're in luck because you can download it for FREE from the Clorox website. Yes, I said FREE! So there is no reason why you shouldn't read it right? Right!

Even though I already knew most of the tips in the booklet I still think it's a good thing to have around as a reference. I also think it is a great thing to give new parents because if they are anything like I was with my first child they are having nightmares of huge germs attacking their house and trying to eat their baby! Okay so my nightmares weren't THAT bad but I'm telling you, I sterilized everything that kid was going to touch for an entire year. I can laugh at it now but back then germs were evil I tell you!

So go download the free booklet and read through it to make sure you are up to date on your germ fighting tips.