happy holidays! xo, the motm elves

It's that time again for the Annual Mountains of the Moon Eco-Fashion Holiday Newsletter! Gifts galore, and note that fabulous 20% off coupon!  You can also read it in full right here.

+ HAPPIEST OF HOLIDAYS TO YOU AND YOURS! We are incredibly grateful for your support in 2010, and are excited to share many exciting new projects with you in 2011!

+ HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE:  We've been working round the clock to add lots of new goodies to www.mountainsofthemoon.com, and have even put together a special holiday gift section to help make your shopping experience easy and fun.  From beautiful eco-friendly clothing to vintage goods to handmade art to gift certificates, we have something special and unique for everyone on your list. (To make sure your order arrives by December 24th, see our 2010 Holiday Shipping Schedule).

+ A GIFT FROM THE MotM ELVES:  We've been feeling a little like Santa's elves around here, so to help you get the perfect gifts for your family and friends, we're giving you a Special Holiday 20% OFF COUPON to use on your entire order from now through this Monday, December 13th!  Just enter MOTMELVES in the coupon code box at www.mountainsofthemoon.com.*

MAY YOUR DAYS BE MERRY AND BRIGHT!
With Love & Gratitude,
Melissa, Kari, Morgan and Corinne
Mountains of the Moon

(*Coupon not valid toward purchase of gift certificates, and may not be used with payments made by gift certificates or store credits.  Must be entered at check-out to redeem).

Celebrate the Season: Sustainable Style Sale & Soiree!

We hope you'll join Mountains of the Moon for Sustainable Style Sale and Soiree, a very special holiday shopping event and party on December 17th! Support local businesses and green your holiday gifts with incredible 'last minute' deals and discounts on sustainable fashion, accessories, jewelry and shoes from some of Chicago's best designers. Enjoy free organic cocktails and snacks, music, a live art installation and more! Admission is FREE (so invite your friends!) There is plenty of free street parking available.

WHEN: Thursday, December 17th from 5 to 9 PM.
WHERE: Colori EcoPaint Boutique, 2243 W. North Avenue, Chicago.
WHAT: Everything you ever dreamed of, that's what!
Click here for more deets.

Hosted by Melissa Baswell and Mary Welch Fox of Mountains of the Moon, Michelle Quaranta of Colori EcoPaint Boutique, and Gen Art.

Special thanks to the following amazing companies/organizations for donating their products and efforts to this event: Gen Art, Colori EcoPaint, Veev Açaí Spirit, Ginger Bliss Beverages, Cafe Bloom, Mindful Metropolis Magazine, Chicago Fashion Resource, Raw Creations, Umphrey's McGee, Chad Smith Photography, the Arboretum of South Barrington, DJ Ron Trent, and artist Tyrue Slang Jones.

The Annual Green Gift Guide

Bing Crosby may have been dreaming of a White Christmas, but here at Mountains of the Moon, we're dreaming of a Green Holiday Season from start to finish. Our annual Green Gift Guide features tips for an eco-friendly holiday season, as well as our top picks for (affordable!) gifts for your loved ones that are also gifts to the earth and its inhabitants.

You can check out the Green Gift Guide in full at the link above (with a simply eco-fabulous list of conscious gifts - with prices - for everyone on your list), but for now, here are some of our favorite tips on how to celebrate the holiday season, the sustainable way:

1. Wrap Creatively: Americans throw away a million extra tons of garbage each week between Thanksgiving and New Years, much of which is gift wrap. This year, be creative "wrap" your gift in a reusable tote bag, fabric that the receiver can reuse, or recycled newspaper.

2. Dim the Lights: A U.S. Department of Energy study determined that if everyone replaced their conventional holiday lights low-energy LED holiday light, at least two billion kilowatt-hours of electricity could be saved over the holiday season.

3. Lower Carbon Emissions: Rather than driving your car to do your holiday shopping, take public transportation, or if you must drive, car pool. Even better, avoid the cold and crowds and shop online. Look for companies who avoid excess packaging and use recycled shipping supplies.

4. Make Meals Mindful: Choose healthy, organic alternatives to traditional holiday foods, and you'll be helping out your body and the earth. Opt for soy-turkeys, free range turkeys, and organic veggies. Use regular dishes and silverware when hosting parties rather than wasteful disposables.

5. Shop with Care: Avoid those big box stores full of cheap gifts made via sweatshop-labor. Now more than ever, there are eco-friendly and fair trade products available everywhere you turn. Rather than stocking up on lots of disposable goods, buy your loved ones well made eco-friendly gifts that will last for many seasons, rather than ending up in landfills. Look for goods made locally/domestically and that use sustainable materials. Or give your friends and family donations to charities in their names. Not sure what to get? Purchase gift certificates to eco-friendly companies and have them e-mailed rather than shipped.


Check our the full Green Gift Guide right here, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

xoxo,
melissa

Green Holiday Savings, Hooray!

The Mountains of the Moon crew has been busier than ever. We just arrived back in Chicago Tuesday morning after a fabulous time at Green Festival in San Francisco, and then spent Wednesday alongside thirty other Chicago designers and boutiques exhibiting at Glitter: A Holiday Shopping Event. We're all wishing we could sleep for a few days, but alas, there is a world out there that we need to conquer through eco-fashion and all that stuff. We have some great blog posts coming in the next few days, but for now, we're just going to make this a quickie and give you 10% off your next order to tide you over. Get your holiday shopping done early and give your sassy selves a nice 10% savings while you're at it. Just enter GREEN10 in the coupon code box at check-out at http://www.mountainsofthemoon.com/.

xoxo,

melissa