Green Birthday Party

The State of the Modern Birthday Party:

Birthday parties have gotten out of hand for many US families. Parents are spending too much money, sometimes even outrageous amounts. Parents are under pressure to make bigger and better parties each year. Children are getting over-whelmed with toys, goodies and over stimulation. To top it all off, a lot of what went into the party ends up in the trash. Things have gotten out of hand. Too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing. These out of hand birthdays have several bad effects.

Effects on the Environment:

• All the dirty paper plates, cups, themed table clothes, plastic flatware, party hats, noise makers, wrapping paper, balloons and streamer are all headed strait to the trash when the party is done. Much of these themed products weren’t cheap either.
• All the plastic goodies are likely to be headed to the landfill too; it just may take a little longer.
• Parties out of control can produce an excess of toys for the birthday child. The excess is a waste of resources and many of these toys are made of mystery plastics.

Effects on the Family:

• Planning to big of a birthday puts stress on parents. Birthday parties should be enjoyable for everyone, not stressful.
• These parties drain parent’s bank accounts, or put them in debit. Better to put that money into your child’s savings account.
• If the guest list is too long, that also puts more stress on parents and the children can start to get out of control.
• The birthday child can get over whelmed and over stimulated. I’ve seen many a birthday child start to cry or lose their temper.
• Too much birthday planning, puts a strain on parent’s time.
• An excessive birthday teaches children that they are owned everything they want and that wastefulness is expectable.
• Notice that children indulged in excess are usually unhappy and still unsatisfied.

What is a parent to do?:

The good news is that birthday parties don’t have to be a stressful and wasteful event to be great. When children remember their birthday, they will not remember the Hello Kitty plates as much as they will remember the good time they had with their family and friends. A lot of this stuff we do to make a birthday party perfect, children are not going to remember. When we come right down to it, a lot of the excess we put into birthday parties are really for us, the parents.

Remember that saying that so many parents say to their children: If Johnny walks off a cliff, should you walk off too? If our neigbors practice overindulgent birthdays, should we burden ourselves because they are? Of course not. Most of us are just doing it because subconsciously it’s what we think good parents do, and we really haven’t stopped to think about it. Or, we have stopped to think about it, know it’s not what’s best, but can’t figure out what else we can do.

For those out there who are ready to try something new, here are some simple and green birthday tips and an entire green birthday planner with a book exchange theme. The planner makes a green birthday party simple, practical, and cost effective.

Simple and Green Birthday Tips:

• Invitations:
• Use email invitations instead of paper snail mail ones. This will save paper, time, and money. Use a simple email or use evite.com an online email invitation website. Evite.com even has some green themed invites.
• If you have the time and creativity, you and your child can make your own invitations out of scrap paper that would have found its way into the trash if you don’t rescue it.
• Use invitations that are made of recycled paper. This has the added bonus of helping your guests have a better understanding of your theme.
• Hand deliver paper invites when you happen to see those who you want to invite.


• Theme:
• Have your party focused on some kind of charity; animal shelter, local fire house, missionary family, the starving and homeless, etc… and have the children get involved by bring gifts for those charities. The party can even be arranged to visit a location related to your theme so that the children can learn about what they are contributing to and the whole thing is very hands on and memorable.
• Have a used book or toy exchange as your theme.


• Gift Wrap:
• Use newspaper, funny pages, children’s artwork, sale flyers, used gift wrap, or used gift bags and tissue paper to wrap the present.
• Use reusable cloth gift bags and cloth ribbon. Reusablebags.com has a great organic cotton produce bag that makes a great gift bag. It’s about the same price as buying a conventional gift bag at a store like Target or Hallmark. Just add a nice cloth bow and you’ll have an attractive gift that was no time to wrap.
• Some presents, depending on there size, can just have a cloth bow tied to them and called done. Of course, you’ll want to save the cloth bow for another gift later. If the cloth ribbon is heavily creased after it is used many times, you can lightly run it over a regular light bulb or iron it with a sheet of copy paper between it and the iron.


• Gifts:
• Create a gift wish list of toys that are in line with your families ideals and values. This way, your child won’t get so much junk.


• Good Toy Sites with built in Wish Lists:
• Moolka.com
• Oompa.com
• Good Toy Sites:
• Novanatural.com
• Playmobilusa.com
• Finewoodentoys.com
• Constructiontoys.com
• Tinybirdsorganics.com


• Have your guests bring a used toy or book for the birthday child.
• If you are doing a charity themed party, have the children bring something for that charity in the place of a birthday gift.
• If you are having a party with just extended family, pick out a large gift that may be too expensive for you to buy alone, and have all of your family help contribute to it. Have the whole family there to see it unwrapped or presented to the birthday child.
• For those who think they can pull it off without tears, or have children too young to know the difference, do a no-gift party. Just simply have a great party with no gifts.
• If you are having a party with just extended family, you can also have them contribute to the child’s savings accounts or buy savings bonds in the place of gifts. Contributing to a child’s future is always a great gift.


• Supplies and Decorations:
• Make decorations out of trash, like a paper chain out of junk mail.
• Use reusable decorations and supplies. Start a tradition with a special flowered lay for the birthday girl every year, the traditional “Birthday” tablecloth you pull out every year, etc… Create a box of birthday stuff you pull out just for birthdays.


• Reusable Decoration & Supply Ideas:
• Happy birthday sign
• Flower Lays
• Crown or special hat for birthday child
• Themed stringed lights
• Door curtain
• Garland
• Wall decorations
• Special cloth tablecloth (avoid vinyl ones)
• Special cloth napkins
• Fun birthday plates, cups, flatware, silly straws you pull out just for birthdays


• Use reusable and recycled plates, cups, and flatware. Preserve.com has some great recycled reusable dishes and flatware that can even go into the dish washer after the party to be used again later. Also, check out greenpartygoods.com .


• Clean Up:

Make a clearly marked place for soiled cloth napkins and dishes to go. You may want to make an announcement when serving the cake that lets everyone know where all the dirty stuff should go. Those who are not accustomed to a party that is not throw-away may find themselves confused about where to put stuff that does not go in the trash. Help them out. Put a hamper or bag out for the linens. Instruct everyone to put their plate and flatware in the sink or even in an empty dishwasher. If you feel so inclined, you could even hide your trash can, so that none of your reusables end up in it. Everyone will be left with no choice but to find a better home for their dish.