Nature’s Gate Asian Pear & Red Tea Shampoo & Conditioner have taken up permanent residence in my shower. The smell is enough to make me want to shower several times a day, and not just for the few minutes of privacy and silence that if affords me. I don’t know how a scent can be rejuvenating and relaxing at the same time but if it’s possible this one can do it.

Not only do these products smell fabulous and work just as well as, if not better than, the salon products that I used to use, but they cost just a fraction of the price. Available at my local organic grocer, they generally range in price from $6.99 on sale up to $9.99.

by Nicole

I still love it even after months of drinking it constantly! What you may ask? Crystal Lights Raspberry Lemonade! It’s sugar free and only 5 calories in a severing, not to mention it tastes so good and is very refreshing. It comes in a large container with mini containers inside so it doesn’t go stale or get hard when it’s humid and damp out.

It’s also available in the little packets for on the go. Just open, dump in your bottle water, shake and drink! If you haven’t tried it, don’t be intimidated by the sugar free and low calories, it tastes every bit as good as regular lemonade without all those extra calories and you won’t get the tummy ache from too much sugar. This is definitely a drink we’ll be drinking all year round!

by Andrea

Thank You For Subscribing to the Props and Pans RSS Feed.

I had my two children trying out the Long Mountain Designs and both the onesie and t-shirt we reviewed were equally great. The black tiger has enthralled my three year old who doesn’t want to take it off and the peacock onesie with the little jewel is adorable on my daughter.

I like how the t-shirts have a cute little tag on the bottom that reads “OrganicTee.” It’s nice to show that off for people that don’t even realize there is such a thing out there (and I was one of those not that long ago.) I didn’t have any problems with the clothing shrinking in the wash or the colors fading. I hate when you get a cute outfit and it either doesn’t fit after one wash or the color looks bad. Both items fit wonderfully and give my kids a great look without all those chemicals that they don’t need next to their skin all day long.

If you are looking for high quality, 100% organic cotton, made with pve-free and non-phthalate inks with designs from around the world you need to check out Long Mountain Designs. Let your child’s unique personality and style stand out. You can also get 10% off your first order, check out the homepage for details.

Written by Andrea, who is a stay at home Catholic wife and mother. She strives daily to perfect her vocation as wonderfully as possible. Andrea has two young children and hopes someday to have more. Her interests stem from being a mother and living her faith. She blogs for fun about things that interest her at Momma In Flip Flops.

Thank You For Subscribing to the Props and Pans RSS Feed.

Enter by leaving a comment HERE. Visit Nina & Tom’s website and tell us what t-shirt you love the most. The contest is open until August 7, 2008.

You can receive a second entry by blogging about the contest (linking to it) or adding us to your blogroll. Just e-mail us with a live link or let us know you have it posted on your site. You do not need a blog to enter, just leave us your e-mail address so that we may contact you. As always, it is Props & Pans policy NOT to distribute any information you give us (including your e-mail). Thanks for entering!

Thank You For Subscribing to the Props and Pans RSS Feed.

Nina & Tom believe in local and domestic production. That is why their t-shirts are made from U.S grown cotton (many times organic), sewn in the U.S and then dyed and printed in their Northern California workshop. They use domestic crops, domestic manufacturing and fair labor practices that have no trade deficit.

My son has been sporting the “I Eat My Vegetables” t-shirt for a few weeks now and he’s gotten many compliments. Well, I’ve gotten the compliments, but he still thinks he’s pretty cool. I’ve found a few more t-shirts I think will be lining his drawers as he heads to school this fall. For our anniversary this fall I plan to get my husband the “My wife likes to spoon but I prefer to fork,” t-shirt. He’ll love that!

Right now they are having a Back To School Sale. You can receive 20% off your entire order and free shipping on all orders of $60 or more from now until August 25, 2008. This applies to online orders only and excludes the onesie-a-month or any other special offers.

Written by Emily, who is a married working mother of a very energetic 5 year old son. They reside in Southern Indiana (a little too close to the Kentucky border). Someday she’d like to visit Intercourse, PA and have her picture taken with the welcome sign. She writes at her personal blog, Fenicle and loves free samples and trying new things!

Thank You For Subscribing to the Props and Pans RSS Feed.

Enter by leaving a comment HERE. Visit the Eco-Kids and tell us what you won’t find in their products. Eco-Kids lists many things on their website that their products DO NOT CONTAIN. The contest is open until July 28, 2008.

