Green birthday: locally made hula hoop, experience party, and a classroom book to share
We've just celebrated my first-born daughter's 8th birthday! Eighth! It seems so old, that I might as well be saying 80th!
First off -- thank you EnviroMom readers for the great classroom celebration idea! To avoid both the sugary treats and token giveaway at school, my young bookworm talked to her teacher about picking a book to donate to her class. We got a really nice young learners' biography of Helen Keller, whom my daughter admires, and read a bit from it to celebrate with her class. Kudos also to her teacher who talked about how instead of bringing a treat that would be gone in the blink of an eye, we'd brought something that the class could share and use forever! They also did a fun exercise where the students paired up and tried finger spelling on each others' palms, demonstrating the first way Helen Keller learned words.
My daughter chose an experience party with her family instead of a friend party -- so we swam our hearts out last weekend at the local community center. As for her gifts, is there anything cooler than finding the perfect gift for someone that you know they are going to love? Just so you know, my 8-year-old has a knack for the hula-hoop. She learned it at one of her last summer camps and blew my socks off the first time she showed me. Trouble is we only have a very heavy and adult-size home-made hula hoop, which doesn't work well for what my daughter calls 'neckers' (twirling the hoop around her neck). So check out this hoop of beauty...
It's a locally hand-made kid-size hula hoop by the Mayor of Hooperville, Portland-based Erika Fey. Ha! And I feared my only hoop choices would be banged up second-hand (if I could find one in the right size) or mass-produced made in China. Not so! Hooray for Hooperville! Hooray for locally made gifts, books to share with school kids, experience parties and all manner of green birthdays!!
PS If you want to put some spring in your step, check out this awesome video of the Mayor of Hooperville… Makes me want to step into a hoop (but not look anything like the video) and totally make an utter fool of myself. But hey, it'll be fun!
First off -- thank you EnviroMom readers for the great classroom celebration idea! To avoid both the sugary treats and token giveaway at school, my young bookworm talked to her teacher about picking a book to donate to her class. We got a really nice young learners' biography of Helen Keller, whom my daughter admires, and read a bit from it to celebrate with her class. Kudos also to her teacher who talked about how instead of bringing a treat that would be gone in the blink of an eye, we'd brought something that the class could share and use forever! They also did a fun exercise where the students paired up and tried finger spelling on each others' palms, demonstrating the first way Helen Keller learned words.
It's a locally hand-made kid-size hula hoop by the Mayor of Hooperville, Portland-based Erika Fey. Ha! And I feared my only hoop choices would be banged up second-hand (if I could find one in the right size) or mass-produced made in China. Not so! Hooray for Hooperville! Hooray for locally made gifts, books to share with school kids, experience parties and all manner of green birthdays!!
PS If you want to put some spring in your step, check out this awesome video of the Mayor of Hooperville… Makes me want to step into a hoop (but not look anything like the video) and totally make an utter fool of myself. But hey, it'll be fun!
Recent Comments