There she was in all her glory. Long white lab coat, frizzy hair, safety goggles — and a face smeared with the black ash of an experiment gone terrifically wrong. She was, at least on this Halloween night, Dr. Abby Normal. But for most of her life I had known her as Abigail, my daughter, and I had just taken some of the most legendary photos of her life. I honestly think it is possible that Halloween is more fun for parents than it is for the kids, especially when the kids are little and parents are able to dress them up. There are so many options for cute Halloween costumes for little kids, it might be hard for a parent to choose.

For a young baby there are all kinds of “Baby’s First Halloween” outfits, bibs, socks and other items to help celebrate the baby’s first trick or treat. Depending on how old your baby is you may want to stick with one of these outfits, especially if he is a newborn, or still very small. It can be difficult to find cute, ultra little outfits for little babies. If your baby is close to his first birthday, you may be able to find a cute costume in a size 12-18 months that will fit your baby well.

For older babies and toddlers there are a wide range of costumes that can be bought. At this time of year you can find costumes in just about every store and at every price. Wal-mart, Target, Kmart and other stores like them often have less expensive versions of the costumes that stores like Disney and Spencer’s Gifts carry.

The most popular costumes for little girls are the Disney princesses, fairies and Barbie’s. A little girl loves to dress up as a princess for a day, with the tiara and pretty dress. She loves the attention it brings from the people who open the doors when they say, “Trick or treat”.

Little boys tend to gravitate to the super hero costumes. Superman, Spiderman, The Hulk, Batman, and whatever other popular hero is out there. You will also find a lot of police and firemen costumes, as well as sports stars that boys will like.

You can find branded costumes, like Winnie the Pooh, at all stores, however they will all be a little different. The more exact, more quality Disney costumes you will find at the Disney store even though you will still find an acceptable version at Wal-mart. While the costumes at the Disney store may be more quality, they will also be more expensive, normally costing at least 2-3 times as much as the version you will find other places.

For more unique costumes you can look at stores like Spencer’s Gifts which yearly has some favorites such as Spiders and Elephants. A popular baby and child clothing store have different themes for boys and girls as well, like Nascar, and Cowboy for boys, with matching Cowgirl outfits for girls.

Safety
When buying a Halloween costume for your baby or toddler, remember to think safety first. If your baby or toddler is walking chances are they are a bit clumsy and the added weight of the costume won’t help matters much. Make sure there is nothing dragging on the ground that your baby can trip on, and that their costume is light enough and reflects enough that cars and traffic can see them.

Weather
Before you buy a costume, consider what the weather will be like. Some costumes can be layered others aren’t. If you are in an area where it will likely be chilly or could possibly rain/snow on Halloween, look into a thicker costume that will help keep your child warm. If you are in an area where it will probably still be warm and maybe muggy, try to find a lighter costume, one that will allow your baby or toddler to stay cool. Your toddler will be running around, having fun and could quickly become overheated. You don’t want a sick child on your hands.

Saving Money
A great, money saving tip for Halloween costumes is to shop ahead for the next year. Hit the sales where you can get 50-75% off Halloween costumes to wear the following year, or even several years down the road. It is possible to hit up the Disney store a few days after Halloween, and buy some great costumes that are retailed at $35-$40 a piece, for less than $10 each. These costumes will last years and can be used by all your children at different times in their childhood.

Multi-use Costumes
Toddlers, boys and girls a like, like to play dress up, and pretend they are the characters they portray. The days following Halloween are a great time to scoop up deals on left over costumes that your children can use to play dress up with in the house. Imagination for children is not only educational, but can keep them occupied for a long time so that mom and dad can get things done.

Every mother to be or new mom will be well aware of the need for nappies for their little one. Nappies, or diapers as they are more commonly known in the United States, are one of the biggest necessities for families with young children, but they can also be one of nature’s greatest enemies! That conflict is a big reason why more and more parents are turning to the old style cloth nappies in an attempt to reconcile their family with their beliefs.

Nappies have been around in cloth form since the Elizabethan era in England. Although they were only squares of linen back then, they have been used ever since. If you are over the age of forty then the likelihood is that you wore cloth nappies when you were a child, but from the 1970s onwards more and more children wore disposable nappies. They were actually introduced in the 1940s but were not affordable for the average family until thirty years later. Now, they are more common than ever and brand after brand adorns the supermarket shelves, but why should we regress and use cloth nappies in the 21st Century?