You can receive a second entry by blogging about the contest (linking to it) or adding us to your blogroll. Just e-mail us with a live link or let us know you have it posted on your site. You do not need a blog to enter, just leave us your e-mail address so that we may contact you. As always, it is Props & Pans policy NOT to distribute any information you give us (including your e-mail). Thanks for entering!

Thank You For Subscribing to the Props and Pans RSS Feed.

What’s so great about play dough? Well if your kids use it, you know how great it is. There are endless hours of non-stop fun and there are so many things you can do with it. From making food to making people, it can do it all! You can imagine how excited we were to get the Eco-Dough here in our house.

It’s all natural so when the little ones are crawling around underneath all the fun, or when it gets so tempting to take a taste while making that pretend food, you don’t have to be quite so worried. Also the fact that it can be used in the play dough gadgets is great. When you’re ready for the next use, which is sometimes days later, you’re able to without having to get all the old hard dough out first. It’s extremely soft and easy for anyone to knead.

My only objection to this amazing product is the price, but for something all natural it’s not unreasonable. In my family we use play dough a lot, and it gets mixed and ruined quickly. Which means we’d need to purchase a lot and that is not completely practical here. Overall though the Eco-Dough is a great natural product and lots of fun!

by Andrea

My 4 ½ and 2 year old love play dough. My mom has a wonderful homemade play dough recipe that I usually use instead of buying Play-Doh from the store, but after trying Eco-Kids, I’d definitely reconsider play dough purchases. Eco-Dough comes in 5 beautiful colors made from plant, fruit and vegetable extracts. It is incredibly soft and while it stuck to our little rolling pins, my kids loved how tactile it was in their little hands.

Eco-Dough claims that their product doesn’t dry out like Play-Doh, which is great since the stick factor didn’t bother my children at all. They really enjoyed the Eco-Dough and unlike the stuff from the store, I didn’t have to worry if my 2 year old accidentally put it in his mouth because it is made of all natural ingredients.

by Leticia

I wasn’t sure what to expect when we opened our Eco-Dough package in the mail. The colors were great and the consistency was smooth and soft. As we were playing with it, I was reminded of our homemade play dough, so I checked the ingredients. As it turns out, it is the same recipe for homemade dough that we use, except it is colored with food extracts rather than artificial colors. If you do not have the time or inclination to make your own, this is a wonderful product. I, however, will be making my own next time.

by Jessica

I saved the handmade Eco-Dough for a rainy summer day. When I brought it out and let my three almost three year olds play with it, I was shocked at how much fun we had together. I confess to my own hands-on method of helping them enjoy the experience. Maybe I helped too much? I loved demonstrating the use of cookie cutters and other press–on objects. The compostable container says it is for kids of all ages, but I did not fully understand that until after I was finished playing. Perhaps I will let the kids play with it alone on the next rainy day. Perhaps.

by Helene

Thank You For Subscribing to the Props and Pans RSS Feed.

Vinegar of the Four Thieves made by For My Kids kitchen cleaner is perfect for me. It smells really nice and is made from all natural ingredients. I had my doubts as to whether or not it would work, but I shouldn’t have. I saved the first trial run of the kitchen cleaner for the night I made split pea soup. Sprayed directly on the cooked on soup, it worked like a charm. I was very impressed.

They also make a hand sanitizer that I love as well. I recommend that you put that Purell down and get yourself something natural that won’t dry out your skin and smells a lot better too.

by Canape

I think that when you are using a cleaning product it’s never a good thing to hear, “What is that terrible smell?” asked by your five year old shortly after you start using it. I had started wondering that very thing the after the first few sprays. I look at the label and found lavender, peppermint, rosemary, but nothing that should make me wonder what has rotted.

I don’t know and the only ingredient I didn’t recognize was wormwood. I’ve used this product on our high chairs, on our plastic bibs which we wipe off with cleanser or soap, on our cutting board and on our counter. How good is it? Marginal, in my opinion. If you are cleaning up a minor mess like one boy I have will make, it works ok. But if you are cleaning up horrific paste-like mess that my other boy makes out of his food, then it’s really a pain. I had to reapply many times to get the high chair tray clean.

