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I have had quite a few emails from the Nature Moms blog readers about doing an article on how to host a green birthday for kids.
Nothing has a natural mom cringing more I guess then the thought of a conventional birthday party with the enormous amount of garbage they generate from torn wrapping paper and cardboard boxes to the disposable cups, plates, and napkins that are often used. Kids are hyped up on sugary birthday cake, and they get lots of toys that frankly they just don’t need.
So what can you do? Having a green birthday is actually easier than you might think. But first you might to change your thoughts about what birthdays should mean for you and your child. You can plan an event without the tears that may arrive if you tell your child that you will be serving apples and peanut butter instead of cake and giving a goat to an African community in their name rather than giving presents. There is great joy to be had in helping all kids learn the joy of helping others AND protecting our planet rather than tearing through gift boxes and getting sick from candy favors found in the goodie bags. The key is to combine green values with party themes that kids love. So I have some tips for you on hosting a meaningful birthday party packed with fun.
So what makes a birthday party a birthday party? Let’s start with invitations. There are quite a few options for eco-friendly birthday invitations nowadays. Some of the options I found while surfing online were invitations made from recycled paper of course, there are also seeded invitations where each piece of paper is embedded with a mixture of annual and perennial wild flower seeds. Most often these would be used for green wedding or bridal showers but I think they would be just perfect for a birthday party. There is also the tree free paper option. Tree-Free paper is exactly what it sounds like, paper that is made without ANY cuttings from trees, directly or indirectly. Instead the paper is made from more sustainable materials. But if you really want all the guests and their parents to understand what you are trying to do at this “green” birthday party you might want to purchase some recycled paper and make your own. Last year my children and I made some invitations from paper we had lying around the house. We cut out usable squares from envelopes we got in the mail, and then we pasted those to a larger cut section of newspaper. They turned out rather well and we recycled the materials ourselves.
Now on to presents…. Traditionally the birthday child is showered with presents. The presents are usually wrapped in delightful shiny paper that gets torn to shreds and tossed on the floor. So what is wrong with this picture?
Well, I don’t know about you but my kids already have too many toys. A toy hay day is just not necessary and it sends a message of consumerism that that I just don’t like. Furthermore, many of the common gifts will be plastic toys are full of toxins and chemicals that have harmful effects on children and plastic breaks quite easily, then because they’re non-recyclable, they end up in landfills.
So maybe you could request on your recycled invitations that guests bring your child a used book or a gently used toy from their own home. Many parents would be appreciative of this. Or perhaps you could have guests bring a gift to donate to a worthy cause. For instance, I read about a woman that orchestrated a puppy-themed party for her child to benefit a local animal shelter. She made dog-bone shaped oatmeal cookies for snacks and In lieu of birthday gifts, guests brought donations, dog food, leashes, water bowls and toys for the abandoned animals. All the kids and especially the birthday boy LOVED it and the animal shelter brought puppies for the kids to play with. I also read about an Africa-themed party, where kids built a grass hut and collected donations for African children. These parties were fun and they taught the guests a valuable lesson about helping others instead of the usual birthday message of “help yourself.”
Oh and if you liked that adopt a goat idea I was being serious. You can adopt a goat used to provide milk for poor families and gift the adoption to anyone of your choosing. Gardenharvest.org is one such place that offers this.
You can also create a registry list of eco-friendly gifts that your child would appreciate such as wood toys, cloth dolls, laptop lunch boxes, klean kanteen bottles, etc. There are a lot of options.
Okay, so we discussed gifts but what about wrapping paper. This one is pretty easy. Ask on the invitations that all gifts be wrapped in newspaper or fabric. The newspaper can be recycled and the fabric can be reused for a variety of other things. The picture above shows a great product from Lucky Crow. They are stylish and reusable gift bags.
Next up is supplies and decorations. First off, use reusable dishes, utensils, tablecloths, and napkins. All of these can just be washed instead of being tossed. If you MUST use disposables then go for the Preserve disposables available at Amazon. They are made from recycled yogurt cups. You can also buy compostable utensils. And if you do have any plastic, aluminum, or glass waste at the party, set out labeled recycle bins for the guests and encourage the kids to identify them and use them.
There are also a lot of green options for decorations too. Instead of a plastic tablecloth why not use cloth? If you have your heart set on a themed tablecloth then you could pick up some themed fabric at the fabric store. Even a themed sheet would work. If you have goodie bags then ditch the plastic and go with fabric there too. And what should go in the goodie bags??? I suggest homemade play dough. I have several recipes for it on the NatureMoms site.
You could also give out Mini Lucky Bamboo plants.
Avoiding conventional balloons would also be a good idea. When the ground is littered with deflated balloons this spells trouble for local wildlife that could be killed after ingesting them. I don’t anyone wants to thinks that their child’s birthday celebration could cause untold animal deaths so Japanese style paper balloons are an eco-friendly substitute.
Okay, so now we arrive at the issue of food and specifically birthday cake. How about baking a batch of delicious healthy cookies? There are a few healthy cookie recipes in the Dr. Sears book called the Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood. I have tried them and they are all good. Also, what about a home-baked, low-sugar apple pie or a healthy carrot cake. I posted a recipe for a healthy carrot cake that is sure to be a hit at any birthday party.
So are you ready to throw a green birthday party bash? I hope I have given you some good ideas that will help you plan accordingly. If do end up have a green birthday party make sure to send me an email tell me all about it. And if you have already had one I want to hear your experience too….you can comment below. So now that you have a strategy go party!
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Anonymous said,
June 13, 2007 at 1:13 pm:
Eco Friendly Birthday Party…
An article on hosting a green birthday party for kids from recycled invitations to the fabric goodie bags with homemade play dough….
