You can start turning the kids "green" at an early age by going
environmentally friendly for your next birthday celebration. If you
think about it, children's birthday parties create an awful lot of
waste, with all of the throwaway paper products, goody bags, wrapping
paper, greeting cards, and even the packages that hold the gifts. But
hosting an environmentally friendly party is not only good for the
planet, it's also fun, easy, and will even put some "green" back into
your wallet!
Choose a "Green" Theme
First choose with a theme related to the environment, such as a "Rain
Forest Party," "Garden Party," or "Back to Nature Party." Then plan the
invitations, decorations, food, and fun to match the theme.
Consider Carbon-Free Invitations
Let your computer-savvy birthday kid use an online invitation service
such as E-vite to create personalized, paper-free invitations. If you
prefer more traditional invitations, create them using recycled party
bags, comic pages, coloring book sheets, seed packets, or old art
projects. Then decorate them, add the party details, and hand deliver
them to your guests. Also, keep the guest list small, which will help
you save resources.
Decorate with the Earth in Mind
Be creative and choose decorations that can be recycled or sent home
with the kids as party favors, such as small plants and stuffed monkeys
for the "Rain Forest Party," straw hats and seed packets for the "Garden
Party," or butterfly nets and bug holders for the "Back to Nature
Party." Tie inflated balloons around the room to give your party a
festive atmosphere, and then send a balloon home with each guest, with
brief instructions on how to dispose of it once it's deflated. Cover the
tables with a reusable plastic or fabric tablecloth and cloth napkins.
Set out washable plastic dishes, cups, and silverware. Or use plastic
sand pails and other creative objects for serving the good.
Encourage Environmental Activities
Here are some games and activities you can offer at your green party:
- Let the guests decorate canvas bags with fabric pens and iron-on
decals so they can carry their stuff, instead of using plastic or paper
bags.
- Take the guests on a Trashy Scavenger Hunt. Divide into teams, give
each player a pair of garden gloves and a canvas bag, and have teams
collect as much trash as they can find around the local neighborhood in a
set period of time.
- Pair up into partners and go on a nature walk, with one partner
leading the other blindfolded. Have them notice how things feel and
smell, and what they can hear and sense, to make them more aware of
their planet.
- Go on a Bug Safari and see how many different bugs you can spot.
Record them in small notebooks, then make a colorful bug chart when you
return to the party room.
- Make crafts using recycled materials, such as boxes, pieces of wood, old clothes, bits of paper, string or yarn, and so on.
Serve Earth-Friendly Foods
Buy snacks from your local Farmer's Market, and then let the kids
create their own concoctions from cut-up fruits and veggies, chopped
nuts and seeds, peanut butter and hummus spreads, and whole-wheat
crackers or bread. Make your own birthday cake to avoid all the
packaging that comes with the store-bought cakes-or let the kids
decorate their own cupcakes using reusable silicon cupcake holders.
Rethink the Gifts
Instead of buying more stuff, encourage your child to collect toys
for charity and donate them to the local fire station. Or have each of
the guests bring a gently used toy or game to recycle, and then have a
gift exchange with all of the kids.
Give Good Goodybags
Instead of filling plastic bags with little throw-away trinkets that
will just pollute the environment, send the guests home with a clay pot
and seeds for planting their own flowers, small stuffed monkeys to
decorate their bedrooms, or garden tools wrapped in reusable bandannas
or scarves.
Penny Warner has more than 25 years of experience as an author
and party planner. She has published more than 50 books, including 16
specific to parties. Additionally, Warner writes a weekly newspaper
column on family life, penned a column for Sesame Street Parents
magazine and has appeared on several regional and national TV morning
programs. Her latest book, HOW TO HOST A KILLER PARTY, debuted in
February 2010 from NAL/Penguin.
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