Mother's Day & World Book Day

A Look at Mother's Day, World Book Day & Some Gift Ideas

When is Mother's Day?

In the UK, Mother's Day is on 22nd March 2020. Also known as Mothering Sunday, it usually falls on the 4th week of lent and in the US it falls on the 2nd Sunday in May. It's also known as the Virgin Mary Day in some catholic countries. Dates however vary widely from country to country (see wikipedia for more).

Flowers and cards are a firm favourite as gifts for the matriarch of the family. If you're looking to reduce plastics in your life, one way is to avoid buying cards with glitter* and if you have a gift, make your own wrapping paper from magazines, acid free sheets of tissue or fabrics and tie with string. 

*Plastics in glitter/wrapping paper was mentioned in our xmas post last year.

For card ideas, I recently came across a lovely site called Tree Cards. The card itself comes with seeds that Mum can plant and a tree is planted with every purchase. Each card is made from recycled wood pulp and printed using vegetable dye inks. What a lovely thought, especially as the season of Spring is a perfect time of year for planting seeds.

Sainsbury's back in September 2019 announced a trial of offering flowers wrapped in recyclable paper and sealed with recyclable paper tape. This was only available in 160 stores as a trial but plastic wrapping on flowers is something to be aware of when you're choosing gifts for the eco conscious mum. 

Or offer a gift of a trip to a gardening centre where mum can choose her own growing plant (although sadly many are sold in plastic pots!) It's great to see from September 2019, Dobbie's Garden Centres are offering to take back old plant pots for recycling. Or a trip out to her favourite park and cafe would be a nice a gift too. 

An alternative to flowers, is to try seed bomb kits which are available in tins, hessian bags or cardboard pillow envelopes. The seed balls can be thrown in the garden and contain compost and clay to keep the seeds nurtured. I have seen some with chilli pepper mixed in also to deter pesky pests as they begin to grow. 

Another thought is alternative wash cloths*. Scouring pads often have plastic mesh to provide the scrubbing side. If it says 'poly' something on the label it most likely contains plastic. Sellers on etsy have alternatives called non sponge or unsponges. These can be made from cotton, linen, hessian, bamboo and other natural products making them suitable for composting at the end of their lives. Many are also machine washable.

*It may seem strange buying something to wash up for mum but to be honest I find them very cheerful as I have several myself. The cloths come in so many designs so if mum likes birds or flowers or even whales, she can have a cloth adorning her kitchen sink with her fave image to admire on a daily basis. I even use mine in the bathroom as a face cloth!

World Book Day Coming Soon!

UK Schools are gearing up for World Book Day on Thursday 5th March 2020. 

Per wikipedia, 'World Book Day is a charity event held annually in the United Kingdom and Ireland on the first Thursday in March. On World Book Day, every child in full-time education in the UK is given a voucher to be spent on books.'

Reading is perfect for fun and imagination and helps readers switch off from the world around them. Conversely, reading can also be a way of learning about the world around them. 

Lovelierplanet has produced a list of 10 adult friendly books on reducing plastics and 10 eco-friendly books suitable for children.

I learnt a lot from Beth Terry, author of How I Kicked the Plastic Habit (see my review for more). Meanwhile, happy reading and here's to Mother Earth on Mother's Day!