Eco-Friendly Birthdays

So if you've been following me for awhile or know our family, you know we use cloth diapers.  Cloth has also worked its way into other parts of our lives...

psst...speaking of cloth diapers...check out Kelly's Closet giveaway this week!


Take for instance the shower curtain.  Oh yes...take a peek at yours.  I bet it is vinyl - and I bet it has the ickies...ya know...the mildew, soap scum...what you don't want to think about when you bump into it after you've so carefully lathered up.  We used to have them...ugh...I even hated changing them because I'd actually have to touch them...so one day shopping the shower curtain isle at Wal-Mart looking for my newest vinyl shower curtain replacement, I spied fabric shower curtains.  What a minute!!  Disposable diapers...cloth diapers.  Disposable vinyl shower curtain...cloth shower curtain.  GENIOUS!  So I bought one...I thought I'd start with my bathroom.  Ya know, give it a test run before buying a second for hubby's shower.  Well, I liked it so much I went back a week later and bought the second.  I toss them in the washer them once a month and let them air dry.  So far I haven't even noticed mildew on them...perhaps I don't give them a chance.  But you better believe I feel much better knowing I'm not tossing an icky vinyl shower curtain into the dump several times a year. 

And as a side note, we also use cloth napkins.

And now you're probably thinking, "What does a shower curtain have to do with birthdays?!"  Ah yes...the shower curtain was just precursor to the birthday portion.  So cloth has now consumed my birthday planning festitivies.  Once I received babycenter.com's friendly reminder that my son is now 11 months and 1 week old I PANICED!  What?!  ALMOST 1 YEAR?!  I know every mother with an older child who is reading this is giving a knowing nod and half smile with my reaction.  :)  So...the first birthday.  I began my quest for 'theme hunting' on Etsy (my new fav website).  I figured to help cut down costs I could make our own decorations.  I can even make my own invitations with our printer and photoshop capabilites.  I'm ready to tackle the task...I've given myself enough time to plan and execute.  As I came across adorable PDF printouts of blues, greens, stripes and frogs I also stumbled upon fabric banners.  Fabric banners?  Yes, fabric banners.  AWESOME!!

AWESOME AND ADORABLE!

This particular banner and the one I'm going to purchase are from LittleBirdsBoutique.  Just think about the endless possibilities!!  You have one banner to start a birthday tradition for kids (and big kids...aka: adults).  For each birthday all you have to do is highlight a few of the colors for your party or other decor theme.  For the son's birthday...blues and browns.  Mom's birthday...purple!  Cake and cupcake designs can even be inspired from one of the fabric patterns!  And yes, this is the exact sales pitch I gave to hubby...he has taken awhile to warm up to cloth.  :)  He did give me the green light to place my order...so guess where I'm headed next...that's right...LittleBirdsBoutique at Etsy!