Wishing your green family a wonderful Christmas day (if you celebrate). Try to get outside for a nice winter walk with the family today.

I previously posted a gingerbread cookie recipe here at GAGF. However, over the years, I’ve realized that the more I make this specific recipe the less I like it.

First of all I think the recipe above lacks enough molasses and I wasn’t getting the spices perfect. Secondly, while it can turn out softer, chewier cookies, if you mess up and leave said cookies in the oven for a few seconds too long, you’re sunk. Also, if you want to get into aesthetics, the color of these cookies is not great. All-in-all, somewhere along the way I decided I hated this recipe - sorry if you made them and felt the same way.

New & improved gingerbread cookies

That said, I’ve been working on it, and I’ve come up with a gingerbread cookie recipe that’s not only much tastier but gorgeous in color. Best of all, these cookies stay soft. I HATE crispy gingerbread cookies. While you can make thinner, crunchier gingerbread with this recipe if you like, it’s also the perfect dough for softer, more chewy cookies.

Bonus, the dough is extremely easy to work with; not stiff or sticky at all.

Any cons?

• These are soft – so they need to be cooled 100% before you stack them or decorate them or they can bend.

• Harder to glaze than typical crisper gingerbread.

• I had a few break while decorating them – mainly with cookies I glazed or cookies with small points – i.e. snowflakes. They’re a bit more fragile than other gingerbread cookies I’ve made. I suggest making a little more dough than you think you need.

Gather the following ingredients – this makes about 3-4 dozen average sized cookies

• 3 cups all-purpose organic flour – don’t use bread flour!

• 3/4 packed cup organic brown sugar – dark brown would be best, but the other day, all I could find was normal organic brown sugar at my local store. I used it, and it was just fine. Organic brown sugar tends to run darker than conventional anyhow.

• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1-1/2 sticks organic butter, slightly softened – salted, unsalted, whatever you’ve got on hand. I’ve used both.

• 3/4 cup Fair Trade, organic molasses – I’ve heard all about mild vs. robust molasses, but I’m not a chef genius, so I couldn’t tell you the difference. I use Wholesomes Sweetners – Organic Molasses.

• 2 tablespoons organic milk – Use any milk you like – whole, 2%, soy. The point is to help add some liquid quality to the dough, so type doesn’t matter. We usually keep 1% in the house, so I used that.

Spices – use the spices below as posted or adjust them to your liking. Changing up spices is a matter of taste, it won’t wreak your cookies to add less ginger or more nutmeg. If you grate your own spices, use less though, because fresh are more potent than ground.

• 1 tablespoon ground organic cinnamon
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoon ground organic ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground organic cloves
• Dash of organic nutmeg

Other traditional gingerbread-minded spices that I don’t use, but you may want to consider include: anise seed, coriander, cardamom, fennel seed, star anise and ground black pepper.

• Decorated homemade organic soft gingerbread cookies

   

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• Combine dry ingredients

   

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• Cut in butter

   

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• Mix molasses and milk

   

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• Stir wet ingredients into the dry

   

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• Mix until everything is well combined

   

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• Pat part of your dough onto a piece of parchment

   

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• Cut shapes in your dough

   

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• Leave some room around each cookie, since you'll be peeling back the dough

   

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• Cool completely before decorating or storing

   

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• Decorating ideas

   

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• Decorating ideas

   

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• Decorating ideas

   

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Making your soft gingerbread cookies

• Combine the flour, salt, baking soda and spices in a large bowl.

• Add your sugar and mix until well combined.

• Toss your softened butter into the flour mixture and cut the butter in with a pastry cutter. This isn’t pie making, so soft butter is a-okay, no need for the butter to be cold. Cut the butter in until the flour mixture resembles small shreds or balls.

• In a small bowl whisk your molasses and milk together, then drizzle the molasses mixture over your flour mixture.

• Mix everything together until well combined. It’s a little hard to mix near the end, but a decent wooden spoon will do the job.

• At this point you’ll have a bowl of velvety smooth dough. Now, you can chill your dough for a bit if you like, but I didn’t. I don’t like working with stiff dough.

• After chilling (or now, if you don’t chill) grab a third of the dough and pat it into a ball onto a piece of parchment paper. Notice in the slide-show above that I DID NOT sprinkle flour on the parchment or the dough. This dough is awesome. It won’t stick to your parchment at all, no flour needed.

