Stuff We Like: Springtime Goodies

By Dawn M. Roode March 19, 2012

From a personalized grow-your-own-plant to eco-friendly shoes and adorable, weather-appropriate pieces for kids to wear to Take Your Kid to Work Day, the "Stuff We Like" in our April issue highlights springtime goodies for your kids.

Seeds of Love

This sturdy galvanized metal bucket is handy for collecting eggs and candy on an Easter egg hunt—or, as shown here, for planting some live greenery! Each grow-your-own Easter grass kit contains soil and seeds to fill two 6-inch baskets, one 12-inch basket, or one 11-inch metal pail (containers sold separately). If you can’t place an order in time to arrive by Easter Sunday (April 8 this year), consider gifting the kit to your children and make planting a post-holiday project, or using the bucket as a stowaway for toys. ($10 for grass kit; $68 for bucket, available in multiple designs with personalized letters; chasing-fireflies.com)

All Dressed Up…With Someplace to Go

rujira lawonvisut childrens fahsion line Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, a great way to help our kids explore the many life choices they have, falls on April 26 this year. More than 37 million youth and adults participate at over 3.5 million workplaces each year—will you be among them? Get the kids spiffed up with new duds that are comfortable enough to “work” in but are photo-op worthy, too. We love these Andrew & Audrey striped cotton shorts for boys ($62; andrew-audrey.com) and this girls’ bow cardigan from Millions of Colors ($68; millionsofcolorsny.com) for their versatility. And find fashion tips from the lines’ designer at nymetroparents.com/rl-fashion-tips.

Walk This Way

havaianas organic shoes By now we’re all (hopefully) as eco-conscious as we can be all year long, but reminders never hurt. So this Earth Day (April 22), be mindful, and make some meaningful changes. Get inspired by the more than 600 million “acts of Green” on earthday.org. Every little choice matters—even when shopping for shoes. These Origine Eco Espadrilles from world-famous Brazilian flip-flop maker Havaiana have the company’s iconic, comfy rubber sole with an upper made of natural Amazonian jute; the product requires no fertilizers or pesticides ($38, available in blue or beige; us.havaianas.com).

Wish List

Graduation season is right around the corner. Start your party planning now, and let your older kids prep for the next step in their educational careers with MyRegistry.com. The site lets grads select prospective gift items from any store in the world (online or brick and mortar), has a handy “snap-to-add” feature as part of its iPhone app (just scan barcodes to get price recommendations or add to list), and easily publishes wish lists to Facebook. The cash fund allows gift givers to contribute to funds set up specifically for what the grad wants, from textbooks to snow boots. One of our favorite features is the “surprise me” option, where family and friends can choose one item from a group of similar products which, for instance, would make the three other backpacks in the registry disappear.