I can’t tell you how many times I’ve grappled over a gift for a new mom or mom-to-be because I wanted to give them something useful but also non-toxic/green/organic etc. Basically, I wanted to give them the same kinds of things I’d want for my own babies. The problem, however, is that we are a one income family and we have to live within certain budgetary constraints. Translation? I can’t always afford to buy the awesome new baby gifts I want to give. That’s why when I came across the baby gift sets at Lolababiez Organics, I had to share it with you. Not only do they come in a range of prices to suit every budget (starting at $25 and under) but the items in the sets are 1)cute/hip  2)useful (no stupid rhinestone-encrusted pacifiers!) 3)non-toxic/green/organic etc. and come in 100% recycled material boxes. Another item I HAVE to mention even though it’s not specifically green are the doorbell covers printed with messages to let guests know that your baby is sleeping so they don’t ring the bell or knock on the door. I wish I’d had one when my kids were babies. At this point, though, I just want to know why I didn’t think of these first because THEY ARE GENIUS. And lucky you! We’ve partnered with Lolababiez to give you a chance to win not only one of those genius doorbell covers but ALSO a Personalized Gift Set from Lolababiez containing one personalized embroidered organic tee and an organic doll of your choice. See details below!

Find It Here: Lolababiez Organics

Win It: We’re giving away a Personalized Gift Set and a doorbell cover from Lolababiez Organics. Click here to fill out our simple entry form. Just enter LB6 as the giveaway name and provide the answer to this question: What kind of coupon do you get for signing up for the Lolababiez newsletter? Enter by 6/12/09. $34 value. Open to residents of US and Canada. Winner will be notified by email. Contest Closed. Congrats to Tina!

Note: This week the Great Green Post Awards are launching and we’re giving away FREE ad space in our sidebars to THREE random participants! Learn more here

I know…I’m, like, the LAST person on the internet to gush over the coolness of the Color Me Houses and Color Me Rockets but I don’t care because I think these playhouses made from recyclable cardboard are super awesometastic. Why? Well, mainly because you can play INSIDE them and we all know how much kids like stuff they can get inside. And? They can color, paint and marker them them any dang way they want to, as well. The word on the street is that kids TOTALLY DIG these award-winning, imagination-stimulating and creative play-inducing toys. As a parent, I dig that they take no batteries, use no electricity and contain zero plastic. The only thing that would up the DIG factor for me is if they were made of recycled cardboard and who knows, maybe someday they will. Nonetheless, I’m pretty sure a very special soon-to-be 4 year old will be getting the Color Me Rocket for his birthday next month. Don’t tell!

 Find It Here: Color Me House

We’ve mentioned this in the past but it bears repeating…even stuffed animals, which look so cute and harmless, can be toxic. Naturally, I find the idea of my children snuggling up to poison very disturbing but luckily non-toxic and eco-friendly plush toys are out there. and right now I’m quite taken with the Eco Stuffed Naturally Bunnies from Celery Street. Extremely soft and totally huggable, they’re made and filled with an eco-friendly alternative to traditional synthetics that is made from 100% soy fiber and the stuffing is 100% kapok, a golden silky fiber known for its hypoallergenic softness.  Additionally, kapok is a sustainable rainforest crop that comes from the seed pod of the kapok tree. Green and yet affordable, these adorable bunnies would look perfect in the center of an Easter basket but little ones (and their moms) will love them long after the Peeps tummyaches are but a distant memory.

Find it Here: Celery Street

Win It: We’re giving away two Eco Stuffed Naturally Bunnies. Click here to fill out our simple entry form. Just enter CS4 as the giveaway name and provide the answer to this question: What are the names of the three colors of Eco Stuffed Naturally Bunnies? Enter by 4/11/09. $30 value. Contest closed. Congrats to A.