• If you want nice soft, chewy cookies, roll your dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. For crisper cookies, roll the dough thinner. For super soft cookies, roll the dough even thicker – I didn’t try this, but I’m guessing thicker than 1/4 inch cookies will need an extra minute or so in the oven.

• Use cookie cutter to cut shapes into your dough. Once you’ve used up all the space, peel away the excess dough, so you’re left with a bunch of cookie shape on your parchment.

• Now, because this dough is soft, transferring the cookies to a cookie sheet can be a bit tricky, but not bad. You can either pick up the whole darn parchment and slide it onto a cookie sheet, or carefully lift each cookie with a spatula and place them on your cookie sheet. Either way though, you should prepare your cookie sheet with parchment.

• Bake these at 350 degrees for no longer than 7 to 8 minutes. They should still look a bit undone, but remember, they’ll keep setting up a little after they’re out of the oven.

• As soon as possible get them off the hot pan and onto a cooling rack. My cookies easily transferred to my cooling rack after a minute.

• Cool entirely before decorating.

Decorating your cookies

Decorating your gingerbread cookies

You’ve got various decor choices available, including glaze, frosting, (glaze + frosting), sugar sprinkles or other candy adornments. To make a basic cookie glaze, see the glaze recipe in my organic pumpkin cupcake post. To make frosting, keep reading…

Basic cookie frosting:

• Whip 1/3 cup of butter until creamy.
• Mix in 2 cups organic powdered sugar.
• Add a dash of organic, Fair Trade vanilla extract and 1/4 cup of organic milk.
• Add another 2 and 1/2 cups of powdered sugar.
• Mix everything until creamy smooth and well combined. You can do this by hand, but I use a small inexpensive hand mixer for better results.

If it’s too thick you can add a bit more milk. You can also substitute 1/4 cup fresh organic orange juice + 1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel for the milk in this recipe if you’d like an orange flavored frosting, which goes well with gingerbread. This frosting can be spread on cookies or piped on with a reusable pastry bag for design work. You can also color it with natural food coloring. I use India Tree Natural Decorating Colors.

Other decorating options:

• Indian Tree Decorating Sugars
• India Tree Snowflakes
• India Tree Boughs of Holly Party Decoratifs

For Christmas this year, Cedar and I were going to make homemade wool felt play food kits for the kids in our family, as holiday gifts. However, we’re not the best sewers. We made some and did okay, but we need more practice before our sewing crafts are gift-ready. Still, since we wanted to make homemade gifts vs. buy toys or something else, we had some brainstorming sessions and settled on homemade recycled chunky crayons and homemade memory games.

Homemade memory game

If you’re looking for a fun homemade gift project that your child can help with (my ten-year-old easily helped to make these) then this game is a great fit. Memory is fun and educational for young children. This game can help teach shapes, colors and words. You could even make a game with matching numbers or letters to help teach other early childhood comprehension skills.

This homemade memory game is also quick (so last minute if necessary) and allows you to use up excess paper scraps and stickers you have laying around the house. Plus it’s very inexpensive and nice if you’re aiming for a low-cost, non-commercial holiday.

Time taken: About two evenings of concentrated work – all-in-all we made games for three kids in about 6 hours. Not bad. It would have been faster had we used wooden squares vs. stars because there would have been no tracing and exact cutting involved, but the stars are soooo darn cute.

Cost – about $15 for three kids: We looked for a sale and found some wooden stars for about $15 in bulk packs. We had paper, glue and the other stuff laying around the house.

Odds and ends to make your game

Here’s what you’ll need

• Wooden shapes. These are easily found at most craft stores. If you’re super crafty and have some sort of wood shop, you could make your own, but alas, that’s not us. Most people go with squares or circle, but for fun, we decided to go with stars. You can also find thick recycled cardboard squares or make some, but after making some game pieces with both wood and cardboard, we felt the wood looked a lot better and felt more sturdy.

• Water based glue and sealer. 

• Scrap paper and some large sheets of matching paper for the backs of the game pieces.

• Design items – Stickers, paint or more scrap paper for the design side. I.e. the side with the two matching objects.

• Little bags (which you could make with reuse fabric) or small recycled boxes.

• Pencil, scissors and a bit of sandpaper.

