Tomorrow marks my 7 year blogiversary!! After shopping for my Son’s 1st Christmas & then his upcoming 1st B-day in March, I was frustrated with how much stuff I was picking up in stores was stamped with: made in China. I started researching made in USA toy companies, and to my pleasant surprise there were several great options. I thought: hey, I might as well share what I am staying up at night researching, I bet others might benefit from the info I’ve spent this time gathering. And on 2/22/12, I decided to go for it & published my original page: Eco-friendly baby/family products made in the USA.
And slowly, but surely, day-by-day, a couple new people would find me. That page now is currently just shy of 14,000 likes (although I hardly ever post there), and this group is almost at 5,000 members! My website gets ~100,000 views annually, and I’m now the proud owner of Pure Play kids. Somehow, Mike from Pure Play Kids found me very early on in my blogging journey, like in the 1st couple of weeks, I still remember the 1st time he contacted me & I fell in love with their site. It feels full circle that toys are what started me on this journey, and now I own a toy company!
I cannot express how amazing it is to have connected with so many of you over the years. Finding your “tribe” is not easy to do. I remember when I 1st started I purposely stuck to business, never discussed my family or my personal life. But over time, it has just been natural to share my journey as a mother, woman, wife, and business owner with y’all. And I learn about your family too, when you post asking for suggestions for x, y or z. I feel like I know so many of you & I KNOW we would be great friends in real life if we had the chance. I do have plans to organize some get-togethers in the coming years! I know we are all pulled so many directions on Facebook, and life in general, so it warms my heart to know how many of you value the community we’ve established online, and feel it’s a safe spot to ask any question. I started with a mission to find safe products, but we have discussed practically every topic under the sun in the group. I learn something new EVERY day, and feel compelled to share in an effort to help even 1 person, then it’s worth it to me.
I CANNOT believe my Son is about to turn 8! As we know, time flies, the years tick by incredibly fast. But I’m so excited to continue to share my journey with y’all, thanks for being along for the ride!
Here’s an online interview from 6 years ago, a little more about my mission: https://ecofriendlymamausa.com/2013/02/15/319/
And here is a 5 min clip from when I was featured on WI Life on Wi Public Tv. This was truly one of the greatest honors I’ve experienced thus far in my life: https://www.wisconsinlife.org/story/natural-and-organic-product-blogger-exposes-greenwashing/
And here’s my Safe Toys list, you can find numerous other resources by clicking around my website a bit: https://ecofriendlymamausa.com/made-in-usa-2/toy-list/
Eco-friendly baby/family products MADE in USA 