The owners of The Tickle Trunk have been working on perfecting an elusive and incredibly designed product since their store first opened – a stainless steel popsicle mold.  I’ve spoken with owner Carolyn regularly for almost a year and not a conversation has gone by without her mentioning with so much excitement about these popsicle molds. Well I have one of these amazing trays in my freezer, as they have just arrived and are in-stock at the Tickle Trunk and they live up to every one of my expectations. This might be one of the last places you’ve been trying to source a BPA-free or plastic-free solution in your freezer. Since the hormone disruptor BPA first gained media attention 2 years ago, most parents have been wary of plastic materials being used for freezing or heating food/liquid. I’ve never made my own popsicles because the plastic alternatives on the market always turned me off. The Tickle Trunk has not only designed a product that will last a life time because the design and quality are amazing, but is a pioneer in the process of bringing safe products to the fingertips of parents looking for stainless steel alternatives.

The popsicle mold arrives with several pieces and includes: 6 large stainless steel popsicle molds, 1 metal tray to hold the molds, disposable wooden popsicle sticks, silicone parts to hold the stick in place and stainless steel discs.  The steel is high quality 18/8 grade making it dishwasher friendly and easy to clean.  The molds are free-floating so that you can remove or re-fill one at a time.  The silicone rings were designed with this material so that the popsicle stick glides into the mold easily and stays where it’s supposed to be placed. The discs that hold the stick and measure the size of your popsicle have a beautiful sun burst design that is kid friendly and very attractive for adults.

The minute this popsicle mold arrived in my home, I was so excited to try making my own popsicles for the first time with my kids. I’ve since researched nutritious recipes that you can use to improve the popsicle, but I’m pleased with how easy the process was. You can tell this product has been tested, re-tested, designed, and perfected by a mom. Small details like using the removable silicone rings to adjust to the different sized sticks a consumer would use – to the tray design that keeps the molds perfectly still while freezing. When the popsicle is frozen and ready to be removed from the mold, you simply warm it in your hand and it releases very smoothly ~ ready for that excited child or adult to enjoy. Talk about the w-o-w factor and there’s nothing else like it on the market.

Mommy Footprint is so excited to offer our first contest of the year!  The process will go a little differently from previous ones – we will track contest entries via our Fan page on Facebook.  The lucky winner will receive a stainless steel popsicle mold from The Tickle Trunk. Enter to win by becoming a Mommy Footprint Fan here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mommy-Footprint/261832505845, then click over to The Tickle Trunk site and tell me what your favorite Tickle Trunk product is on their site by posting on the Mommy Footprint fan page wall. If you don’t have a Facebook account and would like to enter, you can use our traditional method of entering a contest by using the referral form http://mommyfootprint.com/mommyfootprint-referral-form/  I thought it would be fun to try something new with this awesome contest.  I’m loving my popsicle mold and wish you all luck with winning. Contest is open to all residents in North America and will close on March 19th.  If you are currently a member of the Mommy Footprint fan page, simply post your favorite Tickle Trunk product to the fan page wall to be entered into the contest.

Thanks again to The Tickle Trunk for sticking with the journey of creating this safe product that is such an incredible investment for any home. Popsicle molds are currently available through The Tickle Trunk and Green Planet Parties.

For recipes for making popsicles a healthier treat – check out these articles:

Hello, Summer: All-natural popsicles from scratch

All Natural Watermelon Popsicles

32 Unique Homemade Popsicle Recipes & Ideas

I’m a huge fan of stainless steel dishware and it became a permanent staple when I learned all my Disney printed licensed plates were produced with polycarbonate plastic 2 years ago. I quickly decided that safety and quality needed to come first over designs with licensed friends that wanted to entertained thoughts of leaching chemicals into my children’s food.  When I saw the stainless steel dish set from Untangled Living I was so excited to review a product that was amazing quality and provided kids with a child-friendly design they would gravitate towards using. The butterfly and gecko designs beautifully etched into the cup, bowl, plate, and cutlery are awesome.  Check out both adorable designs – I always love it when a designer can take a practical item and give it a design that kids will also love without the heavy influence of commercialism.

I really recommend this for a unique baby shower or 1st birthday gift.  To really get your full value for the product – it should be started with little ones because the bowl and cup in the set are sized for very small hands and portions.  The plate and utensils are a great size for a toddler – 5 year old, but an older child will not get great use from it. The quality is wonderful because it’s 18/8 – 304 steel grade and is dishwasher friendly. I have since purchased this dishware for a gift since receiving mine to review and think the design, packaging, and set combination is good value and makes a special gift. These sets are available to purchase through the Untangled Living site or through various retail stores like our friends over at Nayla Natural Care.

With the beautiful spring weather on the West Coast slowing becoming a staple around here – my mind’s been drifting to upcoming baby showers with Spring being the magical season for celebrating new little bundles. I have a deep affection for great quality stainless steel solutions and will be featuring more products in upcoming articles and a contest will be announced shortly! Stay up to date with Mommy Footprint posts by joining our new fan page on Facebook or using the subscribe to updates option on the right sidebar of this article.

I’m pretty confident that if every little girl was given a tea set with play food on Christmas morning – the squeals would be heard around the world. It’s one of those things you simply don’t question. Girls never tire of having pretend tea parties and after using the world’s possibly greenest set for 2 years, my Christmas pick for the younger crowd is the Green Toys tea set. Because Green Toys make their products from recycled milk jugs and manufacture their products in the US,  the eco-friendly status of this toy is wonderful…not to mention you don’t have to worry about phthalates or BPA. My girls drink from the tea cups and tea pot in the bath tub every night – it’s their nightly routine. This set has been the best toy they’ve owned and I love that it’s safe for them to mouth and drink from.

