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Saturday, November 19, 2011

Darsi's Eastside Holiday Guide

Green is the color of the season!   Well, green and red, but why not make that green a really rich colored green.  Green for the wreaths and evergreen garland, green for the environment, green for the local economy and green for your pocketbooks!







Here are a few tips to get you started, and started soon, as Thanksgiving is quickly approaching!


  • Purchase some of your gifts from local stores and craft fairs!  Help spread the word of good places to shop and share your favorites below. 
Buy Local

  • Purchase now to maximize your recycling vs. garbage output later on.  For instance, buy the type of wrapping paper that can be recycled afterwards. In King County, this includes all wrapping paper except the shiny and metallic.
Buy Environmentally Smart

  • Make a date in lieu of the traditional gift exchanges.  It helps to agree on this plan before Black Friday, so ping your friends this week to see if they would be interested in attending a local holiday theatrical production or movie together instead!
Buy the Experience

  • And for those gift purchases, consider buying less but of higher quality.  Toys made of natural materials, items that hold their resale value like Legos and books - and clothing that can be resold or handed down later make great gifts.  One of the brands leading this theme is Patagonia and to the extent that they are offering an easier way for their customers to resale the items later on eBay!
Buy More of what will be valued Longer



And finally, as an advocate for the Food Scrap Recycling programs on the Eastside, I couldn't go without writing - make it a priority this season to keep your habits going strong in sending the food scraps to the appropriate bins and keep it out of the landfill.  There is no better time than now, as King County disposal prices are going up in 2012.  Click here to find out how much!

Save Money!


Comment below your Eastside favs.  Local Businesses?  Craft Fairs? Great Gift Certificate Places? Future productions and more?
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4 comments:

  1. DarsiNovember 19, 2011 at 9:48 PM

    Tree Top Toys: http://www.treetoptoys.com/

    Italian Restaurant: http://www.ristorantetropea.com/

    PCC Markets: http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. KelleyNovember 20, 2011 at 8:53 PM

    Hi Darsi,
    What a great blog you've got here! And I love your ideas!!
    The EtsyRain holiday show is next weekend at the Intiman Theater in Seattle Center. It runs Saturday and Sunday and will be host to 55 vendors, all who have shops on Etsy. It's juried and the vendors are guaranteed to be amazing! You can find out more by visiting www.etsyrain.com
    I won't be there, but am having a holiday open house on Dec. 3 at my place with another local mom, a jewelry artist. I'll post info on my blog at www.cozyobabypillows.com.
    Take care!

    ReplyDelete
  3. DarsiNovember 22, 2011 at 10:05 PM

    Thanks Kelley! Hoping to have this article on the Redmond Patch site sometime in the next couple of days. It would be great to share some of this info in your comments on there too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. the incredible flying hernandez familyNovember 23, 2011 at 5:37 PM

    the redmond senior center is having a holiday craft market on december 3rd--my mom and i will be sharing a table (check out vm ceramics @ http://www.vmceramics.com/ and aRt FoR tREEs @
    http://www.zazzle.com/aRt_FoR_tREEs). you can also find us on facebook :) thanks for all of these ideas darsi!

    ReplyDelete

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