Green Birthday Party Decorations

Green Celebrations

Green Birthday Celebrations

Green Celebrations

Involve all the children in creating eco-friendly decorations. In fact, make the creation process part of the actual party. It's a great way to break the ice and get the children involved immediately.

Here are several ideas:

Theme-Based. A themed party will dictate how it should be decorated. For example, an ocean party could have an undersea mural with green yarn seaweed tendrils hanging from the ceiling. A bird party could have painted cardboard trees cut from old refrigerator boxes.

Set up stations for creating clay decorations. Let the children be creative.

What's a party without signs? Have an adult draw the word party, and have the children colour the letters or make a collage with flour and water glue bowls, brushes and dried leaves, flowers and found items from the garden.
Paper chains, using recycled paper, are a popular favourite, but be sure to have an adult supervise the stapling process. An alternative is to use glue(organic wheat-free flour + water)and pastry brushes instead of staples.

Find decorations in the garden (leaves, flowers etc) and make hanging collages.

Scraps of materials and ribbons - tie bows etc.

Scatter flower petals from the entrance to the party area

Homemade. Kids love to make things. Enlist your child's help in creating decorations out of cardboard, construction paper, and mural paper, recycle any cardboard etc from around the home, for example, instead of investing in plastic-wrapped party streamers, banners, and balloons.

Balloon-Free. Don't use balloons, which are fun but often end up in the ocean where they are frequently consumed by sea life. Animals such as sea turtles often die from balloons blockiing their digestive systems. Flags made from fabric scraps make a good alternative, and decorating them is a fun party activity.

Every Party Needs a Pooper: Balloons and the Environment

The Quick Facts: The debate over whether helium balloons harm the environment has been brewing for many years. Environmentalists and animal conservationists insist that balloons make up a major share of litter found on beaches and cause harm and death to animals that mistake balloon fragments for food and ingest them. Balloon enthusiasts claim that latex balloons do not present a legitimate threat to the environment or to wildlife because balloons are derived from a natural source, the rubber tree, and are completely biodegradable.

I've ruined another childhood pleasure for my daughter, Sophia. First it was Happy Meals and now it's balloons. I have never overtly refused a balloon offered to my children while at a party or grocery store. Nor have I made my distain for balloons obvious to them. That is, until just recently. Sophia is turning five, and for her that means her first, official, birthday party to which all of her preschool classmates will be invited. Sophia's birthday actually falls on Earth Day, a day most revered by environmentalists, where much of the world takes time out to embrace awareness of environmental issues. Because of this, she has been exposed to the concept of environmental stewardship perhaps more than other children her age. While my husband and I make a point to embrace sustainable living choices at home, it was purely Sophia's idea to have an Earth Day Birthday Party. When, while planning her party, she asked if we could have helium balloons that looked like the planet Earth, I knew the time had come to have the "balloon talk."

Environmentalists and Animal Conservationists Cite the Harm
Environmentalists and animal conservationists have been concerned about the prevalence of balloons in the environment for years. The popularity of events that include balloon releases, where thousands of balloons are released to create a visual statement, has added fuel to their mission to inform the public of the environmental hazards associated with this activity and helium filled balloons in general.

An informal study conducted by the U.S. National Park Service determined that balloons and balloon fragments numbered fourth in plastic debris found on the Cape Cod shoreline. While visually unappealing, environmentalists and animal conservationist argue that the eyesore created by balloons washing up on the coastline is the least of the harm created by this pollution.

The major concern over balloon debris stems from research that has uncovered numerous species of marine creatures with balloons or balloon fragments found in their stomachs. Sea mammals, reptiles, fish and birds appear to mistake balloons and other plastics for food such as jellyfish or squid, and ingest them. According to the Marine Conservation Society, a charitable organization located in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of the beach, ocean and sea animals, the following species of marine wildlife have been reported with latex balloons in the digestive systems:

Common Dolphin
Risso's Dolphin
Loggerhead Turtle
Leatherback Turtle
Blue Shark
Northern Fulmar

While animal protectionists have not conclusively proven that balloon ingestion has been the cause of death for many beached animals, balloons identified in the stomachs of beached animals indicates that these animals likely died shortly after ingesting balloons. Semi-inflated balloons are known to block the pyloric valve between the stomach and intestines of wildlife so that food cannot pass through, causing slow, painful starvation.

