A Merry Fluffy Christmas Event!

Nov 24,2010 / By Maria / 3 Comments

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I wanted to give everyone a heads up on the “Merry Fluffy Christmas” event that starts December 1st. If you missed this so far, I am participating in an event (organized by And Then There Were 4) where each blog will be hosting a prize pack of cloth diaper related products valued at $25 or more, every day from December 1st-5th!

These giveaways will be a little bit different than you’re used to. Each giveaway will be up for just three days (the first giveaway opens at 12:01 A.M. on the 1st and ends at 11:59 P.M. on the 3rd), and the winners will be announced by December 10th. I will still be using the form entry for these giveaways, but I really don’t want to sit up until midnight for 5 nights to close the form to new responses. The same is true for any participating blogs that are using comment entry, you can’t schedule comments to close. This means you’ll have to really watch the closing times, since I won’t be able to officially “close” them until the next morning.

Also, several prize packages have more than one sponsor, so you will see a few more entry methods than you’re used to. They should still be very simple though. At the bottom of each post, there should be a linky for you to easily visit the next participating blog, then hope to more blogs and enter more giveaways for that day! Each blog has their own entry methods, so do read carefully.

Prize Pack 1: Closed 12/3

Katydid Cloth Pocket Diaper, winner’s choice of color, $25 EcoMom gift certificate, Mini Diaper Keychain and Cloth Diaper Advocacy Button. Combined ARV $49.95

Prize Pack 2: Closed 12/4
Two Thirsties Size 2 Duo Wraps, Two Thirsties Size 2 Hemp Prefolds and Kim’s Kloth Holiday Edition Embroidered Minky One-Size Pocket Diaper. Combined ARV $59.98

Prize Pack 3: Closed 12/5
Cuties With Cloth Booties Congo Collaboration

Prize Pack 4: Closed 12/6
Babykicks: 2 prefolds (winner’s choice of size), 1 Premium Joey Bunz (winner’s choice of size), 3 Washies and 1 premium washie.
Plump: Knit Christmas AI2. Combined ARV approximately $50 (varies based on size chosen for Babykicks)

Prize Pack 5: Closed 12/7
Designs by Cace: any in-stock diaper
Also: gDiapers size medium gPant 2 pack, 32 pack of biodegradable gDiapers refills, 10-pack Babykicks wipes and a Babykicks Organic Fitted diaper. These items are sponsored by CSN but all items are in my hands, ready to ship. Not a gift certificate or gift card. Combined ARV at least $98.43 (more depending on item chosen from Designs by Cace!)

I hope to have all winners chosen and notified on December 8th. All blogs will have winners announced by December 10th!

Sponsors:

Kim’s Kloth

Here’s a list of all of the participating blogs so far! Note: You have to contact the organizer if you want to join in, this linky is just a way to easily show the participants, please do not add to it, thanks!!

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Cloth Diapering

The future of Cloth, Part II of ? Cloth in Big Box Stores

Nov 23,2010 / By Maria / 7 Comments

This post is a continuation of my ramblings on the future of cloth diapering. Check out The Future of Cloth Part I if you missed it.

My big hope for cloth is that it will become more widespread, more accepted, and more commonplace. I think there are a lot of things that can help that happen, but the first would be to make cloth more readily available.

I do not have a cloth diaper store nearby, and I’ve never gotten to see a diaper before buying it. That’s part of the reason why I take so many photos for my reviews, I’ve been surprised by items when I got them sometimes.

I noticed that online, Target sells Grandma El’s products and also a few cloth diapers. I’ve seen Kushies at Wal-Mart online, Buy Buy Baby has a couple of cloth diapers, and my local Organic Market sells gDiapers. Other than the gDiapers, the only “cloth” I’ve seen in a store near me is the Gerber prefolds people use as burp cloths.

So, what if Target sold cloth diapers? What if they could be added to baby registries along with all the other necessities? It sure would be great to see “Bumgenius 4.0 pocket diaper – Zinnia – Aisle A14” in black & white on a baby registry! Not only would it get modern cloth in front of more mommy-to-be eyballs, but also the eyes of Grandparents, Aunts and friends. I’d love for the choice of cloth to be as common as Huggies vs. Pampers.

I just don’t think it would work. Stores don’t have the space for the huge selection that online cloth diaper retailers have. Even if they carried just one or two brands, I don’t know if the demand would be high enough to justify keeping them in stock.

The other big problem is support. If you call or email any one of my favorite online CD stores, you will be connected most likely to someone who has cloth diapered her own babies, knows the inventory inside and out, and can help you understand the differences between diapers. They can help you choose the right brands and styles to start with, and help you troubleshoot, suggest detergents, diaper creams and help with wash routines. Sure, I guess “big box” stores could put a few employees through a crash course in cloth diapering, but sometimes you need experience behind the advice. From my own experience, cloth diapering can be overwhelming and frustrating at first, and you really need information and support to keep you from giving up.

So, in my dream world, there would be a successful brick and mortar cloth diaper store in the busiest shopping center of every town. They would partner with hospitals to do cloth demos at new parenting classes, maybe host La Leche League meetings or baby wearing classes in their stores also. Everyone would know about the cloth diaper store, and it would be the place to go for diapers, slings/wraps/carriers and safe toys. Lots of online cloth diaper stores offer baby registries, but many people I know would be far more likely to shop at a local store than to order a gift online.

So should cloth diapers be in big box stores? What do you think? What do you think we can do to make cloth diapering more “oohh” and less “ewww” to others?

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Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Tom’s of Maine Toothpaste Winner

Nov 23,2010 / By Maria / No Comment

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78 people entered this giveaway. The winner is #44, which is Kelly Coleman. Congrats Kelly, I’m emailing you now!

