Whole World Baby

Around my daughter’s first birthday I had a revelation about gifts for babies and kids. I remembered that when she was born we’d been generously gifted with every baby gift known to man. We were deeply touched but very overwhelmed with the sheer number of toys, blankets and gadgets. They quickly filled up our apartment and we felt guilty every time we realized we had to give away a gift because we’d never use it or because we’d been gifted three others exactly the same. I thought about all the times I’d run out to buy a unique baby gift for some child’s birthday and ended up with some plastic toy I knew would eventually end up in a land fill. I tried to be eco friendly, I really did it was either so darn cute or I was running so darn late.

A few days before my daughter’s party it dawned on me that we did not need one other thing in our house that rattled, rolled or rocked. I wanted her day to be special but also about a lot more than getting presents. I wanted it to be a day when all the other kids and parents could come and celebrate her life without rushing around to buy a gift we didn’t really need and might never use. I thought of the values I wanted to share with my daughter and made a decision. I invited everyone to donate to their favorite charity in her name and if they absolutely insisted on bringing a gift then it would have to be a homemade gift. It turned into a wonderful day that allowed people to make their donations from the comfort of their own home. One mother, Mary actually did bring a gift but it was that gift that taught me a valuable lesson.

Mary brought a beautiful little bracelet that had been hand crafted by a local child in order to raise money for some school supplies. It was a simple, unique baby gift that would keep on giving far beyond this day. It inspired me to find more socially conscious gifts to give for every occasion. I began to search for things like socially conscious clothing, green toddler gifts and socially responsible gifts online. A whole world opened up to me and I found hundreds of companies doing the right thing. So many people don’t realize that we don’t have to be addicted to shopping and when we do consume we can do so responsibly with the click of a button. We can even avert green house emissions by saving ourselves the car trip.