Unlike the Vinegar of the Four thieves, the hand sanitizer product is quite pleasant. Not only is the smell lovely, but it’s also made with witch hazel and grain alcohol. Without a doubt it is killing all the germs it comes into contact with. I slipped it into my diaper bag the day it arrived and have used it many times when we are out and about. I like this product as a hand sanitizer as it seems to dry more quickly than the gel variety I normally tote around. I would definitely buy this product.

by Gidge

The last time I used vinegar to clean was when we were trying to remove century old wallpaper off the walls in our kitchen. I must say it worked like a charm, but the smell was atrocious. Recently I tried Vinegar of the Four Thieves cleaning spray and was pleasantly surprised by the power it packed, although the smell was still there. I don’t really care for foo-foo smelling cleaning products because to me if it doesn’t smell like it’s powerful, then it isn’t really deep cleaning.

We also tried out their antibacterial hand santizer which was much more pleasant than the typical bottles I buy. The natural ingredients did not seem to leave a greasy film on our hands or dry out our skin with alcohol. The bottles come in several size options and can be refilled.

by Emily

Our family recently reviewed the all natural germ-fighting cleaner Vinegar of the Four Thieves and On-the-Go Hand Sanitizer produced by For My Kids. Each product is made of natural herbs with germ fighting properties.

I like the idea of these products very much. Who wouldn’t want to use products that are effective and kind to our environment? And they did appear to work, but these products don’t smell very good.

Not a single member of the family could stand being in the room when the vinegar was being used and only my four year old could tolerate the hand sanitizer. She loved it, but my six year old would run from me when I brought it out after the first time. They also come in glass bottles which make them not only a bit heavy to carry around in your diaper bag, but also a breaking hazard. Their website does say that they are available in plastic so an alternative is available.

The bottom line that these are a great idea, but there has to be a way to do it that doesn’t have such an odor.

by Mary

Thank You For Subscribing to the Props and Pans RSS Feed.

The pilot episode, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which launched on Earth Day 2008, follows the kids as they face a demented plot by Dr. Morlon Huffelbot to create an island of plastic bags in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. In the show, the kids travel to the island to observe the situation, go undercover into the plastic bag factory and then foil the plot though multiple actions. They spread their green message through their social networks, rally cities to ban plastic bags, design a new eco-friendly bag and create awareness through their original song “Bag the Bag”.

The website includes a number of interesting tidbits such as eco-friendly re-usable bags, downloads of the music and a DVD of the pilot episode. We’ve been listening to the music from this show for over a month and I now have it loaded onto my phone as a ringtone.

What I love about this show is that it is much more than a mere animation with an eco-message. It actually gets kids thinking and talking about the issues. My eight year old has even developed a dislike for plastic waste.

We’ve all learned a little something about plastics polluting the Pacific Ocean from Vir McCoy’s very catchy “Bag the Bag,” which I have downloaded onto my phone as ringtone. The music is something that every single member of your family will enjoy.

“Kids can change the World,” explains Gorilla director, Eli Noyes who has directed numerous other kids’ shows like Sesame Street. “Everything that our characters do on the shows is an example of what real kids can do in the real world.”

And certainly they can do it! Already three groups of kids in my neighborhood are embarking upon art and activism projects listed on the Green Gorilla website. Their plan is to document their projects and post them on the Green Gorilla website to show the world that they can really make the change.

Make sure you sign up for the next episode of Green Gorilla. I promise it will quickly become your kids’ favorite and maybe your’s too.

Written by Reenita, a San Francisco based freelance writer, mother of two and Green with EnVi (Environmental Vibe). She is a film junkie who loves to travel home to her native India to get her fix of things Indian. She blogs to maintain her sanity in an increasingly frenetic society. Check out her so-called words of wisdom at www.reenita.com.

Thank You For Subscribing to the Props and Pans RSS Feed.

The eco-friendly cards had the cutest pictures on them and included bright & colorful envelopes that were perfect for mailing to loved ones. There’s also a place on the back where kids can write their own messages. A great item for sending to friends or relatives!

The soy crayons were amazing, especially since they’re made from soybeans. The colors were bright and went on smoothly. They didn’t smear or rub off. As an added bonus we also received a Gourmet Chocolate Scented Pencil made from 100% recycled newspapers. I could have sworn I was sniffing a Hershey bar, because it smelled that good!

The best part of all these items are that they’re made from recycled products and are friendly to our environment. It’s a great way to teach children about going green. We loved them!

by Kailani

What fun for kids! The owner of Stubby Pencil Studio sent my kids 2 sets of cards along with a Smencil and some soybean crayons. Now if you are as clueless as I was, a Smencil is a scented pencil. In our case it was an orange scented pencil. The pencil, along with the cards sold by Stubby Pencil Studio, are made of 100% recycled material.

