home video: bear's first birthday
My little munchkin recently turned one! We took the photos above the morning of his birthday and made this home video of him opening a present from one of our friends:
One of my missions in life is to stop the production of all the "stuff." That includes trying to avoid being given gifts we don't really need. I was proud that Bea's first birthday gifts were a reflection of our mission. He didn't get a ton of gifts at all, but what he did get was thoughtful and useful. For example, my parents and a dear family friend each gave him a check so we could open his first bank account. My dad did this with me when I was little - I remember going to the bank with him. It was really neat at the time! I was a little girl, but not as young as Bear, as I remember the whole thing.
Christopher's mom asked us what he needed in advance. He really needed socks so she gave him organic socks made by a company called Baby Legs (they also make non-organic socks, but she picked the organic ones). How great of her that she asked and did research and found super cute socks! His other gift of course was the ukulele you see in the video made by Zither Heaven, from my friend Alex Keeling. It's so cute, and he loves it - he always loves when Daddy plays guitar.
home video: breakfast with baby bear
On Bear's birthday (also Cinco de Mayo), we attended a party for our great friend's kid named Calhoun. They gave Bear a school bus made of 100% recycled plastic, made by Green Toys. These were all his presents! Not bad for age one! And not too harmful for the planet! Yahoo!
What are some eco gifts you've given to your kids?
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42 comments
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Happy Birthday little Bear!
Soccer mom: Many more should do what you do.
Alicia: So glad that you help stop the production of "stuff" and I very much agree. Preowned or otherwise "green" is the way to go.
We produce so much junk and it's not necessary at all. -
Anything from Green Toys is awesome. For my daughter's 2nd birthday in January she got some flower building toys from GT's that she absolutely loved. The only problem was she'd leave them on the floor and it hurt to step on them. lol! -
Alicia- happy birthday to your baby, and kudos to you for not going overboard on he gifts! I have had such a struggle with this for years. My oldest daughter, who just turned 12, asked that all her party guests gave money to be donated to the local Humane Society. What a TRUE gift is was, to take her to the animal shelter and watch her hand over all that money for a cause. She walked through the shelter and looked at each animal. At that moment I realized what an amazing young woman I had raised. She selflessly handed over every cent to make those animals have the best life that they possibly could. I couldn't have been prouder. She understands that it's not what you have, it's what you do with it. Happy birthday Bear!
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The pools here are free for kids on Sundays so every year I have my son's birthday party at the pool on a Sunday. Inexpensive way to get cool and have fun and we're not cranking on the AC. Yeah, the chemicals suck, I know. But life isn't perfect and swimming in the desert heat feels really nice.
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I so agree with not wanting all the stuff! I think it's a big waste. I love how even as a celebrity, you are promoting the reducement of "stuff". I have always preferred hand-me-downs, not getting anything in excess and if anything extra is needed, then I'd do thrift store shopping. Or for bath and beauty, make my own stuff rather than purchase unless absolutely necessary. I think doing things like using hand-me-downs and shopping at thrift stores is usually seen as "poor". But for many, it's because it's what's right, not not spend so much and to use what we already have. A more eco-conscious choice, not due to economic need (although that is a factor for many too). But it doesn't have to be because of money.
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Happy birthday to your little son. I like his birthday, it is almost at the same time as my birthday, and I remember the last year, when I got "the kind diet" and I began o read about the kind life, and I also started to live kind.
So I really like your video and the photos. You look so heart-warming together, it's so nice to see scenes from your day. I can't wait becoming pregnant, but I have to wait a little bit, after finishing studying, but I', really looking forward to raise my child vegan and really kind. It's such a great luck to let a child start in the world the vegan way. Your are wonderful parents, I'm sure ! Best wishes from Germany and excuse my mistakes :)
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@Fleu Menezes
I am with you. I am toying with the idea of possiblity letting my child pick a portion of the toys to donate.
