Planning a children’s party can be quite stressful. Trying to make it as eco-friendly as possible might feel like it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Planning an eco-friendly children’s party needn’t be difficult though. In its simplest form you just have to be mindful of what you’re buying. I won’t be focussing on your budget, setting the date or choosing who to invite, instead I’ll focus on party bags, decorations, food and gifts etc.
Planing an eco-friendly children’s party
1. Invitations
Sending out paper invitations seems very old-fashioned, and it probably is for adults, but as young children often don’t have their own mobile phones (some do, I know!) an invitation is actually quite nice to receive.
You could make your own using any scrap paper or even materials that you have around the house. Or keep it really simple and find someone who sells ready made invitations made from recycled paper (and that don’t come wrapped in single use plastic). Making something yourself is the most eco-friendly thing to do especially if you use things that would just be thrown out anyway. But this is down to how much time you have to plan and of course how much stuff you have that could be used.
2. Decorations
Children’s parties always seem to have balloons, but balloons are a big no-no for an eco-friendly occasion. There are so many alternatives to balloons, like paper chains, streamers and pinwheels that are easy to make. You could even make streamers with the children at the party for something to do.
Most children’s parties have a theme of some description so get creative and make bunting that matches your theme. Making fabric bunting is extremely easy and it can be re-used numerous times (as long as the theme isn’t too crazy).
3. Plates, Cutlery, Drinks
Do I have to mention this? Disposable plates and cutlery, whether they’re plastic or paper should be avoided. Keep the food you’re serving simple and in bitesize pieces so you don’t need plates, or use re-usable napkins that the children can carry their food or birthday cake around in. You can buy some beautiful bamboo cutlery sets, but this might not be an option if there are loads of guests.
If the children at your party are going to be young and you don’t trust them not to spill their drinks, provide reusable straws. Why not give each child a stainless steel or bamboo straw as part of their party bag?
4. Party Bags
What you include in a party bag does depend on the age of the children but there are a variety of things you could include. If, as part of the entertainment, the children have made things during the party, such as streamers or even pinwheels, these can be included as part of the ‘party bag’. You could even include seedballs to get the children interested in gardening in the easiest way possible!
Traditionally party bags would contain a few sweets. If you decide to go down that route you could make some yourself or find some sweets that are individually wrapped in an eco-friendly wrappers. This is probably the hardest part of organising an eco-friendly children’s party because chocolate and sweets are pretty hard to find in environmentally friendly packaging.
5. Entertainment
It was mentioned earlier but doing some arts and crafts is a great way to keep the younger children occupied and entertained. Get them to help with making the party decorations or make something they can take home with them. Wherever possible use items you already have at home, whether that’s old sheets / curtains you’ll never use again to scrap paper you haven’t found a use for yet. You could even make paper hats out of old newspapers.
If you don’t have bits and bobs at home there are lots of eco-friendly craft materials available. As a child we used to make pictures out of dried pasta or macaroni! Glitter is a terrible idea and should be avoided at all costs. Even so-called biodegradable glitter is bad for the environment. And as we know glitter gets absolutely everywhere!
Classic children’s party entertainment like musical chairs is always a winner, doesn’t cost any money and is not wasteful.
6. Gifts
Receiving lots of things that your child may never play with or look at again is not eco-friendly. Having loads of cheap plastic toys wrapped in glittery wrapping paper is not great. Make sure you let the parents know beforehand about anything you’d prefer them not to buy and things you would like, books maybe. You could ask them to donate to your favourite charity, or ask for money instead of gifts. Although I know some people feel uncomfortable doing this, if you say that your child is saving up for something, asking for money towards it is not a bad thing and it avoids having to give other parents a list of do’s and don’ts for the gifts.
Some people don’t like being told what not to buy, but it’s your child’s party and you’re allowed to politely request plastic free toys if it’s important to you.
If you stick to these 3 rules when planning for an eco-friendly children’s party you can’t go far wrong.
- No Glitter
- No Plastic (which includes straws of course)
- And definitely no Balloons
- And as a bonus… no clowns, just no!
Learn how to be an eco-friendly parent.
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