How To celebrate an Eco-Friendly Kids Party

Think of any party you attended recently? Did you notice the huge amounts of cardboard, paper, plastic, glitter and tapes that go waste? Even the gift wrapper is not recyclable considering the chemical dyes and laminate sheen on top. If there are thousands of parties like this happening every year, you can easily imagine the scale of environmental damage.

As a parent, you want your kid to have a great time with friends but also want to be sensitive about nature and the environment. Maybe, for the next upcoming birthday party, you and your kid can plan out an eco-friendly one.

Invitations that Mother Nature will love

Conserving nature starts with the first step of a party – sending out invitations! Why print out invitations on paper or buy cards for this purpose if you can easily solve the purpose by placing personal calls or sending out personalized email invites to all the guests and informing them about the party? If you mention that you’re sticking to an eco-friendly theme this time round, they’ll be more than glad that you skipped the invitation card for a good purpose.

The alternative is fun, too – you can send handwritten notes on wildflower paper that can be planted. The instructions to plant them are available printed on the back. Encourage your guests to dig a shallow spot in the backyard and plant them where there’s plenty of sunshine. It’s not just you who’ll be happy and content – even the guests will appreciate and enthusiastic about doing their part in conserving the environment. Plantable invitations are available in many online stores, so you can get them in packs and start off with your eco-friendly party in style!

Keep the scale down

It goes without saying that more resources are spent and more garbage generated. Make sure that you invite a small number of guests – your kid’s best friends and your best friends and the nicest neighbors. Keeping the scale down makes it all the easier to manage the party, deal with leftovers, and clean up after the party.

Best Eco-friendly decorations everywhere

You don’t have to invest in a bunch of plastic decorative items like banners, balloons, and scene setters. Use materials you already have with you to do them. You can use eco-friendly colors, old newspapers and fabric cloths to make hanging decorations.

It is true that balloons are indispensable in any party, but the elastic materials don’t biodegrade easily, so you might want to do away with them. If you’re not sure if you’ll be able to pull off DIY decorations using recyclable materials, you can also look around in stores for cloth or fabric banners and hanging decorations that can be reused multiple times.

Serve healthy snacks

The kids these days are exposed to so much junk food that it’s worrisome what effect it’ll have in their future years. Why not take this opportunity to serve the best kind of food possible? Choose to serve fruit juices, healthy smoothies or natural fruit yogurts instead of orangeade or bottled drinks.

You can also include carrot sticks, assorted nuts, fruit salad, carrot and date cake, boiled potatoes or eggs flavoured with salt and pepper. All of these are tasty options. Do some research online and find kid-friendly healthy food that’ll be a big hit among kids.

Food and snacks in reusable plates

As important as the kind of snacks you serve are the accessories you use! Choose sturdy porcelain or stainless steel plates to serve the snacks in. Offer plate napkins instead of paper tissues. Serve juice or smoothies in plastic or glass mugs that you’ll reuse. Even if you’re planning to include cookies and snacks, try to make them at home to reduce cardboard and plastic waste. The same goes for cutlery like spoons or forks. This way, you’ll not accumulate a bunch of paper plates

Dealing with leftovers

If you happen to have quite a bit of food leftover after the party, there’s no need to throw them in the garbage. Find out if there are homeless people who’d like to have it instead.

You can also pack them and offer to neighbors or send it along with the guests to have as an after-party snack later.

Have fun without ruining the surroundings

There are different activities that kids can play or engage in without producing more trash. Musical chairs and pass the parcel is a good option. A scavenger hunt to look for apples or oranges is another great idea. You can also set up a clay modelling table for the kids to have fun making pots or beads to turn into bead necklaces.

Or if you have a bunch of plain scarves, you can use nature-friendly paints and ask the kids to have a splash decorating their own scarves. These might sound like simple activities, but they promise to be loads of fun and memorable.

Choose thoughtful gifts that’ll be preserved instead of thrown away

You don’t need cheap plastic toys and bubble blowers to delight kids. They’ve probably had enough of them in other parties. Present them with a packet of seeds and a tin watering can to encourage budding gardeners and encourage them to grow a little patch of their own in their backyards. Other options are to give them an entry ticket to the local museum or any other place with kids’ activities.

Encourage gifts that’ll make a difference to the environment: Inform your guests beforehand that you and your kid would value their presence and participation more than gifts. If they insist on bringing gifts, ask for potted plants, eco-friendly activity kits, or gift passes for a local kids’ drama, museum, or bookstore.

Together, you can all make a difference and feel doubly happy afterwards.