Without further ado, our winners are with a few comments from some of our friends at the companies themselves:

1. Modlet Starter Kit from ThinkEco
Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Mei Shibata, was excited about the participation on the giveaway and said: “A fridge is a good guess – that may be one of your home’s power hogs, but remember that different brands/models vary greatly in energy efficiency. In general, any device with a heating or cooling mechanism draws more power than you might think, and some of this may not be so obvious – e.g. a laser printer that heats up toner, a single-brew coffee maker that keeps its water warm.” Congrats to Rebecca Zipp (Rebecca-Zipp) for winning the Modlet starter kit (see instructions below).

2. Safe & Modern Baby Bundle from Zoli
The baby bundle includes one (1) Sumo Snack Stacker, one (1) STUCK suction bowl and (1) On-The-Go Snack Stacker. I personally can vouch for the On the Go Stacker as my daughter, Baby B, used that more than any other baby product we own. Congrats to Stefanie Chen (stefanie.chen) for winning the Safe & Modern Baby Bundle (see instructions below).

3. Flip Ultra HD 8GB Video Camera from giggle
With the holidays here, an HD video camera is a great way to capture all of those priceless holiday moments (whether that’s grandpa snoring like a polar bear after a little too much Christmas ham or it’s Baby Logan deciding to do his best Sandy Koufax imitation with his cherry pie). I loved giggle’s design so much that we’ve recruited them as a design partner and you can find the trademark giggle colors and design throughout Paper Culture’s catalog or giggle cards. And if you’re looking for a last minute gift for a mom or mom-to-be, I encourage you to check out their online and retail stores. Congrats to Liz Maimone (LizMaimone) for winning the Flip Ultra HD Video Camera from giggle (see instructions below).

4. 6 month subscription to Kiwi Crate
Huiling Chen, one of my co-founders and our Creative Director, introduced me to this great company founded by the founder of Maya’s list that became Baby Center’s community platform. Our two kids keep asking when the next Kiwi Crate is going to come. Congrats to Diane Bradley-Henning (Diane-Bradley-Henning) for winning the 6 month subscription to Kiwi Crate (see instructions below).

5. $100 Voucher to weeDECOR
Pam Webber, the CEO and founder of weeDECOR, loved reviewing all of the entries for the contest. She added, “Our goal with the christmas wall decals was to design decals that both the whole family would enjoy. We want our decals to help create of playful, personal memories over a lifetime and bring beauty to your holiday home.” Well, we’re biased, but we sure think they succeeded. Congrats to Krista Herling (Krista Herling) for winning the $100 voucher (see instructions below). Note: we mistakenly posted Stefanie Chen’s name twice as a winner. That earlier item was a typo, but Stefanie did win the Zoli giveaway (sorry!).

6. $200 Voucher to Paper CultureI loved all of your ideas for an eco friendly holidays. While flattery was definitely appreciated for those citing “order Paper Culture Christmas cards” as one of their eco to do’s, I swear we picked the winner at random. And yes, it appears she’s a Paper Culture customer (although you are on the Paper Culture fan page so I suppose there’s a decent likelihood of that ; ). My favorite is the potted Christmas tree. In my parents’ back yard we have a huge pine tree that grew from one of our Christmas trees growing up. It not only keeps the circle of life going, but it brings back priceless memories with every pine comb and needle it drops. Congrats to Susan Nenadal-Boeldt (susan.nenadalboeldt) who has won the $200 Paper Culture voucher.

For the winners, please send us a message to contact@paperculture.com from your Facebook account. Just click the message icon on the upper left of your Facebook homepage and enter our email address. Mention your name, address (if you’ve won the Zoli Baby Bundle, Kiwi Crate 6 month subscription, Modlet Starter Kit from ThinkEco or the Flip HD Video Camera from giggle) and preferred email address. We’ll get you your prizes right away.

Thanks again from all of us here at Paper Culture – we hope all of your holidays are full of love, joy, family and friends.
be modern.
be eco.
be merry.