Be sure to mark odd sized wooden shapes so you can match the shape to the paper

Making your game

• If using star shapes trace the stars onto your paper then cut the stars out. Note – because wooden stars vary in size, be sure to mark a little arrow on your star and on the back of your paper so you know how the paper fits onto the wood. If using a uniform shape, it’s a lot easier. Simply trace one piece, then cut the rest of your paper to the same size.

• Coat your wood with the water based glue/sealer, then press the paper on firmly. Repeat until all your wood pieces have one side that match (i.e. the side you lay out to start the game).

• Then choose matching scraps of paper or stickers or even paint matching designs on the other sides of your wood.

• Coat your wood pieces, front and back with two or three coats of sealer – this will make the paper much less likely to come off in little hands.

• Sand any rough edges with a bit of sandpaper. This is a good job for a kid helper.

• You can put the finished game in a little reusable fabric drawstring bag or small recycled box.

A sweet pink version!

Tips

• You can make a memory game like this with real photos of people your child knows. The sealer works on photos.

• We’re making our games for kids who are two through four, so we picked easily recognizable designs for young children – i.e. strawberries, flowers, bees, ants and so on.

Fun to stack

• Consider making theme games such as holiday, birthday, Easter, Valentine’s day or so on.

Use lots of different matching images

• Experiment with different shapes of wood, plenty of color and even different sizes – all of which help young children learn new things. Fun shapes can be used for stacking fun too.

Great for homemade labels

• Be sure to add a little label about how to play the game. I found some adorable wooden labels (shown above) stockpiled in my craft drawer which would work great – but you could print out a label on the computer too.

There’s no reason to spend a lot of money on stocking stuffers, even if you want to go green this holiday season. There are plenty of delightful green stocking stuffers for teens and younger kids that are $10 or less.

STOCKING STUFFERS FOR BABIES

• Dandelion Soft Shaker Bear Toy - This cute rattle is stuffed with fluffy natural corn fibers and made with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified bamboo velour.

• Miyim Simply Organic Petite Plush Toy Ben Frog or Annabelle Lamb - adorable little organic miYim dolls, made from all natural materials including organic cotton and plant and mineral dyes.

• Small Play Silk - Babies love play silks for peek-a-boo and other games, plus these silks are smaller (baby-sized) and beautiful. Available in 22″ or 35″ squares in a variety of colors, or sets of all six pastel or vibrant rainbows hues. Hand dyed in the USA made with China silk by a woman-owned company.

• Under the Nile Organic Veggie & Fruit Toys - Perfect baby teething toys that look like yummy veggies and fruits and are made with 100% organic cotton.

• Odd Ducks – Fun galore in the tub and BPA and toxin free. Plus if you buy them in a four pack they’re just around $6 each – great if you have more than one kid.

STOCKING STUFFERS FOR TODDLERS

• Wooden Top - A sweet top made with different wooden pieces of different colors, carved into a smooth shape. This product is Fair Trade, made by HSSS, a non-profit organization that works for the uplifting and development of underprivileged artisans.

• Cosmic Spinner - Dazzling birch wood spinning tops that are easy to spin and make cool patterns. Each spinner is laser cut in a different pattern. Made in the USA .

• Organic Velour Finger Puppet – Made with organic cotton these tiny puppets are cute and interactive.

• Plan Toys Mushroom Kaleidoscope in Green or festive Red – Made of natural, chemical free recycled rubberwood and finished with non-toxic water based dye.

• Triangular Crayons Extra Jumbo (12 colors) - Made with non-toxic, proprietary materials that color beautifully. These are also ergonomic shaped and won’t roll away from little hands. Bonus, no  messy paper wrapper waste.

STOCKING STUFFERS FOR KIDS

• Itty Bitty Red and Green Holly Baby - Super sweet itty bitty red and green Holly Babies are small enough to accompany your child everywhere he or she goes. All natural fiber doll. Made by Evi in Brazil – Fair Trade.

• Grandpa’s Yo-Yo - Beautifully colored natural yo-yo toys with zero plastic pieces, lights or sounds. Made in the USA by the enchanting and ethical Camden Rose.

• Green Toys Recycled Jump Rope - A great healthy stocking stuffer by Green Toys. Made with 100% cotton and 100% recycled plastic handles in the USA.

• Magic Wands- An essential small toy for any up-and-coming princess, fairy, magician, or wizard. Made from hardwood and non-toxic paint and finishes in the USA. Color choices: Pink, Purple, or Yellow.

