ecobites.com

Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

Making your child's party eco-friendly is friendly on the planet and easy to do. It's also good modelling for kids and other parents.Excessive children's birthday parties are becoming all too common.

Here are some Earth-smart ideas to help you get started....

"In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught." A Senegalese ecologist.

PLANET-FRIENDLY PARTY

We all want to host fun parties for our kids, and we don't want to arrive empty-handed at somebody else's. Yet, many of us already have heaps of toys hidden in closets. These soon break and, because they're non-recyclable, end up in landfills. Instead, why not help the less fortunate while cutting back on the paper-and-plastic trappings that parties always seem to entail? Paper makes up about 35 percent and plastics 11.3 percent of all municipal waste (before recycling); using less from the start is the easiest way to reduce trash.

Luckily, lots of parents are discovering the fun of parties that focus on helping kids learn the joy of helping others rather than tearing through gift boxes. But simply telling your child that he's giving a goat to an African community rather than getting presents is more likely to evoke tears than joy. The key is to combine eco values with party themes that kids love. Here are some tips on hosting a meaningful birthday party packed with fun.

Invitations and Thank You Cards

• Electronic. Send out electronic invitations to save paper.
• Recycled. Alternatively, use recycled paper invitations and thank you cards. Even better, make them with your child out of throwaway items, like junk mail.

Tableware

• Napkins. Use washable colourful fabric scraps from a fabric store to make fun, reuseable napkins. Or use recycled paper towels.
• Tablecloth. Use an old sheet for a tablecloth that kids can decorate with markers. Reuse the sheet for other parties, making cubbies / forts, or as a drop cloth.
• Utensils, Plates, and Cups. Avoid the problem of tablewear by serving organic finger food that can be placed on a napkin. If you need tablewear, use washable metal utensils, plates, and cups. Or provide recycled paper plates and cups and disposable utensils made from corn starch that compost in about half a year and biodegrade in a year and a half.

Food and Beverages

• Healthy and Organic. Serve as much organic, local, and in-season food as you can. It's better for the planet and your guests.
• Finger Food. Serve food that doesn't require plates or utensils but can be placed on a napkin: See our Planet-friendly Party Food.
• Compost the leftovers.

Decorations 

Kids love to make things. Enlist your child's help in creating decorations.

For decor: Use potted herbs for table decor, or twigs, flowers or river rocks. Try to re-use decorations you already have, like baskets, and fill them with organic fruits and veggies.See our Birthday Party Decorations for more planet-friendly ideas.

Activities

Build your party around a kid-friendly theme : such as puppies, zoo animals or dinosaurs. Then find an organization or museum that would appreciate donations or gifts. See our dog party theme, where you can donate to your local animal shelter.

Check your local fire station to see if they give tours or host parties. The kids will have a blast and volunteer firefighters will appreciate donations and gifts (call ahead to find out what sorts of items they need). Police stations may also give tours and you can use it as an opportunity to collect money for a community anti-drug or anti-crime program.

Let your child choose the theme. At an Africa-themed party, kids built a grass hut and collected donations for African children. You can purchase the gift of a goat or plant trees for a needy community through the development organization, Oxfam.  www.oxfamunwrapped.com.

Other themes for parties: Contact local zoos and aquariums to find out about sponsor-an-animal programs. One option: adopt tigers, pandas, elephants and sea turtles at www.worldwildlife.org

Educational. Teach the kids something about animals or trees or ecosystems through your party activities.

Activist. Involve the kids in a party activity that does something worthwhile for the planet or teaches them something. For example, take kids to help at an animal shelter. Or plant trees together. Or take a nature walk, visit an organic farm.

See our Party Activities for more planet-friendly ideas.

Gifts

One of the problems with birthday party gift giving is that kids end up with a bunch of things that they don't really need, don't really want, or already have. The reason for a party is not to amass gifts but to celebrate a life. Consider these life-affirming alternative approaches to gift giving: also see Toys & Gifts for more eco ideas....

• Gifts with Social Merit. Instead of asking guests for gifts, ask them to make a donation to a worthwhile organization, such as a local animal shelter or environmental organization. Your child probably has particular interests that lend themselves to such donations.

• Or find a number of gift ideas for people throughout the world at: Alternative Gifts International www.altgifts.org For example, $5 saves one acre of rainforest in Panama or Nicaragua.

• Volunteer / donate / adopt - the ideal gift where we can make a difference, for example, support the wonderful work being done to protect and preserve the remaining orangutan population and the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra visit any of the following websites:

Orangutan Foundation International 

www.orangutan.org

Orangutan Foundation UK

www.orangutan.org.uk

Boneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation

www.savetheorangutan.co.uk

Australian Orangutan Project

www.orngutan.org.au

• Personalized Gifts. A homemade gift can be the most meaningful and therefore most valued. Ask guests to make instead of buying something.

• Carefully Selected Gifts. If there is something your child truly needs or has been wanting, or if you know people are going to bring gifts (grandparents , family etc) even if you ask them not to, help direct the gift giving to make sure it doesn't result in more waste. Ask people to make contributions toward the purchase of a particular item or set up a registry with an eco friendly supplier.

See Toys & Gifts for more eco - friendly ideas.

Party Favours

Activity-Based

Reinforce the learning and fun at your party by giving guests related party favours that leave them with something to think about.  Ditch the traditional "goody bag" full of candy and throw-away plastic toys for an item that the kids make themselves, from eco - safe materials, (see Eco-Safe Art Supplies) such as a puppet, kite or princess hat, and then take home with them.

When you plan a planet - friendly party for your child's birthday party, you're giving your child and his or her friends the opportunity to make a difference. At the end of the celebration, your guests will go home with a smile in their hearts, happy memories, and the confidence that comes from helping others and the environment. That's worth more than anything money can buy.