Eco-Friendly: Doing Your Best!
As a parent of two mini eco-warriors, sustainability is important to me personally and my family but also to me as a business owner. I believe every individual can make a difference by doing whatever we can to look after our planet but we don’t all need to get it right from the word go.
For our family, it isn’t about perfection but about making informed and eco-conscious choices wherever possible. This pressure to be eco-friendly is felt particularly strongly by parents around the world because we worry about the state of the world our children and grandchildren will have to live in.
At first, I had a lot of eco-anxiety, for a couple of weeks I barely slept because I was trying to figure out all the ways we could be eco-friendly, researching alternatives for most items in our home. Changing everything at once just wasn’t affordable for us and it wouldn’t have been sustainable, but where possible, I gradually made eco-friendly choices for our family and my business. For the business, this includes using FSC postage, recycled stickers printed in my home office, packaging designed and printed in-house, smaller production batches, and recycled paper.
You can read more here about how I keep my business as sustainable as possible.
Before I dive into eco swaps and parenting tips, I wanted to share this account from Instagram, Sustainableish. Jen and her account really helped my eco-anxiety and made me realise that making the small changes we could was the most important thing, not being perfect.
Simple sustainable swaps for everyday life.
Start small! Don’t fall into the trap of thinking we need to be perfect right off the bat. Making small changes adds up over time and makes a real difference. Here are some of the specific changes I’ve made in our personal life as a family.
Refill Shops: Bring your containers and stock up on household essentials without the packaging waste. Have a look on Google for your closest refill shop. We love The Little Refill Shop in Seaham/Sunderland, Buy the Kilo in Tynemouth and It’s All About Eco online.
Tropic Skincare: Natural, cruelty-free skincare that’s kind to your skin and the planet. Their suncare is reef friendly too!!
Soaps for Little Suds and Rowdy Kind Shampoo Bars: Plastic-free bath time essentials for kids (and adults!).
Toothbrushes and Toothpaste: Eco-friendly dental care for the whole family. We have used Bam and Boo brushes and toothpaste in the past but now use Happier Toothpaste as part of our Bower collective subscription.
Beeswax Wraps: A great alternative to plastic wrap for keeping food fresh. And you can generally find them in loads of lovely patterns. Etsy is a great place to find some.
Sanitary Products: Consider reusable sanitary products like Wear 'Em Out pads or Menstrual Cups.
Sustainable kids products
At Handmade Hippo, I focus on creating sustainable and eco-friendly products for kids. From recycled materials to minimal packaging, every detail is considered to reduce environmental impact.
From decorating your own banner kits to keep them entertained or Tooth Fairy Pockets to make the bedtime routines all the more magical, there is something for everyone!
There are also things for grown-ups too - don’t worry I haven’t forgotten about you! I particularly love making reusable bamboo wipes - they can be used for so many things!
Tips for reducing waste with kids
When you have kids, the amount of stuff that you feel you need to buy can seem both overwhelming and wasteful. But, take it from me - it doesn’t have to be that way! I get that it can ALSO feel overwhelming to look at different options and figure out how to reduce waste and frivolous purchases.
Here are some of my favourite ways to do this…
I mentioned Jen Gale and her Sustainableish account on Instagram earlier in this post, but she deserves two! Her book, The Sustainable(ish) Guide to Green Parenting, is a great resource for eco-friendly parenting.
Buying less or second-hand is a biggie too. The joys of the internet mean that we can find almost anything on Facebook Marketplace, Vinted or eBay often for a fraction of the cost and most of the time items are in great condition. It not only saves you money but it reduces the need for new things all of the time. And, if you do need to buy new, try to do it from an eco-friendly, small/local business.
Another tip is buying products with plastic-free packaging - which isn’t always easy! So, if you can't find what you need with no plastic, try to buy in bulk. Again, this saves money.
Do your kids love getting their hands mucky? Why not try growing your own vegetables? Not only is it a great way to get the kids engaged while using their hands, learning new skills and appreciating the natural world, it also saves money!
Eco-friendly toys and activities
Babipur is a great, ethical website for eco-friendly toys and home products. The toys tend to be open-ended play rather than plastic toys with one function - which I absolutely love!
Getting outside is also a really important one for my family. Nothing helps us all reset and regulate like a walk in nature! To make things more interesting and get the kids excited, try using Spotter sheets from Stanley Sketches - hand-drawn sketches that are designed to get you and your little ones to spot things when you’re out and about or GoFindIt cards.
You could also hide things around and create your own scavenger hunt!
Teaching kids about sustainability
It might feel a bit tricky to talk to kids about things like sustainability and why it is important. But it’s so important to be open about these things and help them towards making decisions that will help the planet.
For our family, the entry conversations were around plastic pollution in the ocean as our kids love sea life. We have quite open conversations about considering what we use and buy (or sometimes what we don’t buy ie mini brands or similar plastic ‘collectables’ with masses of plastic packaging). We bring them to the refill shops with us and have them actively involved in weighing out food etc.
Other ways we do it are getting the kids to help with growing food, making smoothies and “ice cream” (blended frozen chopped banana with strawberries etc) with leftover fruit or fruit that may have over-ripened, silicone push-up ice lolly moulds for homemade ice lollies. You could also take part in beach clean-ups which is a great way to tell them about what is going on but also letting them actively help the situation, which can feel good.
By incorporating these eco-friendly parenting tips into your daily routine, you can help create a more sustainable future for your children. Remember, it’s about making small, conscious choices that add up to a big impact.
Explore the Handmade Hippo collection for sustainable kids’ products that make eco-friendly parenting easier and more enjoyable!