• Keeki Pure and Simple - Keeki Pure and Simple uses as many organic raw materials as possible in their products and their nail colors are free from parabens, phthalates and other toxic ingredients. Nail polishes are also gluten-free, toluene-free, vegan, made in the USA and never tested on animals. Many festive holiday color choices available and one of the best priced polishes for tots too.

• JJ’s wooden knife kits - A unique introduction to the craft of woodworking, this kit features genuine spring action, unsharpened blades with rounded corners. Easy instructions. Made in the USA with Cherry, Maple or Walnut wood.

STOCKING STUFFERS FOR TEENS

• Eco Hackysack/Juggling Ball - A fun tie-dyed, eight-panel footbag/juggling ball. Great for a round of hackey-sack, to display your juggling prowess, or for a game of catch. Made in Romania from 100% eco-hemp canvas and is fully biodegradable.

• All The Better To Kiss You Lip Gloss - Yummy eco USDA certified organic lip balm that comes in a vintage tin. Available in Lavender Vanilla, Pepperminty, Pomegranate or Chai Mandarin – also comes in a set. 100% natural, paraben free, cruelty-free. Made in USA and the company plants a tree with every purchase.

• Priti Mini Flowers - Adorable little bottles of nail color that are safe for your teen. Completely non-toxic and free from the big bad three – toluene, formaldehyde and DBP’s. A wide color range is available.

• No Enemy tri-fold wallet – This No Enemy tri-fold wallet is made of 100% hemp and is a more eco-friendly way for your teen to carry his cash.

• Pop In The Bath Bubble Bar by LUSH - Solid bubble bath without packaging waste. There are also Lush soaps that will appeal to teen boys as well, such as  Demon In The Dark Soap.

• Guitar String Bracelet - Handmade in the U.S. with recycled guitar string, lead-free nickel and brass. Designed by Hannah Garrision & Steve Bernstein.

• String Dolls - Cute fun that everyone loves. Fair Trade and awesome.

STOCKING STUFFERS FOR CRAFTY KIDS

• Clementine Art Natural Modeling Dough – 3 Pack of Lemon, Lime and Strawberry - Soft, crumble-free non-toxic dough. All natural and washable. Colored with turmeric, carmine and spinach, and scented with strawberry, lemon and lime.

• Build and Decorate your own Dinosaur or Steamer - Tiny toys that kids will love to build and decorate. All pieces are already pre-punched on stable, white cardboard and can be put together without glue and scissors. Creative, fun and fully recyclable.

• Crazy Crayons Eco Stars (100% Recycled Crayons) - Non-toxic and recycled crayons in a fun holiday shape.

• Stockmar Modelling Beeswax Bars - This festive holiday set comes with 2 red bars and 2 green bars. Non-toxic, creative and kid-safe.

• 8 Holiday Crayon Rocks - Crayons rocks are one of the best small stocking stuffers. Very sturdy (i.e.. won’t break in a stocking) plus fun for little hands and non-toxic.

The best and greenest way to go when it comes to holiday greeting cards is to skip the store-bought paper cards and send e-cards or make homemade cards with recycled paper and other art supplies you already have on hand. However, since the holidays are quickly approaching, and since some people do green store-bought cards, here are some eco-friendly holiday greeting card ideas…

• Greener Peace Wreath

   

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• Snowy Reindeer

   

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• Traditional Wonder

   

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• Three Wishes

   

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• Stylish Birds

   

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• Sheer Collage

   

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• Night Owl Paper Goods Holiday Cards 2011

   

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• Night Owl Paper Goods Holiday Cards 2011

   

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• Night Owl Paper Goods Holiday Cards 2011

   

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• Night Owl Paper Goods Holiday Cards 2011

   

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• Night Owl Paper Goods Holiday Cards 2011

   

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• Colored Snowflakes

   

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• Little Frosty

   

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• Golden Shimmer Handmade Paper Ornament

   

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• Peace Love & Joy boxed letterpress folded cards

   

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• Igloo boxed letterpress folded cards

   

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• Snowflake single greeted offset folded card

   

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• Grow-A-Note Snow Birds

   

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• Grow-A-Note Hibiscus Turtle

   

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• Exhilarate the spirit!