Remember when people listened to music on portable radios? Chances are that at some point in the future our kids will probably be googling “boom box” to figure out what the heck we’re talking about, and they’ll be shocked to see how big our radios were “way back then.” But regardless of how dorky we may seem to our kids in the future, we’ve got a great little boom box for them to play with today. The EcoRadio by Ecotronics is fun little toy radio for ages 12 months and up, which is powered without batteries. Each button produces a different sound or song and is impressively loud considering that it is powered without batteries (did I say that already?). As you can probably tell, I’m pretty excited about that last part…almost as excited as my kids are about their new toy. Speaking of which, my three-year-old just snatched it out of his baby brother’s hands and exclaimed, “This is neat!” I guess he can already appreciate the inherent coolness of eco-conscious retro toys. Or maybe he just thinks it’s really fun to play with. Either way, we’re happy happy all around.

Find It Here: Cooler Choices

Deal! Receive 20% off at Cooler Choices using coupon code “GMF” at checkout. Excludes Nature Babycare diapers. Expires 1/31/08.

Unfortunately, even cute, cuddly stuffed animals and plush toys are not immune to being made from toxic materials. There is hope, though, from companies like Maggie’s Organics. Their Maggie’s Menagerie Sock Monkey is made from their “less than perfect” 85% organic cotton crew socks at a 100% worker-owned cooperative in North Carolina.These adorable one-of-a-kind monkeys are all hand sewn, they’re machine washable and the faces are also hand sewn so they’re are no small parts that could come off and be ingested by children. My son has one and he sleeps with it every single night. He has no idea how much I love his monkey, too!  Each Monkey is approx 9″ tall. Outside: 85% cotton certified organic cotton, 13% Nylon, 2% spandex. Filling: Polyester fiber from mill scraps.

Find It Here: Maggie’s Organics

It’s raining outside and your kids are complaining that they’re bored. Again. They want to go outside and splash around in rain puddles. Fun? Sure. For them. But this morning you’d really rather stay inside, dry, and enjoy your coffee. That’s when you pull out your surprise stash of Happy Fun Dough and everyone is, well, happy! Happy Fun Dough is made using water, flour, salt, cream of tartar, canola oil, and citric acid. All-natural plant extracts are used to color the fun dough. And yeah, you could make it yourself, but just this once it might be nice to let someone else do the work!

Find It Here: For My Kids

Win It: We’re giving away a $38 Super Mega Fun Pack of Happy Fun Dough which contains one 4-oz tin of each of the colors (Natural, Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, and Yellow) in a reusable cotton drawstring bag with a super-cute little rolling pin. Click here to fill out our simple entry form. Just enter “FD45” as the giveaway name and provide the answer to this question: Is there a gluten-free option for Happy Fun Dough? Open to US residents only. Enter by 12/22/08. Contest closed. Congrats, Donna K.!

He sleeps with it, he eats with it, he wishes he could take a bath with it. “It” is my son’s new Eco-Rocket—a toy so exciting that he has been playing with it for two days straight! It’s not often that I find a toy that my three-year-old still wants to play with 20 minutes after opening the box. I love it because it lights up and speaks to you — all without batteries. Yeah, this toy may look and sound electronic, but it’s actually eco-tronic! Just crank the little side-lever a couple times and it powers itself. Made of recycled non-PVC plastic, this little Eco-Rocket is now my go-to-gift for all the little astronauts in my life. I guess it’s safe to say we think the Eco-Rocket is out of this world!

Find It Here: Green Party Goods

Deal! Receive 15% off Green Toys and Gifts from Green Party Goods. Use code “save15″ at checkout. Expires 1/18/09.

Try as I might to avoid battery-operated toys, we still have several of them in our home. Not surprisingly, most of these toys don’t work because I’m notoriously bad at replacing batteries — hence, my love for anything not battery-operated. Plus (and I think this goes without saying) batteries are pretty ungreen and thus when we highlight toys on The Green Mom Review, you’ll pretty much  never see “batteries required” on the packaging. Take these finger puppets available from Best Baby Organics. If you’ve got fingers and an imagination, you’re ready to play! Now, that’s my kind of toy! Hand-knitted by Peruvian Artisans in the Andes Mountains, these fair-trade finger puppets come in over 90 different animal and characters including jungle, farm, domestic, exotic, ocean animals, insects, cartoons and more! You can designate which five puppets you’d like or let Best Baby Organics pick for you and be surprised.

