Our not-made-in-China Christmas
You know what? It’s hard! Very hard. First of all, all the toy recalls and lead-paint scares. Scary.
And then I started looking. Everything is made in China. I went to J. Crew the other day, when I was at the mall. All that stuff? Made in China. Martha Stewart’s new line at Macy’s? China. I came home and looked at our clothing tags and the bottom of our dishes and tags on our linens and marks on our toys: China. Wow.
This is all well and good for China.
But my inner proletariat says, Buy American! And my inner handcraft hippie says, Buy Handmade! And my inner Ma Ingalls says, Make It Yourself!
So I said to myself this holiday season, I am boycotting Made In China. Money where my mouth, et cetera.
And then I promptly came down with some sort of mysterious intestinal ailment. No energy to stay up late or run around town. It’s enough if I can manage to be vertical during the day.
All I have purchased so far is a Playmobil pirate set (made in Germany!) for Owen. I have, let’s see, one evening this week where I am not working or prepping for a diagnostic procedure or traveling to the cornfields of the Midwest. Do you think I can find a local toy store stocking a toy appropriate for a six-month-old that does not contain higher-than-acceptable levels of lead, arsenic or cadmium, preferably having been made someplace reassuring, like the Czech Republic? Failing that, do you think I could sew together something in under an hour and a half that could passably have come from “Santa’s workshop”?
I really, really hope you say yes.
Comments
13 Responses to “Our not-made-in-China Christmas”
Leave a Reply
recent flickr
-
my sewing tutorials
See my tutorials featured on SMS' Handmade Holidays!
Me, elsewhere
- del.icio.us bookmarks
- flickr photolog
- last.FM music profile
- please send vodka
- ravelry knitting notebook
- twitter tiny updates
Et cetera
blog hosting: Meancode Media
um, yes.
all that 6 month old really wants is all of your smiling faces around him and some milk. Any little creation from your sewing table would be icing on the cake.
(is that too pollyanna? it’s true, though.)
I am going to try to make some stuffed blocks. Not quilt blocks, you know, like, cubes. Building blocks. I’ve never done this before and I’m hoping they don’t turn out all wonky and un-stackable.
Do you want a baby ball? Seriously. Would it get there in time? One of those ones with sections to grab (there’s a blue & white one just like it in my Flickr sets). I could mail it to wherever it is you’re driving through the cornfields to get to?
Is that weird to offer? It’d be super-easy to pop it in a box today. Let me know.
Saw a new ad yesterday for Playskool. Apparently, they are assuring the public that their products are lead-free and they have stringent standards for production. So while it may still be made in China, maybe you can fudge it a little for lead-free instead.
One good night in a Toys ‘R’ Us and you’re golden. You can do it!
I’ve been facing the same sort of dilemma in gift buying for my 3 yo and 1 yo. I haven’t been completely strict about it, but have made a good faith effort. I found that Plan Toys and Haba toys are cute, seem fun, and are fairly easy to find online (Baby Center has several of them, and their express shipping is discounted until 12/20). I think that Haba’s cloth toys are made in China, though, so only their wood ones would qualify. Good luck with your procedure… hope it goes well.
I bought a hedgehog rolly toy for silas at Rosie Hippos … made in USA. Otherwise, he’s getting my smiling face and mommy arms wrapped around him on Christmas. I hope you feel better soon, mama.
ooops. It’s a Hedgehog Rolley CAR and it’s made in Romania.
Instead of banning all items made in China, perhaps a better use of your time would be to research heavily into the production practices of your favorite company. They are, after all, ultimately responsible for the products they peddle, regardless of their country of origin.
Beth saves the day!
@kim: yes, that’s something I was thinking of making. I am sure yours will come out beautifully.
@ty: i haven’t seen that ad yet but it’s very interesting. there is nothing inherently wrong with china-made products, its’ just that that is the country of origin that so many of these tainted products … uh, originated from.
@megan: i was looking at some Habas but couldn’t decide and then didn’t order in time. Didn’t know about the express shipping discount, though.
@toyfoto: I meant to ask you what you got Silas, since he’s Cormac’s twin and all.
@casey: yes, more research is needed. I wish I could simply depend on my favorite company to sell quality, safe toys in the first place, instead of me having to research every toy I come across to be sure that it’s safe for my baby.
Yeah, I understand the concern. I thought it was good that Playskool is willing to put their rep on the line for their customers. That’s a risky move unless you are confident in your manufacturers. So they must be.
Of course, it’s also always nice to support US manufacturers, but it has just gotten so hard. I say, just do the best you can, and don’t worry too much about it at this point. We all survived childhood just fine, and I am sure we were exposed to tons of little lovelies!
New plan, New Year’s resolution idea: Study up and really work at buying safe products from safe countries.
Amuse Toys in Fell’s Point sells a lot of fancy, non-Chinese stuff. i got owen a Hess truck but i didn’t check if it was made in china. he’s gonna love that thing, and that’s all he’ll get (from us) so that reduces my dependency on Chinese goods.
thanks for the tip, Tina. I’ll keep that in mind for Owen’s birthday, which is rapidly approaching.
I agree, Ty. It really is hard to support US manufactures, partly because they are getting rarer. And sometimes I take a step back (not often, but sometimes) and wonder if I don’t get a little too worried about things like this. I have enough to worry about without it.