   

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• Gift-a-Tree Card Seasons

   

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Greener Peace Wreath: This simple, yet sweet card is designed by Hello Little One for Tiny Prints. It’s meant for businesses, but could be customized for anyone. Tiny Prints uses 30% post consumer content paper for both their Signature Recycled Matte and their Textured White & Textured Ecru paper cards. Their Studio Basics Smooth Matte designs are printed on FSC-certified paper. See other fun Tiny Print holiday cards below.

• Snowy Reindeer
• Traditional Wonder
• Three Wishes  (designed by the delightful Night Owl Paper Goods!)
• Stylish Birds
• Sheer Collage

Night Owl Paper Goods is one of my favorite unique green shops. Not only are their holiday cards 100% adorable, but they make their cards with sustainable birch wood or 100% reclaimed & recycled cotton from the garment industry and use eco-friendly processes. You can also get personalized family holiday cards.

Paper Culture holiday cards are modern and eco friendly – featuring exclusive designs, premium quality and 100% recycled paper. They have a lot of cute cards to choose from, but this year two of my faves are Colored Snowflakes and Little Frosty.

Twisted Limb Paperworks has many wonderful holiday cards and this company is super green. They make 100% recycled paper using combinations of recycled office paper, junk mail and used grocery bags. Water used in the paper making process is recycled from the company’s dehumidifiers and air conditioner whenever possible and no extra fake colors are added to the paper. Envelopes, reply cards, and cardstock invitations are 100% recycled. Check out the Golden Shimmer Handmade Paper Ornament which doubles as a card and resembles an antique glass ball decoration (an awesome deal too – 8 cards + frost envelopes for under $23!)

Smock makes some of the most beautiful holiday cards on the planet and uses eco-friendly materials and practices, such as bamboo paper, bamboo envelopes, 50% post-consumer polyester boxes and sustainable offsetting. They also use only vegetable-oil based and low-Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) inks and plant trees for the planet, among many other eco-practices. See their lovely designs below.

• Peace Love & Joy boxed letterpress folded cards
• Igloo boxed letterpress folded cards
• Snowflake single greeted offset folded card

Green Field Paper Company offers both handmade paper and machine made hemp paper along with seed embedded paper (embedded with wildflower seeds). This year, their holiday collection has expanded and is totally adorable. I like their Grow-A-Note Snow Birds and Grow-A-Note Hibiscus Turtle.

All Positively Green cards are “green manufactured” to leave the lightest possible environmental footprint. Plus, 10% of the profits are donated to organizations that protect our environment and fight global warming. They have many holiday cards to choose from, but I like Exhilarate the spirit! holiday package set

The National Wildlife Federation offers many wildlife inspired holiday cards that help support the environment. For example, their Gift-a-Tree Card Seasons cards plant trees for friends and family.

PlanToys is an entirely eco-friendly and ethical company who offers some amazing green dollhouses. All of PlanToys dollhouses, from very affordable, to more expensive sets are made without heavy metals or lead, with natural rubberwood from rubber trees which no longer produce latex. None of the wood is chemically treated. Zero fertilizer is added to the rubberwood soil and PlanToys uses a special chemical-free kiln drying process. For colored products, a water-based, non-toxic finish is used and toys are assembled with certified E-Zero,  non-formaldehyde glue in place of traditional toxic wood glue.

• Read my PlanToys company review.

If your child wants a dollhouse this holiday season (or anytime) PlanToys is one of the best places to start your search. Not only is this company hyper green, but they offer dollhouses in seriously every price range, so any family can afford one. Following are your PlanToys dollhouse options…

PlanToys Eco Home

$51.80 PlanToys Eco Home - This is the dollhouse of the future for young children. Comes with wind turbine, solar panels, a living roof and an electric scooter instead of a car! This set includes the house, two dolls, an electric scooter, and furniture for two rooms. Like all Plan Toys, crafted from recycled, natural rubber wood, dyed with vegetable and soy dyes, and assembled with an earth-friendly process.

My First Dollhouse

$90.94 – PlanToys My First Dollhouse – The dollhouse is perfect for young children, being easily accessible from all sides and consists of a balcony, sliding doors and 4 rooms which can be furnished as a bedroom, bathroom, living room, kitchen or dining room with the different accessories. The rooms feature a springtime floral wallpaper design.

Chalet Dollhouse

$133.16 PlanToys Chalet Dollhouse – This dollhouse is made up of 2 units which can be arranged and rearranged in various ways to create a larger play area and to encourage creative thinking. The dollhouse has huge skylight in the roof and 2 movable staircases.