Attachments such as ribbons tied to balloons are cited as yet another problem since they can lead to entanglement. Even balloon manufactures and balloon release event organizers warn of the potential danger of using string attachments and plastic stoppers, recommending balloons be tied in a knot by hand and released without a tether.

The issue of balloons as harmful litter has gained enough attention that several states, including Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, Texas and California have enacted legislation either regulating or banning balloon releases.

Balloon Advocates Want to Know: What's the Fuss?
Most of the controversy surrounding latex balloons stems from the popularity of massive balloon releases at major events such as red balloons on World AIDS Day, or your local car dealership advertising their annual close-out sale. Those who support such releases point to the emotional impact derived from sending thousands of balloons into the sky at the same time. The symbolism suggests hope, freedom and heavenly ascension and is widely used to bring attention and, consequentially, monetary donations to a variety of social issues.

Balloon advocates maintain that latex balloons are composed of natural material and are completely biodegradable. The National Association of Balloon Artists and Suppliers (NABAS), an international trade association for balloon retailers headquartered in the United Kingdom, notes that latex balloons are essentially the coagulated and dried sap from the Hevea tree with the addition of a tiny amount of non-toxic coloring. According to NABAS, latex balloons degrade in exactly the same natural manner as the Hevea tree when it falls in the forest. NABAS also informs concerned consumers that balloons filled with helium rise to the height of about 28,000 feet where the volume within increases, causing the latex balloons to burst. NABAS says that at this altitude, the temperature is 40° F below zero, and the frigid air causes the latex balloons to shatter into pieces the size of a quarter, thereby speeding decomposition of the balloons.

Those who support helium balloon activities do not disagree that some animals ingest balloon fragments. Rather, they believe the balloon fragments eventually pass without permanent damage through the animal's digestive system.

Counterpoint by the Environmentalists
While the environmental community does not totally take issue with the science presented by NABAS, they do point out that many of the balloons (a common estimation is about 10%) don't make it very high into the atmosphere and therefore do not break apart. Instead, such intact balloons take much longer to decompose, leaving more time to be discovered by animals foraging for food. The ingestion of these intact balloons, environmentalists argue, whether resulting in death or discomfort, is still harm. Also, if a balloon finally descends over the ocean or another body of water, decomposition is further halted because the material is partially submerged and therefore receives less sunlight. An article entitled Plastics and their Impacts in the Marine Environment written by Anthony L. Andrady, a Program Manager and Senior Research Scientist for the Chemistry and Life Sciences Division of the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina refers to a study that he took part in where balloons floating in seawater retained their elasticity for as long as 12 months. Moreover, environmentalists note, it would be difficult to find anyone who would not consider deflated balloons or balloon fragments cluttering the shoreline a visible eyesore.

An Easy Decision for a Five-Year-Old
Sophia is actually fine with our ultimate decision not to have balloons of any kind at her party. I presented the information that I had gathered about balloons to her much like I have presented them in this article. Sophia decided that even if we tried really hard to control the balloons so they would not float away and even if we meticulously cleaned-up the aftermath, the risk of harm to just one animal was not worth it. Of course I had to agree.

Information used in this article was found at the following sources, which you can visit if you want to find out more about this topic:

http://www.balloonhq.com/faq/deco_releases/release_study.html (to find a study by the technical advisor of the environmental committee for the National Association of Balloon Artists entitled: A Study of the Effect of Balloon Releases on the Environment)

http://www.nps.gov/caco/forteachers/upload/debris.pdf (to learn more about marine debris and the harm it can have on marine wildlife)

http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ocean/PlasticImpacts-Marine-Andrady6aug00.htm (Plastics and Their Impacts in the Marine Environment by Anthony L. Andrady)

http://www.ukrivers.net/balloon_fact.html (to learn about how balloons are a hazard to animals. The UK Rivers Network (UKRN) is an environmental group campaigning to protect rivers and inland waters across England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.)

http://www.longwood.edu/cleanva/balloonlaws.htm (Website is dedicated to reporting on legislation that regulates the release of balloons.)

http://www.balloonsgalorelansing.com/environment.html (A major seller of Balloons posts information on their company website about how balloons impact the environment.)

http:www.nabas.co.uk (the National Balloon Artist and Suppliers official website)

www.realmama.org