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Organic Cloak

£12.00 / CHF 24.00

Organic cotton reversible cloak perfect for dressing up little kings and queens.
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Organic Bandanas

£5.00 / CHF 10.00

Organic cotton bandana with choice of colours and either pirate, spider's web or star designs.
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Organic Crown with appliqué

£8.50 / CHF 17.00

Organic cotton red and yellow reversible crown with contrasting diamond appliqué.
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Fairytale Fairy

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Handmade fairy for hanging decoration or a birthday child's table centrepiece.
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Cherish Doll - custom made

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Individually hand made and tailored to your specifications, the Cherish Doll comes in a range of colours and hair styles.
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Comforter Doll

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Made from a simple triangle of cotton knit with knotted hands. The head is stuffed with organic sheep's wool.
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Eco Friendly Children's Parties

Children's parties have become big events in recent years with more and more parents hiring halls and entertainers for their child's party. Whether you choose to have an intimate affair with just best friends, or perhaps have as many children as the birthday child's age, or if you decide go the whole hog and hire a hall, entertainer and caterer, there are many ways that you can make your child's party more eco friendly. Here are some suggestions and I hope you find something that works for you.

As always we'd love to hear what you think, so please drop us a line, and of course any of your own suggestions would be most welcome and may be published online.

Wrapping paper - some eco friendly alternatives

Probably the most wasteful part of birthdays, Christmas and indeed any other present giving is the wrapping paper. Luckily we can recyle most of ours, but there is still a lot of energy used in producing the wrapping paper and of course we pay good money buying it too. So why not think outside the box the next time you wrap a present. If you can't bear the thought of not using wrapping paper at all then perhaps you could use tissue paper which is much thinner and therefor much less wasteful. Another idea is to use good old brown packing paper and team it up with a gold or colourful ribbon. Even more eco friendly still is newspaper. You can have fun finding an interesting picture to display on the front of the parcel or team it up with a colourful ribbon. If you use fabric ribbon it can be used again and again. For the last birthday in this house we decided not to use wrapping paper at all and instead wrapped the presents up in some silk playcloths that we have. If you don't have anything like this at home you could find some nice fabric at your local fabric shop and use that. You might be lucky and find something nice in the remnants box. And once the presents have been unwrapped you just fold it up and put it away for the next time, or the children can use the cloths for playing and dressing up games.

Party Bags

When I went to parties as a child I can't ever remember taking home a party bag except for perhaps, a bit of uneaten (or was it partly eaten?) cake wrapped up in a napkin. But now party bags are big business. Invariably plastic and often themed, and we are not just talking colours here, but cartoon and TV characters marketed like crazy at our children.

So the first place to start would be making those bags more eco friendly. Instead of plastic, which if discarded outside can pose a threat to wildlife, not to mention the chemicals used to make it, why not go for simple fabric draw string bags. If you can't find any to buy then why not whip some up yourself. You can even get the birthday child to assist you. This doesn't mean that you have to go out and buy the fabric either, you could recycle old T-shirts, pillow cases, sheets and duvet covers, or root through your drawers for old fabric you haven't got round to using (I know I have loads!). You would get about 4 decent sized bags from an adult T-shirt.

You don't even need to be a great sewer as the chances are the children will be more interested in what is in the bags than your workmanship! But if you just don't have time to make them then why not buy plain paper bags instead and personalise them by sticking paper cut outs on the front or writing each child's name in silver or gold pen. This could be done at the party by the children themselves, so they have an input into what they take home.

How to Make a Bag:

Take two squares of fabric, place one on top of the other and sew down one side, along the bottom and up the other side stopping about 3cm short of the top. Leave about 1cm open and then sew the last 2cm up. This gap is where the cord will go in. Now fold down the top all round just above the opening towards the inside, tuck under the raw edge, pin and sew in place. That's it! All you need to do now is thread your cord through the casing you have created at the top with the help of a safety pin, knot the ends so it doesn't pull through, and your bag is ready. You could cut out a simple motif like a star and sew that on one side to jazz it up a bit.

Happy poggling! If you liked this then click on the link to take at look at our How to Make a Monster page.

Some Party Bag Present Ideas

Instead of putting cheap nic nacs in that won't stand the test of time and rigorous play, choose something that will last. Go for natural materials like wood or cloth instead of plastics, a wooden bracelet or spinning top for instance, or Pogglers very own Teeny Titchers.

Consider something that the children will make real use of, a pretty natural soap or some bath fizzies are great for older girls. Give something to stimulate the child's creative side like little note books and pencils or crayons which will always be used and are relatively inexpensive. Or how about some wooden beads and a thread to put them on.

To encourage children outside how about a packet of seeds or some bulbs if it is the right time of year.