$183.14 Plan Toy Chalet Dollhouse with Furniture – This set is just the same as the regular Chalet, but comes with 5 sets of furniture, including Living Room, Bathroom, Kitchen, Children’s Bedroom and Master Bedroom.

Green Dollhouse

$145.30 – PlanToys Green Dollhouse – I LOVE the Green Dollhouse, as it encourages sustainable thinking among kids. The dollhouse’s energy efficient design includes a wind turbine, a solar cell panel and electric inverter for generating electricity, a rain barrel for collecting rain, a biofacade, which uses the natural cycle of plant growth to provide shading, and a blind that can adjust the amount of sunlight and air circulation. Also, recycling bins are included in the set.

$179.99 – PlanToys Green Dollhouse with Furniture – The Green Dollhouse with furniture is a super deal, coming with enough goodies to outfit five rooms: Living room, kitchen, bathroom, children’s bedroom and master bedroom.

Terrace Dollhouse

$148.39 – PlanToys Terrace Dollhouse – This Dollhouse features a cool movable terrace, partitions, windows, door, and staircase. There is a large upper floor terrace and attic space under the roof.

Victorian Dollhouse

$238.71 – PlanToys Victorian Dollhouse – This dollhouse is the bling dollhouse available at PlanToys, featuring 3 spacious floors including an attic. Each floor is accessible with panels and realistic sashes that slide open and shut. Additional attic space can also be made into any room your child desires.

Also see – DIY dollhouse ideas.

Every year I update my Ultimate Eco-Friendly Play Kitchen Guide for the holidays. This year readers have noted that they aren’t interested in seeing any kitchens containing ply-wood, even if the outer wood is solid. That said, the offerings are more limited this year. This is for a few reasons:

• Companies lie (or exaggerate) and say their kitchen is made of “real wood” but when I dig a little deeper, I find out that their definition of real wood is plywood. It’s not a total lie I suppose, but since readers don’t want that, I deleted every conventional-plywood containing kitchen from the list.

• Secondly, many companies I’ve contacted haven’t gotten back to me. I’m guessing they don’t make real wood kitchens or they just have lousy customer service. Either way, if I’m not assured by the company that a kitchen is made of real wood or at least eco-ply, I deleted it from the list.

• Overall, what I’ve found is that VERY few companies make actual, full on wood play kitchens.

Then I thought, hey, maybe I should look on Etsy. I’m fairly Etsy obsessed anyhow, and I was hoping they might have some crafters selling real wood kitchens. Here’s what I found.

• Kulu Wooden Toys play kitchen

   

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• Heartwood Natural Toys play kitchen

   

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• Rewood Toys Mini Wooden Play Kitchen Set

   

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• Hammer & Nails play kitchen

   

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• Sweetie Pies and Monkeys folding fabric kitchen

   

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• Mama Made Them table top play kitchen

   

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Kulu Wooden Toys – My favorite kitchen was the surreal Kulu toy kitchen made with solid Oak with Cherry and Maple highlights and a beeswax finish. Not only is this imaginative kitchen beautifully, and uniquely designed, but it’s affordable and packed with awesome features, such as folding leaf and pull out drawer. I LOVE this kitchen so much – great curvy lines. Also see their cute compact play kitchen.

Heartwood Natural Toys – This adorable little chef’s dream kitchen is heirloom-quality, made from solid pine with paduak burners. The faucet shown is made from beautiful black walnut; also available in poplar. All kitchens are available with the option of a blue enamel or stainless sink. According to the seller, “All of my items are entirely non-toxic, including the glue and finish. I counter sink every screw and plug all screw holes with pine buttons or oak plugs. All corners are rounded over and sanded. All knobs and faucet turn & move for realistic play and are attached with bolts and lock nuts so they will not come loose. NO paint, NO MDF, NO plastic, NO plywood.”

Rewood Toys – I think their Mini Wooden Play Kitchen Set is 100% adorable. Plus, for once it’s a kitchen made for younger tots. Perfect for little babies and or small spaces. All knobs and faucet are moveable and function like a real stove and sink. Made with Canadian woods (mostly pine, cherry and maple). The bowl is made of stainless steel. Bonus – it comes fully assembled and ready to use.

