Summer Edit
What do you have in store for Summer? Whatever your plans, Lil has something in our store for you... Or scroll through to find Lou's #1 Summer Lil Tip.
Summer edit stock: Camping? Take your luxury loo roll, 95p/roll. Individually wrapped for camping convenience. Eco firelighters £2.19 - save our petrochemicals for stuff we really need. Soap pouch £3.99; plastic-free toothbrush £3.99; Travel soap - shampoo, shaving, deodorant all in one with antibacterial and antifungal AND insect repellent properties £2.62; books both £7.99; aeroplane happy moisturiser £8.99; Ecoffee cups for everything - from £7.95, pictured £8.95.
Camping? Flying south for guaranteed sun? Long car trips to see family? Or hanging out at home?
Whatever you have in mind for summer, we have something for you:
Flying?
I love my ecoffee cup and own spoon for any length of flight. Do I want a tea/coffee? YES PLEASE. Do I want it in a single-use cup with a plastic-wrapped plastic-stirrer? No thanks. Take your own cup and have the best in-flight coffee, washed down with a Lil pat on the back.
Then wash your cup out really well and use it for the in-flight G&T.
Make sure you're quick to let the stewards know what you want to do though, they're super efficient at the status quo. But the more of us that do it, the bigger the impact, and the fewer weird looks we'll get!
How can Lil help? Ecoffee cups start at £7.95
Breeze through security checks with no worries about liquid quantities with the Lil range of moisturising / shampoo bars and soaps. The travel soap in particular is a one-stop-soap: shampoo, body, face and shaving. It has antibacterial properties which is handy, but also acts as a deodorant in helping stop body odours. Add to that some insect repelling and anti fungal properties, and you're ready to go anywhere.
Or harder still, flying with kids?
#1 is headphones and ready-loaded devices.
#2 is new, small toys. The sheer novelty factor buys a little entertainment time. I love the Make and Play Safari for this. It comes with push out pieces that are easy enough to put together (building = takes time) and then the kids can use the pieces to make up stories and act them out. If you're required and too tired to make up your own stories, it comes with a story of its own and other activity suggestions. Nature Origami is great for older kids and crafty adults. These also work well for car journeys, rainy days and gifts.
#3 travel cups. Take your own baby cups/ drink bottles with you and get drinks put in these. Even if your kids don't usually spill - all it takes is a slight bump and you're all wearing wet clothes for the rest of the journey. My girls have their own 8oz ecoffee cups and feel oh-so-grown-up drinking from these, which also avoid the worst of the spillage. Taking the girls' cups also helps when hubby inevitably forgets his. (It's currently on a tractor.)
Camping
We're off camping next week, and can't wait.
Essential: loo roll
On our tester trip for midsummer, we took our Who Gives A Crap loo roll and it was fab. The individual wrapping means you can shove it in any spare corner of the car and it doesn't all come apart. Also doubled as hayfever tissues, kitchen roll, etc. For regular camping try the recycled or Glamping? Gotta go premium bamboo.
Firelighters
Home made firelighters are a fun way to get the kids involved in camping prep. Keep the lint from the tumble dryer, pop it in the base of an egg carton and add a little wax from run down candles. Voila.
But, when we realised we'd gone camping with only six matches over midsummer, we wanted something a little more.... assured.
These If You Care Firelighters fit the bill perfectly. £2.19 for 100% biomass firelighters with FSC wood and non-GMO vegetable oil. They last forever, even when the pack is open, and come without any nasty smells.
Books
I love the Go Wild Books for ideas while you're out and about. They're accessible enough that my 5 year old can pick out a picture of something she'd like to try, and fun enough that our friend's 10yo read it cover to cover. I've also learned a trick or two about how a stick could save my life.
Then there's the Make and Play Safari or the Nature Origami, books that provide play time too for rainy campy days or trying to quieten them down even when "it's still bright outside and those kids are still playing and... "
Festival check list: ecoffee cups, water bottle, sun cream. Overnight festival? Add bamboo toothbrushes, travel soap, moisturising bar.
Fun at home? Go Wild Books, or Make And Play Safari/ Nature Origami. Have you seen our recipe for Elderflower Cordial?
Number One Summer Tip?
You might have picked up on it already, but your humble Ecoffee cup does so much more than the name suggests! I'm still recovering from the number of single use plastic cups at festivals and events already this summer and the times I didn't pack my cup because I wasn't having "coffee". Our Ecoffee cups are not fussy, they will hold whatever tipple you fancy. The bamboo doesn't hold residual taste (with a good wash), so no fear of a coffee Pimms, or morning wake-up to gin flavoured tea (erghhh).
Have a wonderful Summer! xx Lou and Sarah