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Mailbox Mondays

Mailbox Mondays 11/22/10 Search terms that make me scratch my head

Nov 22,2010 / By Maria / 3 Comments

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Oh no, another week with no mailbox Mondays submissions! If you have a questions for me, cloth diaper related or not (just be nice!) send an email to maria at change-diapers.com with “Mailbox Mondays” in the subject.

So this week, I thought I’d share some of the most head scratching search terms that led people to my site in the past month.

1. “i had to get a spell made diaper”

Uh, what? What kind of spell? Does this spell make the diaper change/wash itself? If so, where can I get one?

2. “how did a diaper get in my daughter’s room”

I have no idea, but now I want to know too!

3. “i like diapers”

Yeah me too! I love cloth diapers anyway!

4. “i love boys in fitteds”

I don’t understand this at all. When I think “fitteds” I think fitted diapers of course. I guess it could be fitted hats?

5. “my mom change my diapers”

Ermmm…if you’re old enough to be googling, I would hope not.

6. “weird pocket diaper”

I can’t let this one go. What was it? What made it weird? I have to know! LOL

By the way, I copied this right from my analytics, I captialize “I” even when I’m searching, ha ha.

Have you ever searched for anything that would seem weird out of context?

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Flip Hook & Loop Closure Diaper Cover and Organic Insert – Photo Review and Giveaway (CLOSED 11/27)

Nov 20,2010 / By Maria / 5 Comments

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In April, I reviewed a Flip cover with stay-dry insert. I’m less a’skeered of snaps now than I was then, but I was still happy to learn that Flip Diapers was coming out with a hook and loop (a.k.a. Velcro or Aplix) closure diaper cover! Right now, they are only available for purchase separately for $13.95, but Cottonbabies plans to sell them packaged with inserts, and in day packs in the future. Lucky for one of you, I also bought an organic insert ($7.95 retail) to send along to the winner too!

The other Flip I bought came with a cardboard “wrapper” so I hadn’t planned on taking photos of the hook & loop Flip, since I didn’t want to give away an opened item! I was a little surprised to find that both the diaper cover and the insert came without tags, wrappings or packaging, so I’ve done a little photo review. The winner will receive the butternut color cover and organic insert pictured in this review however, we do not have pets (unless you count the kids) and the items were only on my laundry room counter, which is very clean, and my hands were clean as well!

Some of us were wondering whether the hook & loop would be the “old” Bumgenius 3.0 style, or the “new” Bumgenius 4.0 style. Fortunately, it is the new style!

The “new” style laundry tab velcro is actually grippy, instead of just the fuzzy fabric of the 3.0s. If you haven’t had the pleasure of trying the 4.0s, the laundry tabs will touch baby’s skin, but they are very soft, and haven’t caused my son any irritation.

The hook & loop cover has the same, easily wipeable PUL inner as the snap closure Flip. My snap flip has the same white fabric, but only over the closure snaps, not the rise snaps. I assume it’s to keep the PUL from leaking where it was punctured to attach them.

Here it is on the small setting, folded and stretched:

Medium setting folded and stretched:

Large setting folded and stretched:

The organic inserts are made from 100% Oeko-Tex® certified organic cotton. Cottonbabies sells them for $7.95 each; $6.65 each if you buy 3 or more. Buying a cover with an organic insert adds just $6 to the cost of the cover alone.

I was surprised by how soft this is! Granted, it is new and hadn’t been washed but wow, it is baby blanket soft! Since this hasn’t been washed/dried/prepped, you can definitely expect it to shrink a bit. You simply fold the insert along the long or short side to fit inside the insert.

Here it is measured along the short side:

flip diaper organic insert width unprepped

Measured along the long side:

flip diaper organic insert length unprepped

In the cover on the small setting:

flip organic insert in diaper small setting

In the cover on the large setting:

flip organic insert in diaper large setting

As you can see, the hook & loop and flip covers are very much the same. Of course, mine was purchased 7 months ago, so small changes wouldn’t surprise me anyway! One difference is that the Hook & Loop cover stinks! I noticed a very strong, plastic-y/chemical smell that gave me a headache, as soon as I opened the mailer it came in. I have never noticed this with any other diapers I’ve purchased. My guess is that others begin with the same smell, but they’ve sat in warehouses and been shipped back and forth enough to air out before I get them! Hopefully it will do the same before I ship it to the winner!

Here’s a side by side of the small organic insert (remember, it hasn’t been washed/dried so it will shrink!) compared to the small stay dry insert, and the same for the large.

Hooray for hook and loop! Now when it Cottonbabies going to come out with newborn versions of their pocket diapers and flip covers? Hmm?

Giveaway: One winner will receive the Butternut (sorry, boring, but I wanted it to be gender neutral!) Hook & Loop Closure Flip Cover (ARV $13.95) and Organic Insert (ARV $7.95) pictured. Combined value $21.90 if my brain is working.

Here’s how to enter: All entries go in the form below. Mandatory entries include Your name and email address. I always email winners, and I do try to look for them before giving up on them! However, if you want to be sure it’s you when I announce the winner, please use a middle or last initial, or nickname, so you’ll know it’s you. I do announce names just as you enter them! I’m offering a single bonus entry for following this blog. You may choose GFC, RSS feed or email. If you prefer, you can elect to “like” ~~me on facebook~~ or ~~follow me on twitter~~ ~~instead. Whatever will bring you back! 🙂~~

I will accept entries until Saturday, November 27th, 2010 at 9:00 P.M. Eastern. I will select a winner using random.org’s true random number generator and notify him/her by email. Winner has 48 hours to respond before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is chosen. View my ~~giveaway rules~~ ~~page for complete details. This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S.~~

I’d love for you to leave a comment (also a great way to just remind yourself that you entered) but comments don’t count as giveaway entries. I will update the post daily with the # of entries received!