Hammer & Nails – sadly, this shop isn’t taking any more holiday orders, but you could get this kitchen set in the new year. Handmade from solid, local Oregon pine with rounded, child-safe corners. All items are sanded and finished with a non toxic, all natural beeswax wood finish.

Sweetie Pies and Monkeys – this unique fabric kitchen isn’t wood, but it comes in pattern form, so you can make it out of sustainable organic cotton if you like, or reuse fabric. It’s a cute folding fabric kitchen that won’t take up all your space. The completed kitchen measures approximately 50 inches tall and 25 inches wide when all set up, but can be collapsed down and stored because it folds to approximately 25 x 14 x 2 1/2 inches. Perfect for sliding under the bed or placed in a box with all the play kitchen pots and pans and food.

Mama Made Them – the Little Kitchen is simply adorable and handmade with solid real wood and beeswax finish. It also comes with features galore for such a little thing. Such as rare oven, not usually found in a table top kitchen, four burners, made from solid red oak, a stainless steel, removable sink bowl and a handle for easy portability.

Whether you’re looking for homemade eco-gifts, affordable green gifts, zooming green gifts for kids, the perfect green book or a stunning green play kitchen or eco-friendly dollhouse – you’re 100% covered with this eco-friendly holiday gift guide. Keep this page bookmarked, as I’ll be adding some new treats to it throughout this holiday season.

Green holiday gifts for everyone on your list!

Green Holiday Gifts – General Tips

• You Can Afford an Eco-Friendly Holiday Season
• How to choose a safe and eco-friendly play kitchen set or dollhouse
• Christmas consumerism facts
• My top green gift pick of 2010 (2011 coming soon)
• 2011 eco-friendly holiday greeting cards

Ultimate Eco-Friendly Play Kitchen Guide

Green Play Kitchen Gift Guides

• Ultimate Eco-Friendly Play Kitchen Guide
• DIY Toy – Nine Affordable Play Kitchen Sets
• 12 More DIY Play Kitchen Sets
• Camden Rose Eco-friendly Wooden Play Kitchen Sets
• Recycled Cocorico Cooker
• 24 awesome felt play food sets from Etsy
• Great real wood play kitchen sets at Etsy
• Affordable PlanToys kitchen sets
• Chef’s kitchen from Natural Pod

Eco-friendly Dollhouses

• Ultimate Green Dollhouse Guide
• Cherry Wood Dollhouse
• Non-toxic Waldorf dollhouse
• Best affordable green dollhouses

Wonderful Homemade & DIY Green Gift Ideas

• 39 Homemade Green Holiday Gifts That Rock
• Where to order green & last minute Christmas gifts
• DIY Less Expensive & Eco-Friendly Day Before Gift Baskets
• Homemade Holiday Gift – Thrift Store Dress-Up Costume Kit

Zooming Gifts for Kids

Mixed Green Gift Ideas for Kids

• Green Gifts for Crafty & Creative Kids
• Affordable Green Gifts for Toddlers
• Affordable Green Gifts for Babies
• Rocking and zooming gifts
• Eco-Friendly Panda Holiday Gifts for Kids
• Eco-Friendly Cooking & Baking Gifts for Kids

Eco-Gifts for Adults & Teens

• Affordable gifts for adults
• Affordable green gifts for teens

Stocking Stuffers & Other Little Treats

• Green Stocking Stuffers for 2011 – less than $10 each
• Organic & Natural Stocking Stuffers
• Eco-friendly Stocking Stuffers Under $10

Each year, around the winter holiday season, I try to update both my Ultimate Green Dollhouse Guide and my Ultimate Eco-Friendly Play Kitchen Guide.

Also each year I get a ton of questions regarding which dollhouses and play kitchens are actually 100% plywood-free, lead-free and overall non-toxic. That said, this year I’m going to attempt to update these gift guides so that they only include safe products, made without plywood or with greener formaldehyde-free MDF or other eco-materials.

One safe play kitchen option

Before I get started, I figured I’d offer some information on what the problems are with some of the most commonly used materials in play kitchens and dollhouses.

Materials to be aware of in play kitchens and dollhouses:

*NOTE – I’ll be adding links below asap – you may want to bookmark this post so you can come back to it later as I add more material info.

• Plywood and other fake wood products
• Lead
• Paint
• Plastic
• Ethically sourced wood

What I’ll be looking for this year – safe dollhouse and play kitchen criteria:

Real wood: I suggest you look for real wood play kitchens and dollhouses over plastic or composite woods.

