Today marks a big milestone on this eco blog adventure as it is a whole year since I decided to have a go and start this blog. 65 posts later and I have so many people to thank for their encouragement to keep going with it over the last year. I find myself back where it all started with Mother’s Day and getting involved with running a Mother’s Day pop-up stall at the Junior School where my children go. The eco journey with a mission to make the little gifts on the stall more ‘eco’ and less single use plastic that just gets thrown away. My focus has been on re-usable items such as shopping bags and coffee mugs and useful items such as notepads and pens. It went really well and I have just organised yet another stall this year with similar items and supplied the school with eco-friendly wrapping supplies in paper gift bags, tissue paper and eco-paper raffia ribbon for each class COVID ‘bubble’.
I am so thankful to my own mum for her support in writing this blog. She has often saved a cutting from a newspaper or picked things up that she thought I would find interesting or that I could write about. For Mother’s Day this year, she will be getting one of the items from the school stall that my children have chosen and lovingly wrapped for their Grandma. I’ve also given it some thought as to what I could buy her too, especially as we haven’t been able to see each other as much this year as we would have liked due to social restrictions and minimising the risk of COVID.
My mum has always liked birds, in particular owls and robins. I decided this year quite a while ago now to buy her something for the garden. My mum and dad are beginning to enjoy the outdoor space more, especially now the weather is improving. COVID restrictions are very slowly beginning to be lifted with being able to meet outdoors again socially at the end of the month in limited numbers. It has been a really long slog over the winter months so this is a welcome change and hope for a better spring and summer 2021.
The Robin from ‘the metal birds’ collection at Cumbria based small company, Lakeland Steel is gift that can be enjoyed all year round. It is the silhouette of a bird with a long metal spike on it. The idea is that it can be tapped into a tree or fence post in the garden. There are different finishes to choose from, from raw metal which will change colour and rust to black coatings. Some people might like the rusted natural look. Personally, I prefer the coated black and like how that looks against the sky outside. Mild steel in open air loses around 0.5mm per 10 years so with the UV stable black matt coating on a 4mm steel thickness then this should last for at least 50-60 years (a lot longer than any actual bird!). They have other designs too in their collection and make lovely eco-friendly gifts that last.
If you are looking for a completely alternative mother’s day gift this year, then why not consider donating a Mother’s Day gift of Emergency supplies to Uniceff. This box contains essential items to protect other children around the world, a gift for another mother to know her children are safe. Uniceff will even send you a personalised card that you can give to your mum as a thankyou on Mother’s Day.
Otherwise you pick up a bunch of Fairtrade Flowers that I wrote about in my last post or even a card with some thoughtful words. The importance of today to show our mums that they are loved, appreciated in whatever way that might look like.
My next blog target is to keep going to reach 100 blog posts! I have quite a few more ideas of little eco inspired gift ideas to keep writing about and always welcome any ideas and feedback too!
Little Eco Gifts 