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Wow, it's so wonderful that your families respect your wishes when purchasing for your children. Unfortunately things just get lost in translation with ours (both sides), we just end up with random plastic stuff that just happens to be readily available at the local shopping centre- even though I'll say no we don't need anymore toys or stuff but the responses are "but it's nice for them to have something new" or "but we gave one to (insert cousin's name) and he liked it" and even "but its so nice to watch them open their presents". Unlikely my kids are going to be given organic socks or fair-trade toys. I'm quite big on ethical companies and practicality and I try to educate my children regarding these issues but it seems like my suggestions to extended family members falls on deaf ears.
Any suggestions to change this? I can't tell them that we don't want anything or suggest to use that money towards a charity gift card instead because they just have to buy something material. -
Yeah, we planted a tree for our daughter. It's pretty special to see it bloom. Having a treemate to watch grow and change adds another perspective to watching your kid grow. It's like your watching a little part of the earth age with your child. It's cool. The only trick is if you ever want to move. Then it gets a little complicated! :)
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Alicia, it looks like you have a family bed. Do you have any blogs about this? We want to try now that our baby is older. Thank you for being such an inspiration!
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Happy Birthday to Bear...thanks for sharing, Alicia...you and I are on the same wavelength...love the idea that you accept secondhand, used items for Bear...:)
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Your son is presious good job mom and dad. Its wonderful that your so thoughtful about the gifts you give. Children are inidated with too much stuff.
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happy birthday little boy! alicia i you really did it in the right way. i remember a birthday party of a little two years old girl she was standing in a mountain of unnecessary presents and was totally overstrained. i think it's not only saving the planet to do less presents i think it's saving kids too! for me it's very important to be happy with little presents too like socks or whatever you need. kids who get too much presents are thankless sometimes. my nephew once asked my mother: that's it? don't you have more presents for me grandma? she "only" had a beautiful book for him. i was shocked and try do avoid belated birthday parties or christmas parties since that day.
have a kind look at my blog
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I usually give savings bonds. The parents love it and the kids will later on in life. Sometimes I give it witha book, so that is is a bit more fun for the kids. Seems that kids never read enought these days, and they usually get toys, not books.
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A fruit tree is a fab idea! My inlaws planted trees for my husband and his brother when they were little, the trees are fully grown and huge now :)
Hope your little one had a lovely day Alicia x
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Thank you for all the love you sent our way...feels good!
@blake I love the idea of a fruit tree for Bear's birthday next year. I was going to do this with my dogs' ashes...grow a tree with their ashes. But this will be awesome to start planting for Bear! He can care for his special tree.
We didn't do a birthday cake. We didn't have a party for him; we went to a friend's party. I didn't tell anyone what to get or not get...I wasn't expecting anything. So it was a nice surprise that people know us so well.
If you do have a party, you can say on the invite what kind of gifts you need or don't need.
For my baby shower, I said only used stuff or eco or organic...in a friendly way, not too bossy.
@milissa maybe donate some of the extra stuff your son got?
Love to you all!
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For my sister in law's first baby gift, we started a bank fund for her little boy; she was so happy to get a jump start on college funding and it was nice to not have to be part of the consumerism that can be so overwhelming in today's age.
For our girls' birthday parties in the past, we have tried to go with the "less is more" philosophy by suggesting that guests bring a gift for us to donate to an animal shelter in lieu of a present, and my youngest daughter has been to two birthday parties where the parents have done a book exchange in lieu of presents. We also had friends who asked for donations to UNISEF in lieu of gifts. Now if our society can just get over the goodie bag at birthday parties!
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Love the pic of him sleeping! Did you do a birthday cake? I am looking for wheat-free, sugar-free, and possible sugar-free recipe.
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I would also like to get off the present production machine also. But I am not sure how. We had a cook out birthday party for my son last year. Everyone brought presents. He was happy but all I could think of was, "where am I going to put all this new stuff". He has so many toys. Way too many.
Did you just ask people not to bring presents. How did everyone else pare down your children's toy hoard.
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So lovely! Happy Birthday Bear! We have a few of the Green Toys, and the tugboat is our favorite! :)
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