The chain of best woods: In my opinion, eco-sourced wood is best, but I also think that a real wood play kitchen or dollhouse made locally (even if the wood is not from a sustainable source) is still seriously better than a plastic or composite wood dollhouse or kitchen set.

Finishes: This year I’ll be looking for play kitchens and dollhouses that are made with child-safe less-toxic, low-voc finishes.

Lead: I’ll be choosing only lead-free or low-lead products that meet the newer lower CPSIA lead levels.

My little disclaimer – Obviously I’m not perfect. I research a lot, but sometimes companies give me the run-around. Plus, if you buy a dollhouse or play kitchen for your child, it’s your responsibility to also research the product to make sure it’s safe and fits your own green criteria.

Camden Rose is a collective of designers, artists, teachers, musicians, craftspeople and parents who design and sell awesome products for children. From non-toxic rattles to wooden musical instruments to old-fashioned games and blocks, Camden Rose has almost everything you need to outfit a super playroom, including some 100% amazing play kitchen sets.

Camden Rose kitchen play sets cost more than other play kitchens, but it’s because these are high-quality, creatively designed, non-toxic toys that will last for generations. Plus, this company has many green and ethical practices in place.

Currently, Camden Rose sells three different play kitchen products:

Camden’s Play Kitchen – Flat Pack Kitchen: This wonderful eco-friendly play kitchen is crafted from solid ash wood, collected from the thousands of trees infected with the Emerald Ash Borer. Instead of burning or chipping this wood into mulch, Camden Rose saved it and created toys that will last generations.

This kitchen is made in the USA without any plywood, press board, or soft pine. It includes creative accessories such as functional knobs and doors, a swivel faucet and removable high-gage stainless steel sink. Parents will adore the flat-packed shipping to save on space and packaging, along with easy 5-minute snap together assembly.

• $249.99 Camden’s Play Kitchen – Flat Pack Kitchen

A Simple Hearth Play Kitchen with Hutch: This non-toxic play kitchen is recommended for children ages 3 and up and is made entirely of real cherry and walnut wood in the USA.  Designed for multi-generational play, A Simple Hearth is made with zero plywood, particleboard/press board or soft pine. The stove, burner and faucet knobs work flawlessly and smoothly without the use of any metal hardware. The brushed metal sink bowl is made from real heavy gage stainless steel and can be removed for easy cleaning.

Everything about this play kitchen is made for realistic imaginative play. There’s a sliding cutting board that really pulls out 12 inches to allow access for more children. Oven and sink doors operate on self-closing hinges and a partition divides the oven from the sink compartment. The back of the kitchen hutch is open, meaning, this play kitchen may be positioned against a wall or in the middle of a room.

The kitchen is shipped partially assembled so it’s easy for parents. Builders simply slide on the hutch and screw on the walnut handles and assemble the hutch (8 screws and 8 hole plugs) then it’s all ready for your child to cook.

This kitchen is also available as A Beautiful Hearth - same kitchen, minus the top hutch.

• $349.99 A Simple Hearth Play Kitchen with Hutch
• $289.99 A Beautiful Hearth play kitchen without hutch

A Simple Fridge – Play Refrigerator: This fridge is hand-made in the USA with real Cherry, Ash and Walnut wood. Ventilation openings are built in the back of the Simple Fridge and slow self-closing metal hinges are featured on the doors. The fridge arrive at your home fully assembled right out of the box. All parents need do is attach the door handles with the four provided screws (instructions included). This is a perfect add-on to either of the kitchens above.

• $299.00 A Simple Fridge – Play Refrigerator

Camden Rose eco-friendly and ethical standards:

• All Camden Rose products are meticulously hand-constructed by craftspeople, not mass-produced.
• High quality materials, all certified non-toxic, such as stainless steel, wood, pure wool, silk and more are used.
• Almost all Camden Rose products are made in the United States. They also employ Fair Trade workers from a women-owned cooporative near Lima, Peru.
• Products are finished in natural, non-toxic beeswax.
• Each item produced is self-tested for lead content and other harmful chemicals. All products contain levels of lead content far lower or non-existent than the minimum allowed. Also, each and every product is free from materials known to produce phthalates, namely PVC (found in soft plastic or vinyl).
• Camden Rose uses red recyclable plastic netting for many of their retail products.
• All products meet CPSIA requirements.