Feature Articles: The Green Scene

Sunblock has become a family essential for every day, all year ‘round. Kids often make putting it on a battle, hating the feel of cold spray or greasy cream. Because actress Anne Heche had so many skirmishes over sun protection with her own young sons, she decided there had to be a less stressful, happier way to get the essential stuff on her family. Heche partnered with the founders of La Bella Donna to come up with Tickle Time Sunblock, a mineral, brush-on sunblock that is especially formulated for kids — the first of its kind!

Sometimes kids need help putting a voice to their emotions, and other times they need to give their feelings a face. There are no cuter (or sadder) faces than those of Lilikin & Friends. Whether a child is happy, sad, or just plain confused, these little play pals will understand and stay by their side until those frowns are turned upside down. Lilikin , Mollycoddle, and Eleven are soft, poseable plush toys made with certified organic cotton fabrics, and are perfect for a new toy holiday display. The fun with Lilikin & Friends doesn’t stop at the animal itself. Each one has a Twitter page, Facebook profile, and email address for the interactive generation.

While many manufacturers generate waste, here is one that heads in the opposite direction, keeping zillions of pieces of paper out of our landfills. Notebagz transforms this detritus into edgy handbags, cosmetic cases and other accessories. The style alone is enough to recommend Notebagz, even if they didn’t make right-on-the-money bags of all kinds made entirely out of recycled publications, magazines and posters. American-made Notebagz lean on nostalgic icons and vintage books as well as images from television, movie and music artists. All bags feature snappy designs whether shoppers’ tastes run to music, magazine covers, peace signs, travel posters or other icons of times gone by.

As retailers, it’s hard to ignore the green revolution. More young families are demanding natural, organic or sulfate-free products. Nowhere has “clean and green” been more in demand than in cleaning products. New parents need the strongest stuff on the market to clean up the messes, but want those products to be safe and gentle as well. It isn’t easy for retailers to wade through the growing waters of products marked “natural” or “organic,” so we’ve helped out a bit and feature a few favorite brands: BuggyLOVE, Better Life, Dapple and Fresh Wave.