There are a number of reasons why you should use eco friendly cloth nappies over disposables on your children. Whilst many of them relate to the environment, some also relate to the well-being of your child:

• Disposable nappies take, on average, 500 years to decompose. This is hotly debated because many experts have predicted that they will take much longer than that, but when you consider that disposable nappies actually account for one full black bin bag’s worth of trash every week per child then you get an idea of just how big a problems this is. 90% of nappies will end up in landfill sites so we are degrading the earth.
• Washing a disposable nappy 400 times is comparable to the manufacturing of one nappy in terms of the amount of energy that is used in both processes. This makes the cloth nappy far more energy efficient and in keeping with a greener lifestyle.
• The average baby will use over a thousand disposable nappies in one year, but would only need between twenty and thirty cloth nappies for the same period of time. Of course, some families would purchase more to accommodate physical growth, but the number is still nowhere near as large. In terms of the financial and environmental burden that the former brings, cloth nappies seem infinitely preferable.
• You can purchase environmentally friendly cloth nappies that are made of hemp, wool and organic cotton now so even the material that they are made with will not damage the environment! Not to mention the fact that they would be extremely kind on your little one’s skin.
• Finally, baby faeces that are left as rubbish for two weeks contains around 100 viruses on average. If you think about the fact that the faeces is not going through a proper sewerage treatment plant but is instead filtering through the groundwater system. It could actually make its way into your own water supply at a later date. You may want to seriously consider using cloth nappies. They are better all around for you, your family, and the environment in general so they are by far the better choice!

There are horror stories in the newspapers and on TV every single day about different chemicals and substances that have been found to be harmful or bad for the environment. Now everybody knows the old adage of not believing everything you hear or read, but have you ever wondered what all of those long and complex words mean on the label of your cleaning product bottles?

The majority of them are harmful to the environment and can be harmful to your children, especially newborn babies. This is not just some scary story to try to encourage you to buy another product. A truth is that your current cleaning products are no more effective than homemade products that can be made in just a few moments with natural ingredients. In fact, those natural ingredients are often to be found in your home anyway. Lemon juice is a prime example.

You can protect your children and the environment by using the following recipes and tips to create your own cleaning solutions and save money at the same time!

• For an all-purpose cleaner, mix 125mls of pure soap with four litres of boiling water and stir well. Add 60mls of lemon juice to the solution and stir. Use the solution while it is still warm for an intensive clean. You can then bottle what is left over and use it as a spray.

• Baking soda is effective for cleaning carpets and scouring surfaces. To clean carpets, simply sprinkle baking soda over the area that you want to clean and leave it for an hour or so before vacuuming it up. This will bring any dirt and stain right out. For scouring, mix baking soda with an equal amount of pure soap and use a scrubbing brush. Baking soda is extremely effective for all sorts of household cleaning chores. It works as an oven cleaner and a bathroom cleaner when used with a damp sponge. It’s the one item that you must have at home for a cleaning solution!

• If you want to freshen the air in your home and introduce nice smells then adorn your home with plants. All air fresheners have a chemical component that coats you nasal passages instead of removing the existing smells. Plants do exactly the opposite and enhance your home as a result!

• Use vinegar to clean your windows. You literally only need a little vinegar to polish up the glass and remove lingering dirt. Vinegar also works to cut through greasy pots and pans and remove lingering stains on carpets. Lemon juice also works for these purposes but vinegar is slightly more efficient.

So there you have it! You can clean your home from top to bottom with household natural products and protect your children from the harmful effects of various chemicals at the same time, not to mention that you will save an awful lot of money this way!

If you are looking to improve the environmental efficiency of your home then you should look to get the whole family involved. The best way to do that is to recycle. Many people look on recycling as a hassle that they haven’t got time for but it can be an extremely fun activity that everyone can take part in!

Recycling also has the added bonus of being able to save money, and this will be a key plus for those families that are expecting a new addition any time soon, or indeed have recently had a new baby.

As a result of both of the above factors, recycling is a fabulous idea that can really improve household efficiency both in terms of the environment and your finances. The ten ideas below will help you to get started and may even inspire you to come up with ideas of your own!

1. Use old clothing that cannot be donated to charity when you have a clean out. Towels can be cut into face cloths and shirts can be cut up into new dusters or cleaning cloths!
2. When you are eliminating things you no longer need, divide everything that you intend to throw away in to piles for recycling. Reuse anything you possibly can. You may be able to donate to charity or even sell your old items on eBay for a little extra cash. Any old bottles and tubes can be emptied and recycled.
3. Have a compost bin for any gardening waste or vegetables that are not eaten. You can give this back to the Earth by using it for fertilising the soil in your garden later.
4. Look to make toys out of old household items. Your children can get involved in this. For example, roll on deodorant bottles can be used for painting tools, old cardboard boxes can be transformed into a dolls house and so on!
5. Recycle old cans by finding an aluminium can depot that will pay for them. This will encourage your children to collect them because it is a little extra pocket money!
6. Use any prepaid envelopes that come through the post to send your own mail! You can cross the original address out or cover it with recycled paper and address it to where it needs to go!
7. Pass magazines on to friends or drop them off at your local community centre or medical practice so that they can be read again and again!
8. Reuse old pasta sauce jars, pickled onions or homemade jam. You can keep reusing them again and again, plus they will keep your homemade food fresh.
9. Baby food jars can be used for potting seedlings in the spring. You and your children can nurture them before planting them outside.
10. Soak old tumble dryer sheets in boiling water after use to get all of the remaining softener out of them and then reuse them as baby wipes with a little baby lotion.

All of the above tips may seem like common sense when you read them but there are plenty of creative ways that you can reuse household items to save you money and become more efficient.