Here comes Handmade/Feminist Santa Clause..

When you were a kid, did you ever want to know exactly how the elves pulled off making the plastic Barbie dreamhouse EXACTLY like the one you saw at Toys R Us? The workshop at the North Pole must have one hell of an injection moulding system.

My husband and I decided this year to skip the ridiculous commercialism and buy all handmade and eco-friendly gifts for our two sons.

Our 6 month old really just wants things to chew on an does not care in the slightest what it is, as long as whatever object he has chosen to bite temporarily relieves the teeth that are trying to pop into his mouth.

We found some awesome teethers, hand crocheted from organic cotton and carved from maple wood. No more yucky plastic stuff that will be thrown in the landfill in 6 months when he (hopefully) gets out of the biting stage. Yay!

My 3 year old had one request; a kitchen. He wants a little kitchen and play food so that he can pretend to cook. Perhaps this is a reflect of the reality that his father always has to make dinner because I hate cooking with a passion and refuse to do it. His reality is that the father figure in the household is the one that does the cooking. Yay for little feminist boys! ;) We found him one made of reclaimed Ash wood and entirely handmade by a very sweet artist.


I bought him all handmade plush felt food to go inside. The commercialized plastic food made by Fisher Price is probably the biggest tease in the world to the poor scavenger animals traipsing around the landfill looking for a bite to eat.

We also found Henry some great crocheted hand puppets, so he can tell his little brother stories.

And a cape with a lightning bolt and a big H on the back since he already spends half his time running around the house doing acrobatics like a superhero.

Henry has a Cabbage Patch we got him when we found out we were having another baby. He used to practice being a big brother with it and even called it baby Jonas. It's getting pretty worn now because for a while he carried it around everywhere and then decided to give it a tattoo on it's forehead with his Crayolas.

So the last present from Santa this year is a handmade babydoll for each of my boys. I think one of the most important thing you can teach little boys is how to have loving, nurturing relationships. This woman makes the most gorgeous little stuffed friends and we were able to get the boys dolls that matched their featured. Jonas's doll is about 3/4 his size. Hehe.. so stinking cute.

Have yourself a handmade Christmas. Screw the corporate world with their Made in China leaded plastic craziness. How many toys does one kid need anyway? Would you rather buy your kid a few nice, sturdy, old-fashioned things instead of overloading their senses with a roomful of cheaply made crap? Chances are they are going to be sick of that crap in 2 years or less and then it'll end up in the Goodwill box (hopefully) or worse, in a landfill.

Buy handmade! It rocks.

Here are links to the shops of the artists I bought my Christmas stuff from:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/littlesaplingtoys
http://www.etsy.com/shop/palumba
http://www.etsy.com/shop/kiddycouture
http://www.etsy.com/shop/laurelszoo
http://www.etsy.com/shop/EYMM
http://www.etsy.com/shop/locoMOmomma