Sincerely,
Christopher Wu
CEO, Co-Founder of Paper Culture

Enter on our Facebook Fan Page (you must be a Fan to win)

Without further ado, here’s the list of Giveaways:

Sunday Dec 11: $200 Paper Culture Voucher: Well, we couldn’t very well ask our favorite sites to participate without participating ourselves, so we are giving away a $200 Paper Culture voucher good for just about anything in our store: holiday cards, baby announcements, baby shower invitations or even our newly launched Bamboo Wall Art. But you know about us – onto the fun stuff!

Monday Dec 12: weeDECOR $100 Voucher – Discover a world of nursery wall decals that are printed on eco friendly fabric (instead of vinyl) and are so easy to remove and reposition. We love the fact that weeDECOR is a small business like ours and encourage you to check them out if you haven’t already. Our personal favorites are the jungle animals, the giraffe growth chart and the owls in the tree (pictured here). We even have a few of their wall decals in our office!

Tuesday Dec 13: A 6 month subscription to Kiwi Crate ($120 MSRP) – a great new service that delivers arts and crafts activities that are fun, educational and engaging. Each month for 6 months, a package will arrive on your door. The package will be full of everything you need to get started. If you’re anything like us, it’s hard to come up with unique activities every week – it’s no crime to borrow a little creativity from our friends at Kiwi Crate. Two of our co-founders’ kids (3.5 years old and 6 years old) are busy as we speak ripping open their own Kiwi Crates.

Wednesday Dec 14: Flip HD Ultra 8GB ($199.99 value) from giggle. An HD video camera is a perfect way to capture all of those priceless holiday moments (whether that’s grandpa snoring like a polar bear after a little too much Christmas ham or it’s Baby Logan deciding to do his best Sandy Koufax imitation with his cherry pie). giggle has been one of Paper Culture’s earliest “friends” almost since day 1. We’re lucky enough to be by one of their great stores in San Francisco and we just can’t get enough of their bold colors, great design and fantastic product selection for baby products that are both functional and fashionable. We’re obviously biased since giggle also has an exclusive line of giggle cards including personalized holiday cards, invitations and announcements available on Paper Culture.

Thursday Dec 15: A baby’s bounty from Zoli that includes one (1) Sumo Snack Stacker ($18.00 MSRP), one (1) STUCK suction bowl ($19.00 MSRP) and (1) On-The-Go Snack Stacker ($15.00 MSRP). Once again, this is not some random company that’s offering free swag – these guys used to be our neighbors across the street from our old office. Our CEO says that the On-The-Go snack stacker was one of the most used products of all time in his two child household. We love not only the utility of the products, but the fun design and eco friendly materials they use to help ensure a safer future for our children.

Friday Dec 16: ThinkEco Modlet Starter Kit Home Starter Kit ($59.95 value) – we were one of the first people ever to see one of these in action. You plug this into any home outlet and it tells what appliances are sucking up all your energy. On top of that, you can actually program your appliances to shut down on whatever schedule you’d like, and did we mention, it’s a pretty good looking power adapter to boot. Available on the ThinkEco website as well as online at BestBuy.com.

Remember to check back each day as we will add a new post. You can enter once per post.

Enter on our Facebook Fan Page (you must be a Fan to win).

I saw the booth for Bambo Nature diapers, but I didn’t go there, because my daughter has been diaper free for a over a year! I still cringed when I think about those days of explosive poops and leaky night diapers. My friend did speak to the guy at the booth and bought some diapers, since her son isn’t going to be diaper free for a bit. A few days later she told me about how awesome these diapers were.

I put on my detective hat and did some research. Bambo Nature diapers are manufactured in Denmark. While it might not seem very eco to have diapers travel across the Atlantic, these diapers have the Nordic Ecolabel or “swan” on them, which means that the transportation of the diapers has been taken into account and off-set by some other means. From what I understand, the Nordic Ecolabel has a series of criteria that manufactures must follow and be regulated via independent labs. Products can’t contain toxins, or allergens. They must be equally as good, or better than comparative non-eco products and they must be sustainable. This seal helps to inform consumers so that they can make the most environmentally sound choices when shopping. And you know that those Scandinavians are serious about the environment.

