CIE Holiday Shopping Guide

zzpets

News recently broke (and unbroke) about the unsafe levels of the toxic compound antimony on this Holiday season’s hottest new toy, Zhu Zhu Pets. Until then, it seemed like a great gift for the times: inexpensive, simple, and oh so cute. But the alarm raised by the exposure of a certain fireproofing chemical used in its manufacture should not be dismissed. Standards for toy manufacture, and, for that matter, product manufacture, remain at once lax and rather unregulated. Fortunate thing we have groups like GoodGuide that are helping the consumer to navigate the waters of safe/unsafe in a wide range of products, from toys to food to personal care items.

Similarly, we have publications such as The Blue Pages: A Directory of Companies Rated by Their Politics and Practices to help educate the consumer on the business practices of large companies and manufacturers. The more we know about how our products are made (and by whom), the easier it is to support business practices that we, as consumers, approve of.

In that vein, my Holiday Shopping Guide is a compendium of companies recommended by both GoodGuide and The Blue Pages. Get out your shopping lists and get ready to edit!

Greenest Toy Companies of 2009 — Good Guide

The Blue Pages: 10 Best Brands to Buy this Holiday Season (via Air America):

Gap
Tiffany and Co.
Best Buy
Hewlett-Packard
Kenneth Cole
Campbell Soup Company
Naked Juice
The North Face
Ben and Jerry’s

The Blue Pages: The Top Ten Companies to AVOID this Holiday Season (via Air America):

The Children’s Place
Hanes
JC Penney
The Limited Brands
IBM
Albertson’s
Chiquita
L’Oreal
Target — ouch! That one’s gonna hurt!
Wal-Mart

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Tags: green, natural, recycling, sustainable, sustainable living

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 Buy This!, Don't Buy This!

5 Comments to CIE Holiday Shopping Guide

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Twitted by cheapisexpensiv on December 8th, 2009

Oh no, not Target! Say it isn’t so.
( I tried the link to Blue Pages, but it didn’t work.)

Gaga on December 9th, 2009

I was sent two Zhu Zhu pets plus the entire line of accessories for review. They were so terrible that I chose not to review them. None of the accessories, like the exercise ball, would stay put together. Really crappy. My kids really liked the hamsters themselves.

I gave away the entire set to someone who’s kid REALLY wanted it for Christmas and the mom couldn’t find them anywhere.

Crap!

Almost all of the presents under our tree this year are green. I think all the toys are wooden or recycled plastic. And they are also getting lots of books and puzzles. And we have three Green Toys products (chef set, dining set, and dump truck) as well as a dollhouse full of PlanToys furniture and people. (Yeah for shopping on Amazon-free shipping and no tax.)

Leighann on December 12th, 2009

Thanks, Gaga, for the heads up. Link should be working now!

Leighann, given what you’ve said about Zhu Zhu, I just find it hard to believe that they’ve magically become the hot gift this Holiday season. I mean, who decides these things??!
Kudos to you for going green in your toy choices – we are lucky to have ever widening choices, with really great stuff to choose from. I mean, why not something from Plan Toys as the hot gift this season??!