I’d like to point to an Etsy store for my ‘cupcake’ pick because I think everyone should have some handmade, uniquely handcrafted toys and gifts under their tree this year. I would love to see a decline in the profits of huge toy companies and see a boom in the sales of small companies that have gone back to the ’safe’ way of creating toys for our children to play with. Felt is a material I’m very fond of and plan to incorporate felt food into one of the larger gifts for my girls this year. These felt play cookies and cupcakes from the Etsy store Sugar Chic Baby are next on my list to order for Christmas shopping.  They look so real!

If you have a special theme in mind for your gift ideas this year, why not try Etsy first before heading to Toys R Us or to Walmart? Think your kids that love to dress-up would appreciate a new item for their trunk?  Try going to Etsy.com and use the search field to source gifts this year. What a difference for our children’s health and the planet’s health.  Much of the plastic from packaging and products themselves would be eliminated. Not to mention we’d be supporting many moms that appreciate the extra income to handcraft these truly special items. Try it – you get a really good feeling from shopping this way.

The feedback to the article about Graze Organic ~ a company trying to eliminate our need for plastic baggies ~ really got people commenting. The next question has been ‘how do I eliminate using plastic freezer bags for food storage?’  I’ve touched upon some alternatives in the past, but recently tried using a stainless steel solution from The Tickle Trunk and would love to share.  Here are my recommendations for eliminating freezing with plastic wrap or bags from your food storage.

Stainless Steel:

The Tickle Trunk is now carrying top of the line, stainless steel grade 18/10 food containers that seal air tight because of the awesome design of the silicone lid that latches closed so the food inside is free from air entering the container. The design is great and the quality is wonderful, with a great price-tag for stainless steel.  Look for the containers on The Tickle Trunk site that are made in Korea and are 18/10 steel grade as a new freezing alternative. This will solve the problem of people trying to store frozen food in glass jars in their freezer, because you quickly run into a space problem. These stainless steel containers are stack-able and can be purchased in a full range of sizes ~ small enough to freeze baby food, pesto, etc. to a large enough container for full size lasagna! The body of this container is dishwasher safe, but because of the silicone around the lid, this part should be hand-washed.

Glass:

These products are timeless and still very popular and effective for freezing food – Pyrex, CorningWare, and Anchor Hocking.  All of these glass food storage solutions have stood the test of time and are wonderful for baking, fridge storage, and effective with freezing food or sauce. If you are looking to completely eliminate plastic, it’s tough to find an airtight lid for these products that isn’t plastic. Most come with plastic lids, but rest assured that the plastic is made from food safe #5 plastic, but the exercise here is to eliminate plastic from touching your food while it’s stored in the freezer. If you are concerned about the plastic lid, but like these products, I would say just don’t pack it full enough so that the food is touching the lid. These products always seem to be on sale at Walmart, Target, Save-On-Foods, etc. so you can’t beat their price-point.

Other options:

Tin Foil can be used for short term freezing of chicken, etc.  I almost typed parchment paper but then started wondering what that slippery coating on the surface contained. I researched it and the material that makes it such a great help for baking because of the non-stick factor is a plastic coating. I guess I won’t be recommending that one for these purposes!

 
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We are such big fans of Piggy Paint at my house – the twins squeal with delight when I ask “who wants their piggies painted?!!” It’s wonderful to use a nail polish on children that doesn’t have an odor and was created without chemicals.  The slogan for this all-natural nail polish is ‘Natural As Mud’ and it’s very accurate since the product is actually biodegradable! I’ve written about the ingredients and details of this amazing product line before, the purpose of this post is to let all of my fellow Halloween fanatics know it’s time to start preparing for the best holiday of the year!  Today marks the first day of October’s magical month of fun to start! And for those of you that don’t believe in decorating quite yet - just paint your toes, it’s okay, it’s Fall ~ nobody will see them.  =)

‘Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun’ is the 3-polish gift set that has arrived just in time for October and includes Sleepover (black), Glass Slippers (white), and Mac-n-Cheese (orange).  Order from the Piggy Paint site and have fun with your little monsters all month long.  While you’re on the Piggy Paint site, read Melanie’s tips on Piggy Paint as a learning tool. Very cute ideas to spark some new ideas for moms while bonding and painting nails.

Green Planet Parties is also carrying the individual Mac-n-Cheese color and has brought in some green items for extra Halloween magic this year. Add some sustainable Halloween zip with our 10-flag banner (perfect for a kid’s party or classroom event) and cotton tablecloth with 12 felt bat appliques that sprinkle like reusable confetti. Never buy plastic buckets or bags for kids to collect candy again because we’ve got low-priced cotton trick-or-treat bags that glow in the dark and are the size of the old pillow cases we used as kids. Skully hair accessories and organic candy like the newly arrived snack size gummy bears complete this unique and fun category.

Let the fun begin!  October 1st marks the day that my family no longer looks kooky for already having our house and yard decorated for Halloween and I can talk openly for my love of the pumpkin patch, hay rides, Nightmare Before Christmas, and planning costumes with my husband and kids. Enjoy what is truly the most wonderful time of the year.