Now while I generally try to avoid foods with artificial colors, I make exceptions several times a year for holidays and birthdays. I did make “brown velvet” cupcakes for my son’s first birthday, though, when an attempt to use natural red dye turned out unsuccessful. (Apparently natural dyes rarely hold up to baking.) Frankly, I hadn’t even thought of the chemicals in Easter egg dye until seeing this Slashfood mention of an article from Plenty on DIY, non-toxic egg dyes.

I’ll probably still go with convenience this year - especially when the boy isn’t even a big egg eater - but we will use our cage-free, hormone-free, vegetarian-fed eggs, at least. And maybe I’ll try this some year when I have a little more time! Happy Easter!

We’ve all seen the many stylish (lead-free) lunch boxes and totes out there, now two California moms have created cloth napkins for kids, Fabkins. They come in sets of 5 (one for each school day) with adorable themes including “beach bound,” “fruit salad,” and African safari” on solid, gingham or stripes. Sure, you have to do a little more laundry, but perhaps having their own cute napkins will encourage kids not to wipe their hands on their clothes.