These greetings made saying thank you fun. They come in packs of six, with a bright assortment of colored envelopes. The cards are stenciled with designs and ready to be colored by the sender. On the back of the cards is a space for your child to fill in with the “colored by” and “age” information of the young artist. The soybean crayons did not leave a waxy look like ordinary crayons do and seemed to be sturdier than other crayons.

There are several assortments of cards sold by Stubby Pencil, including birthday, thank you and holiday card sets. At $7.95 per set of six cards, they are just slightly more expensive than regular cards at your local major retailer. The only negative thing anyone in my house had to say about the products we received was that the envelope glue tasted yucky. When I suggested they could use regular cards from somewhere else, there was a resounding no. My kids love these cards and it makes corresponding enjoyable instead of a chore.

by Perri

I’ve always enjoyed sending cards and notes to family and friends. When our son came along I visioned him drawing pictures and making cute notes in the cards we sent out. Problem is that he found the store-bought cards too boring and didn’t have enough attention span to sit and make an entire card by hand. Then, Stubby Pencil Studio sent us several packages of cute cards with rockets on them and my son was thrilled. They outline the picture in black and let the artist color it in as they wish.

These cards have been perfect to send to family we don’t see very often. They enjoy receiving a special note in the mail from us, but it’s something they can hang up on the refrigerator as well. Besides from the cards, Stubby Pencil also included a set of soy crayons that didn’t smear or flake off like regular crayons sometimes do. Add a smelly pencil to that mix and my son was in heaven! All this and their products are eco-friendly and made from recycled goods too. These items would make the perfect birthday present. I’m thinking of ordering a few sets to put in a little gift basket.

by Emily

Stubby Pencil note cards are a creative way for your kids to greet friends and relatives with whimsical creativity. My kids loved coloring their stationery and sending them with the postal carrier. Of course Nana & Papa were on the receiving end 500 miles away and called to rave about what they found in their mailbox. The kids were proud of their “work” and remembered mailing them earlier in the week.

The finished Color ’n Kids Cards are keepsakes for sentimental folks with the artist signature and information on the back. I would guess that the cards are posted on the fridge will have a place in the gallery far longer than a traditional thank you note or birthday card. These sets are an ideal gift for the hard to buy for child and parent.

by Helene

Thank You For Subscribing to the Props and Pans RSS Feed.

I am always looking to impress people with my creative side, but lately it takes more energy and time than I have to spend. When I need to “wow” friends and relatives with a lovely invitation, note of thanks or congratulations, I chose a paper stock that goes green and gives back. Of the Earth features the most beautiful flower seed paper cards and sheets that can be customized with your own special greetings. These handmade recycled papers are infused with real dried flower seeds that bloom when planted.

After reading the inside message, the recipient of your note can plant the card in soil and watch it grow into fresh flowers. You can select a color scheme or variety of blooms that match the occasion. Some of the choices include: purple larkspur, plumosus fern, North American wildflower mix or marigolds. These flower seed papers are an ideal choice as gifts for mother’s day and birthdays. Plus they make a impact in the envelope and afterwards. Don’t you want to be the hip and cool friend that thought of it first?

by Helene

Mint girl scout cookies have always and will always be my favorite Girl Scout Cookie. There is something about the tasty crunch insides that has me hooked. I’ve always had a weakness for mint in candies and cookies, and it just got worse. M&M’s has launched a new limited edition mint crisp version of their chocolate candy that melts in your mouth, not in your hands.

Now some of you may be overwhelmed by the minty taste, but I was in heaven! My fear is that this will be a limited edition flavor and not a long term item that I’ll find regularly next to the plain, peanut and peanut butter candy they offer. This new flavor is being launched in connection with the new Indiana Jones movie. I don’t see the connection, but whatever it’s still yummy. If you see a bag at the store I encourage you to give them a try and if you like them you might want to grab a few bags to store away! They are a new must have food item in my pantry.

by Emily

I’m not sure how I initially found these but I can’t imagine going out to eat with my younger daughter without them. Table Toppers are disposable adhesive plastic placemats that cover your child’s feeding area and help protect them from germs. It really gives me peace of mind knowing that if her food spills off her plate, she can still eat it. And let’s face it, my daughter is a pretty messy eater.

An added bonus are the colorful designs that help keep your child occupied while you wait for the food to arrive. Once you’re done, just pull it off the table and throw away. It’s as simple as that! It’s also so compact that you can store a bunch of them in your diaper bag. We won’t leave home without it!

by Kailani

Thank You For Subscribing to the Props and Pans RSS Feed.