Find It Here: Best Baby Organics

Win It! We’re giving away a $25 gift certificate to Best Baby Organics! Click here to fill out our simple entry form. Just enter “BB65” as the giveaway name and provide the answer to this question: What is your favorite eco-product available from Best Baby Organics? All readers eligible. Enter by 10/6/08. Contest Closed. Congrats, Susan!

These days, we hear a lot in the media about bisphenol-A, phthalates and PVC in children’s products, particularly teethers, bottles, sippy cups, utensils and other food-related items. One thing we don’t hear much about are those same chemicals in your children’s bath toys. When I think about all the bath toys my kids have had over the years, I have very distinct memories of certain items always being in their mouths and I cringe at how many of them were probably tainted with toxic chemicals. It’s enough to make a parent crazy. Luckily, some companies have taken the lead on making safer children’s products, including bath toys and our safety-conscious friends at Z-Recs have taken the time to do the legwork and compile some great resources about which bath toys are, in fact, safe. Take a look at The Z-Recs Guide to Safer Bath Toys and then check out the bath toys and other non-toxic goodness over at The Soft Landing. Everything they carry is BPA and phthalate-free!

Find It Here: The Z-Recs Guide to Safer Bath Toys

Totem Boys… is it a bird, a plane or…sanity in a box? The correct answer is “All of the above!” Just when the boys of summer (mine) began that low but audible whine of “Mom, I’m bored,” I was able to produce shock and awe (to the 7+ set) by producing a game that bends those imagination muscles more than a Wii ever could… Totem Boys is a new building game for kids that is half puzzle and half model kit in a mix of unique die-cut panels made from recycled laminated cardboard and imprinted with interesting reversible graphic images of metal, wood, fire and air to create a spaceship, a plane, a ship etc. There are over 120 building cards for with imagination to spare and a little time on their hands. You can thank Kidsonroof of the Netherlands for saving summer and perhaps your sanity, as well. Cheers!

Find It Here: Stubby Pencil Studio

Win It: Enter to win a Totem Boys or Totem Girls puzzle (winner’s choice), courtesy of Stubby Pencil Studio! Click over to the Green Mom Forum to enter. U.S. and Canadian residents eligible. Enter by 7/20/08.

If you’re like me and catch yourself cringing inwardly when you see the words “batteries not included” on the toy your kid just has to have, then you must check out this toy helicopter — it actually runs on solar power! Recommended for children 3 and older, this solar-powered toy helicopter is lead-free and non-toxic and will never run out of batteries since none (yay!) are required.

Find It Here: Estella

Congratulations to Suzanne B. and Shirley C., winners of a toy helicopter! 

One of the scariest things to discover is that one of the toys your child has been chewing/sucking on/mouthing etc. might contain lead. After all the toy recalls last year, I began to wonder which toys we owned might have lead in them and, unfortunately, I am still not completely sure whether all of our toys are safe. If you’re looking for a way to find safer toys for your kids without having to do a ridiculous amount of research into the safety of each potential purchase, then you’ll love the online shop No Strings Attached Toys. Each and every toy they feature in their store has been tested for unsafe lead levels with an X-Ray Flourescence device to ensure that all painted surfaces (as well as all plastics and other surface materials) on every toy fall far below the federal allowable limit of lead. They even post their toy testing results online so that you can search products and see whether the toy tested low, medium, high or extremely high for lead content. Hello safer, easier toy shopping! Buh-bye big box stores!

Find It Here: No Strings Attached Toys

Deal: Receive 10% off any purchase with code GREENMOM.

Congrats to Wendy S. winner of a $25 gift card to No Strings Attached Toys!