LOLA'S ECO- BIRTHDAY

So with no prompting from me – I totally promise! Lola, decided that this year, she wanted to have a “Do It Gorgeously” 9th Birthday party. Now this came as quite a shock, since in this rather rebellious phase that she’s going through (like I say it’s black and before I’ve finished the sentence, she says it’s white), I was expecting her to want something very un-gorgeously green, like a group trip to a theme park, or sit in a movie with giant lurid slushies. But no, she decided off her own bat that she’d love to invite 10 friends over to make recipes from Do It Gorgeously. She was very clear on how the whole thing needed to be – the flow of it, so to speak: There were to be stations for each activity – I was on organic skincare, my friend Lexie would be on sewing and my mom on the food station.

I sat up the night before sewing silk ribbon headbands for the girls out of some wonderful polka dot ribbon I found on sale at my local fabric store. Lola and I both decided that these would be better than goody bags, as she didn’t want people to to home with a bag full of “junk” that they’ll never use again – smart girl!

I made organic honey lip balms with the girls, which they could scent with either pure Vanilla absolute, or orange/lemon essential oils. We also strained mooshed-up blackberries and blueberries for a “Pinky Pout” lip gloss, which we made by adding vegetable glycerin and raw honey.

My mom on the cooking station, taught the girls how to make “Salad Boats” and veggie Kabobs – each girl customizing her own, and not a morsel of food was left. Funny, because my husband was really concerned, thinking there was no way they would eat that kind of food – but they did!!

My friend, Lexie helped them make little no-sew cosmetic purses out of some remnants that I found in my local store. They girls were totally engaged start to finish, even though the no-sew purses turned out to be rather complicated – thank Goodness for the crafty Lexie. They all said they wanted to make more skin care, so much so that it’s inspired me to run a non-toxic skincare workshop for tweens.

I realized that this is the age (9+) when young girls really need to learn to care of themselves with natural and holistic products. With so much peer/advertising pressure to buy all that is glittery, pink and toxic, it’s a tough world that they are about to transition into. This is when “FAKE” can become rather alluring – fake tans, fake nails, – I’ve even seed padded tween bras! So I like to teach these vulnerable girls that they can grow into gorgeous, empowered women by taking care of themselves from the inside out.

So good for Lola! Despite the fact that she often rebels against her Green mommy (and so she should!), she can at least understand that a fruit “flavor” bears no resemblence to the real thing, and she can so tell the difference between let’s say the scent of real Lavender or Jasmine and the articifical perfumes that carry the same name! Their growing bodies are especially vulnerable to toxic products, expecially those that contain endocrine disruptors.

ooooh – I can feel a Green Tween workshop coming on! What a joy it would be to teach young girls who are approaching adulthood that they not only can nurture and nourish themselves with beautiful, natural products, but they can be savvy enought to make their own. Products for tweens need to be clean and simple, with soft and inviting scents – tough to find in a store.

I took Lola and her friend to the beach yesterday as as we walked down the boardwalk, I saw the girls giving some older teenage girls the once over. I love how girls do the top-t0-toe sweep with their eyes. Anyway, these older girls were all texting away, many had fake nails, and all had heavily glossed lips. Ugh – texting on a beach – how depressing. Still, that’s what we’re up against – long may the eco-parties continue!