Articles in the Socially Conscious Category

A Tisket, A Tasket, A Full Easter Basket

Easter was one of my favorite celebrations when I was little, although I was not a huge fan of the itchy tights. Now that I am a mama, I like to look for longer-lasting, eco-friendly goodies to share along with the giant chocolate bunnies.

Whether you celebrate Easter or not, we hope you have a great start to the Spring season with your family! Enjoy!

Posted by Candace on Mar 17, 2010 | One Comment

More in: Easter, Eco-Friendly, Fair Trade, Featured, Made in the USA, Organic, Spring
Innovation in Eye Care: Airwear Lenses

Traditionally consumers had to choose between scratch-resistant (SR) and anti-reflective (AR) coatings for their lenses, since each has to be on the top layer to be effective. In fact some AR coatings seem to highlight even the tiniest smudges. But the newest coating on the market manages to combine both features: Sold as “Crizal Avance with Scotchgard Protector,” this is a remarkable product that combines anti-reflective, scratch-resistant, and dirt repellent properties all on the same lens.

I had the opportunity to try a pair of Essilor’s Airwear polycarbonate lenses with this new coating. They are less than half the weight of my glass lenses, and their coating really works as advertised.  Ask your eye care provider about Airwear lenses or visit LighterSaferGreener.com for more information.

Posted by Debbie on Mar 11, 2010 | 2 Comments

More in: Eco-Friendly, Featured, Safety
HappyMELTS Make Baby Happy

We’re fans of the HAPPYBABY philosophy. Delicious, organic, nutrient-packed baby foods. HAPPYBABY partners with the eminent Dr. Robert Sears and dietician Amy Marlow to produce food that you can be confident about sharing with your baby.

Now they have come up with HAPPYMELTS, an organic, freeze-dried, yogurt snack, which is a great for toddlers if you can pry it out of mom’s hands.

I’m serious. I ate half the bag…

Posted by Candace on Mar 3, 2010 | Comment

More in: 12-18 Months, Featured, Food, Organic, Toddlers
Gifts with Heart

One of my favorite stores is donating 25% of all Valentine’s Day purchases to Haiti. Click here to visit Rosie Hippo and to donate 25% of your purchase to Haiti use coupon code: HELPHAITI.

RosieHippo.com is the place to shop for hip, eco-friendly toys. Many of their toys are on-sale right now, so you can get a great deal and make a donation to Haiti at the same time.

Sweet Charity

As part of a project with Bloganthropy, I am posting about this effort to earn a donation of clothing forSew Much Comfort from Dollar Days.

Sew Much Comfort provides adaptive clothing at no cost to support the unique needs of our injured service members from all branches of the military and national guard. This clothing fits around medical devices and prosthetics and gives the service member and medical personnel ready access to injured areas. The adapted clothing allows injured service members to have their clothing appear the same as normal civilian attire; an attribute which helps facilitate a more natural and comfortable recovery. Without adaptive clothing the only option for the service member is a hospital gown.

Posted by Debbie on Feb 11, 2010 | 7 Comments

More in: Charity, Featured, Socially Conscious, Valentine's Day
Conserve and Preserve–One Bite at a Time!

We love the “new again” trend of packing school lunches in reusable containers–it is a little way even small children can push back against a society addicted to disposables. Plus, many of the containers like the ones at Kids Konserve are so eco-chic!

Posted by Candace on Feb 4, 2010 | Comment

More in: Eco-Friendly, Featured, Pre-schoolers, School Aged Children
Donation to Haiti

We know that fabulous Mamanistas like to help–especially when there are young children who are hurt or lost. We’ve been so impressed by all of the mom bloggers (and many others) who have stepped up to make donations to Haiti and support others who are doing the same…

Posted by Candace on Feb 3, 2010 | Comment

More in: Charity
Help Haiti, Make a Pledge

We want to do our small part to help the people of Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquakes. We would like to donate up to $200 to The Salvation Army to help with the relief efforts.

And we want our donation to have a larger impact, so we are asking you to take action, too…

Posted by Mamanista on Jan 15, 2010 | 2 Comments

More in: Charity, Featured
Happy Holidays from Mamanista!

This has been an exciting year and we hope you have enjoyed our posts. In 2010, we will continue to bring you reviews of cool baby gear, fashionable children’s clothing and accessories, educational toys, and other finds for mom, baby, and the whole family.

We also want to highlight more charitable efforts as part of the Bloganthropy project. Because looking at stuff is neat, winning stuff is fun, and giving stuff to people in need is truly fabulous.

Posted by Candace on Dec 23, 2009 | 2 Comments

More in: Chanukah, Charity, Christmas, Featured