This means that in addition to being 80% bio-degradable and 95% compostable, the Bambo Nature diapers are allergen and toxin free, which is super nice for your baby’s bum. The “fluff” in the middle is made from wood pulp and it is bleached using the best available method for bleaching — ECF-method (Elemental Chlorine Free). And according to my friend, whose child was a guinea pig for me, the diaper is soft and does a fantastic job of wicking away moisture (no diaper rash).

In a genius move, the size is written on each diaper, and depending on what size your child wears there are cute little corresponding decorations: monkeys, ladybugs, frogs and bunnies….No more grabbing the wrong size, because you can’t find the right size since they all have the same characters on them. And as an extra added bonus, there is a wetness indicator printed back of the diaper that blurs out as it gets wet. So even the most diaper challenged member of your family will know when it is time to make the change.

You can Subscribe and Save on Amazon. But if you want to try out a pack, Bambo Nature Diaper will give “Inspired” readers a 15% discount. Just put “Inspired” in the the promotional code space. There aren’t any totally green diapers out there, but these are pretty close.

My daughter, Lulu and I spent Saturday afternoon tending our garden and hanging out with Mother Earth. On Sunday, we chilled at home where I mostly enjoyed three glorious extra hours of sleep.

A lot of my mom friends have contacted me to share what they did over the special  weekend: breakfasts in bed, gifts and flower exchanges, meals out, and the occasional lavish pampering.

What did you do this past weekend? Did you spend time outdoors? Or did you stay inside and laze about? Any picnics or D.I.Y. projects? We want to know how you celebrated Mother’s Day. Please share your thoughts (rad dads welcomed too).

[UPDATED]And as an added incentive, we’ll pick a comment via Random.org for a $50 Paper Culture voucher. We’ll announce the winner by EOD Saturday, May 14.

But before I regale with my poop anguish, I did think about what our Top 5 list would be. It’s not the coolest or most original list, it’s just the ones that really stood out for me.
I’d love to hear what your top 5 list is (and as a bribe – yes, I’m not above that – I’ll give a $50 Paper Culture gift card to the best response by EOD Sunday):

1. Angel Dear Blankets:
   These are Baby B’s security blankets. One of the best pieces of advice I got as a first time parent seems so obvious now: pick a security blanket that’s small, easily washable and easily replaceable.  Angel Dear has a whole set of animals. We have some friends who rotate animals, but Baby B is only about the elephants. We literally have 20 of the blue elephants (excessive perhaps). It’s not so much that we’re fooling Baby B into thinking there’s really only 1 blue elephant, it’s that she’s accustomed to swapping them in and out. In fact, she’s become addicted to our fabric softener so she demands a new one after a few cuddles. And when one gets lost, a few clicks on Amazon and we’re fully replenished.
2. Zoli’s Buzz B Nail Trimmer:
   Have you ever wondered how your baby’s fingernails grow so fast? I remember when Baby B was a wee one and it was never the diapers I dreaded, it was always cutting her nails. I felt like one bad snip and my poor Baby B would be a four finger wonder. The Buzz B is the ultimate solution. Imagine a circle shaped emery board that spins and is soft enough to not hurt your precious one, but has enough grit to file down your baby’s nails with its battery powered spinning action. Just touch the spinning head to the nails and you get a beautifully filed and perfectly trimmed nail with no worries about hurting your little one. But it is true that I worry I’m turning Baby B onto Mani-Pedi’s waaaaaaaay too early!
3. Halo Organic Cotton Sleep Sack:
   
