A quaint birthday gift idea for little girls

So what do you do when you want to have a more eco-friendly birthday for your little girl?  Some may have the idea that going organic or natural would not really be that pretty or would they even appreciate it much less their friends.  Especially when your idea for pretty has the face of Barbie and the Disney princesses, this will be a challenge.

My little girl's giveaways, pretty eco-friendly kiddie tote bags and babydoll carrier

For my little girl’s birthday, my considerations for her give-aways and were:

• I will not use Barbie or Disney princesses or the commercial themes
• I will only use what I have, I will not buy anything new
• It will be something the kids will love to use, nothing throw-away
• It’s handmade
• I need to finish 12 pieces in 12 hours!

The last consideration was not by design, it’s the result of the busy life of a mom trying to do everything all at the same time while making sure my children have their own unique birthday celebration.  So you too can do this, with a little focus and a lot of chocolates! (my favorite upper when working from 12 midnight til 3am)

For this, I just used canvass cloth or katsa, a roll of ribbon and a few flower accents.  Simple as simple it can be but still just as pretty!

Aside from the freebies, I wanted to make the birthday celebration more authentic by focusing on the essence of my child’s birth rather than the usual magician and clown.  So we did a story-telling by creating my little girl’s own personal story.  To highlight how special her birth is to our family I also created this set of Birthday garb (the crown and cloak) last year and the heart pendant as the recent addition.

My little girl's pretty pink Birthday Garb, we only bring it out on her birthday so it remains precious even for her.

But being the true crammer that I am, I did the heart necklace at 3am so I was a bit clumsy and I made stitches a bit crooked.  Of course, I couldn’t leave it alone like that, so digging into my treasure chest of odds and ends, I unearthed some lace details and just sew it on the mistakes.  Can you still see the booboos?  Sometimes, mistakes are opportunities to make something good better,  (does it sound like another life lesson, hehehe)

The Heart necklace in detail, I actually added the lace detail to hide some sewing mistakes.

And of course my like-minded mommy-friends made their gifts just as eco-friendly, and my little girl loved it just as much!

With this, the packaging is part of the gift and we don't have to throw anything away and reuse the ribbons for other giftwrap projects.

Yes, being going organic and natural can be just as pretty and fun even for little kids, like anything else, we just need some inspiration, and time, but that makes it more fun even for moms!

What other pretty gift ideas have you used to show your little girl you love her and still stay true to what you want to teach her?