Zero waste greetings cards for mums and dads
Little Difference greetings cards are printed on recycled paper, and plant trees for each card sold, both in New Zealand and abroad). This one is a lovely gift for mother’s day.
Mums love and protect us, make us laught, keep us away from bad friends (and men) and (hopefully) teach us how to cook, talk politely and be there with tissues, when our hearts get broken. And make the world a kinder place.
Only send plantable cards to pet-free homes, as many contain toxic herbs and wildflowers. Also most companies use non-native seeds, which are not good for local birds and wildlife.
Alice Palace’s eco-friendly ‘dog mum’ card!
This eco-friendly dog mum card is printed on recycled card and sent in plastic-free packaging. The card is personalised so let your dog mum know how special she is!
Read our pets tag for more dog-friendly posts!
The history of Mothering Sunday
In the UK, Mothering Sunday is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent, three weeks before Easter. Rooted in 16th century religious tradition, it originally was when people would visit their ‘mother church’.
But today it’s a consumerist binge of 29 million cards and buying pesticide-laden flowers from petrol stations and supermarkets, usually wrapped in plastic.
In history, Mother’s Day was also when domestic servants were given the day off, to visit their mothers. People would take a simnel cake (fruit and marzipan) home.
In the USA, Mother’s Day was influenced by Anna Jarvis, who led a campaign for a national holiday following her own mother’s death in 1905. Her mother was a social activist, who organised ‘mothers work clubs’ to improve public health and sanitation in the 1850s.
Later on in life, she became outraged that the day was being commercialised by florists and card makers, eventually leading her to campaign against the holiday she created, even threatening lawsuits.
She lost all her money trying to stop the commercialisation. And yet when she became ill and spent the rest of her life in a sanitorium, the florist industry secretly paid her bills, and even paid for her funeral.
Choose local organic bouquets
Mothering Sunday is the biggest flower-buying day of the year. So choose local organic seasonal bouquets, rather than the norm. This also supports florists, but also supports nature too.
Many flowers (including all bulbs) are unsafe near pets. Also avoid facing indoor foliage to outdoor gardens, to help stop birds flying into windows.
If you don’t want or can’t grow your own flowers, choose sustainable independent florists (find them at Flowers From the Farm).
Store your flowers in a cool, dark place. Change the water regularly and keep trimming the stems. You can donate used bouquets to Floral Angels, where volunteers re-gift them, to people who need cheering up!
Lost your mum? A comforting book to reassure
Grieving the Death of a Mother.
Those of us who have lost our mums, find it hard when she is no longer there to open up our hearts.
A friend once told me ‘I lost the one person who would love me, no matter what happened in my life. Make no mistake. The death of a mother can be one of life’s toughest experiences.
Although I am 54 years old, I am not all ‘grown up’. Just once more I would like to hear ‘Oh, I am so glad you called. I was just thinking about you. Did you have something good to eat today?’
A nice recycled card for Father’s Day
This eco-friendly father’s day card is printed on recycled card, and sent in plastic-free eco-friendly packaging.
Choosing post-consumer waste is better than FSC-certified paper, as that still requires trees to be chopped down. Why not use paper or card that already exists? And without plastic packaging.
Dads are there to protect us, laugh with us, teach us how to make things in the garage, teach us how birds sing and animals work. And mend things that break (including our hearts).
Only send plantable cards to pet-free homes, as many contain toxic herbs and wildflowers. Also most companies use non-native seeds, which are not good for local birds and wildlife.
How much money is spent on Father’s Day?
In the UK, around £700 to £800 million is spent on food, ties, socks, alcohol and techy gifts on Father’s Day, an average cost of £30 per item.
Yet surveys have found that fathers would rather have ‘quality time’ gifts like a meal out or day trips to somewhere with their sons and daughters.
Celebrated on the third Sunday each June (also for grandfathers and ‘father figures’), the tradition began in 1910 in the USA. To honour a veteran father who raised six children alone, after the mother died in childbirth.
Back then, the ‘celebration’ was more holding sermons and wearing roses (red for a living father, white for a deceased one).
A Dad is someone who wants to catch you when you fall. Instead, he picks you up, brushes you off and lets you try again. Anon
A father’s job isn’t to teach his daughter how to be a lady. It’s to teach her how a lady should be treated. Anon
Zero waste ideas for Father’s Day
- A basic tool set for garage tinkerers
- A sustainable vegan belt
- Hold a backyard vegan barbecue with artisan beer!
- Visit a local art gallery together (many are free)
- Take a nice nature walk together, time to just be.
- Watch a film at an independent cinema
- Take a trip to the local theatre or comedy venue.
Lost your dad? A comforting book
Grieving the Death of a Father is a book that looks at unique ways to cope, when those of us who have lost our lovely dads, find it hard to cope.
Often dad is the ‘one to measure other men against’. And once lost, you realise just how good he was, compared to most men!
Make no mistake about it. The death of a father causes a very significant wound. Some of us tend the wound, some of us ignore it.
But the wound is not that our father died and by his death our world is forever changed. No, the world is that the world around us acknowledged the death for one very brief moment, then skipped merrily on its way.