   As we moved from the swaddle to a sleepsack, initially I thought it was cool just because it was easy and quick. I soon learned that a sleep sack has a lot of ancillary benefits as well. Yes, it does dramatically reduce the worrying you do that your baby is getting cold because her blanket fell off in the middle of the night, but that’s the predictable part. The part I didn’t expect: as your baby grows up and becomes a climber, the sleepsack makes it darn difficult to scale the crib barriers. So, we have an almost three year old that hasn’t even started to attempt to climb out of her crib. Our friends who have long since converted to a toddler bed are jealous. The secret is the sleep sack – and organic cotton to boot!
4. Orbit Stroller:
   For the first year with Baby B, I LOVED the Orbit Stroller. With one hand carrying Baby B and the other hand free, I could collapse the Orbit stroller with a quick flick of the wrist and shove it in the trunk in under 5 seconds flat (try that Bugaboo owners!). And in the constant suburban car rush, it seems like life is about getting into and out of the car. The car seat that snaps off the base instantly and just as easily snaps onto the stroller is especially awesome when you have a sleeping baby that you’re moving into and out of the car. The only complaints about the infant stroller was that it was a bit heavy and if it’s value you’re looking for, this is not your leading candidate. But, eventually, Baby B grew out of her infant seat and the concept that she’d grow up with an equally modular Toddler Car Seat was cooler in concept than reality. You see, the toddler car seat weighs a ton (almost literally) and is NOT something you want to be moving in and out of the car. So, we actually have one, but it sits in the car permanently anchored to the seat no different than any other car seat that’s half the price. In theory it snaps onto the stroller base, but I don’t know of anybody (at least in their right mind) that would actually move that thing in and out of the car.
5. Paper Culture Stationery:
   
   OK yes, I’m TOTALLY biased, but I kid you not, I never realized how much stationery we would go through. My wife and I have always loved stationery, but we’d send maybe 30 cards a year typically. With the arrival of Baby B, the number of thank you’s for baby shower gifts, for housewarming gifts (we moved when Baby B was born) and for birthday parties seems never ending. It’s fun to create a design that captures your little one’s personality and so convenient to have them on hand at any time. We don’t just use them for thank you cards, but we also use them as actual birthday cards when we’re in a pinch.

But if those were the 5 things we loved, there were 2 that seem indispensable, but that we never really found the product we loved. We’re married to the concept, but are still in search of the ultimate one. We’d love your suggestions, who knows, we may do this again someday!

1. Baby Monitor:
   We have baby monitor addiction. We are the classic undisciplined parents that if we heard Baby B scream, we would be checking in on her every 5 minutes if we didn’t have the video monitor. However, we have the Summer Infant Handheld monitor and the battery is dead so it only works when it’s plugged in. To me the priorities are long range, good night vision. Color is a nice to have and if you have an infant, the new features that have motion detection might be nice, though we’re far beyond that with Baby B. Any thoughts?
2. Diaper Disposal: We have the diaper champ, and let me tell you, it definitely is appropriately part of the diaper discussion because it always smells like poop and functions like the much more un-PC term for “butt.” We initially picked that one because we could use it with any other bag (unlike the Diaper Genie which we’ve tried and not liked any better), but the diaper flipping mechanism always gets caught and it does next to nothing for the odor. It doesn’t even look good – at least if it doesn’t function, it could have some redeeming quality as a piece of furniture, but no.  Our only saving grace is Baby B has been basically potty trained for about a year. But if we ever do this again, we need to find a better solution! Any ideas? (No, I’m not providing a link because you really should NOT buy this product). Just think, we’ve lived for almost 3 years with that terrible poop smell. Help!

And don’t forget, leave your Top 5 list in the comments below and I’ll pick my favorite one for a $50 Paper Culture voucher.

UPDATE: And the winner is Christina Taylor who said:
1. Boppy pillow – Not only was it a back/shoulder/arm saver during nursing, but I turned it around and propped my lil one in it when she was an infant. As she’s grown, she’s used it as a pillow in her playroom.
2. Ergo and Baby Bjorn baby carriers – Ergo worked better for mom, Baby Bjorn fit dad better.
3. Sophie the Giraffe – This teething wonder never left my daughter’s side. And because she started teething at 3 months, it’s her oldest friend
4. Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe blanket.
5. Newmann’s Nipple Cream – Kinda graphic, I know, but this handmade salve worked much better than lanolin and didn’t leave the sticky residue.
I went over these with my wife and we were marveling that we could have added almost all of those things to our list – and yes, I had to consult her on #5 . I’m still amazed at how many people have Sophie the Giraffe – you’d think how hard could it be to produce another chewable toy? But, somehow, Sophie is everywhere! Christina, email us at contact@paperculture.com and we’ll send you your $50 voucher. Congrats and thanks to everyone who participated.