Vicky Harper said,
June 15, 2007 at 4:17 pm:
[...]You can have the coolest birthday party on the block and still be responsible!
For more ideas, see also Eco Friendly Birthday Party by Nature Moms.[...]
Mom Unplugged said,
June 21, 2007 at 6:58 pm:
Having just endured my son’s 5th birthday party, this post is quite timely (albeit a bit late for him this year). We tried to cut back but I still feel that there was a lot of waste, unwanted gifts (he hasn’t played with a single one of them yet!), and sugar.
You have some great ideas. I don’t know if I could get my kids to go for the goat, but I am sure I could convince them to do an animal shelter party and love it. Thanks for the wonderful idea!
Thanks also for stopping by my blog. I can tell that I am going to enjoy yours!
Shoshana Grattidge said,
September 1, 2007 at 6:59 pm:
http://www.healthybirthdays.com has some great tips for healthy birthday parties for kids. Check it out!
Sarah Petersen said,
September 12, 2007 at 3:03 pm:
Hi,
I am a big fan of all of the environmental information on your website, so I wanted to contact you about an issue that is important to me.
My name is Sarah Petersen and I am very passionate about environmental activism. I am the author of http://www.savephoenix.org. My new passion
is helping people save renewable resources in their home. I have written an article on environmentally consciencious bathroom design and remodeling
and wasauna.com has agreed to host it for me because they get so much bathroom related traffic.
I’m writing to see if you would be willing to post a link to my article (www.wasauna.com/bathroom-design.html) somewhere on your site. The article has all types of information about saving water in the bathroom, and statistics about how much it would save our country if people followed some simple guidelines.
Thank you so much for your time!
Sincerely,
Sarah Petersen
sarah@savephoenix.org
(480) 522-6310
Lynda said,
September 25, 2007 at 11:08 am:
I am in the process of planning a 4th birthday for my son and have choosen a “green” theme. We are having a local nature center come to our home and talk about animals. I am going to purchase recycle products and organic foods for the party. This website has been a good resource on where to purchase “green” party goods and has great ideas on gift giving. I am planning on asking party goers to try to make their gifts green and wrapping paper is optional. Baby steps for everyone.
stacy said,
September 26, 2007 at 9:12 pm:
Hi,
I am having a party for my daughter who will be 5. I am wondering if you have any ideas of where to get fabric that won’t be so expensive for the paryt favor bags? And do you have any other ideas of what to put in the bags besides playdough?
Thank you in advance.
Stacy
nicomachus.net said,
September 27, 2007 at 9:05 am:
Carnival of the Green…
The air is thick this morning, my first day back to work since vacation. It’s dense with water vapor and a stagnant quality that makes it hard to breathe. It feels like the air trapped by plastic wrapped tight over……
Gwen said,
October 22, 2007 at 1:26 am:
To add to the list of environmentally green parties, here are some other low consumption ideas:
1) for small parties, consider email invites
2) recycle: offer your old party accessories on freecycle.org so that someone local to you can re-use your used/unused items, and feel free to post a wanted ad on freecycle for party items you’ld like to have for your party.
3) establish a bank account for your child’s college expenses, and let family members know as a green alternative, you’ve set up a college fund as an alternative for gifts.
aruna said,
October 23, 2007 at 1:31 am:
Very neat site for eco conscious moms!
rehaan said,
October 23, 2007 at 10:32 am:
Hi, Friend
Your creative child birthday party invitation will make those you invite really want to
attend your party. After all there is no end to imagination and excitement, so make
sure that your invitation really stands out!Imagine the reaction when your very
creative kid birthday party invitation arrives in everyone’s mail box. Or what if your
party invitation is hand delivered by someone in your theme costume… You’ll make a
wonderful impression on everyone and they’ll hardly be able to wait for your
party!Here are some great ideas to help you think creatively about your child’s
birthday party invitation.
and u can also send Ecard & Invitation
Please visit for more Detail
Jennifer said,
December 12, 2007 at 11:33 am:
Thanks so much for writing this article. I saw someone link to it (when suggesting fabric gift bags) and I’m hoping that I can incorporate some of the ideas you’ve given.
Jennifer’s last blog post..Free To a Good Home
Birthday parties…can they be greened up a bit? « Our Green Babysteps said,
January 2, 2008 at 10:52 pm:
[...] see how other people have good parties for kids that are environmentally responsible. So I found this article today. Thanks for the nice article, Tiffany! I’ll save the info for when we have [...]
beltzy said,
January 23, 2008 at 6:03 pm:
Eco Bags http://www.ecobags.com has “ditty bags” which are inexpensive and perfect for goody bags. They’re 5 x 7 cotton mesh drawstring sacks and I’m planning on using them for my son’s 1st birthday parties. We’ll probably put fruit leather from Trader Joes and a cookie in them or something simple like that. A little costlier than buying a package of traditional bags but I think it’s worth it!
Rebecca said,
February 3, 2008 at 3:00 am:
Excellent ideas! I especially like the suggestion for each child to bring a “gently used toy” or book. This saves parents money and time–plus cuts down on clutter and waste. The eco-friendly gift wrap is a great idea, too. I’ve written about this on my own website, http://www.greenbabyguide.com.
vacuum cleaners said,
February 18, 2008 at 2:24 pm:
A lot of these ideas could be used for Christmas as well (Another time to consider as far as green things is concerned.) One family I know make it part of the Christmas traditions to give a toy or something to the local orphanage. The kids and the parents go to the orphanage, meet some of the kids, and give them something. It became a much-loved tradition in the family that even now, in their twenties, they like to do. So, there’s a pretty good idea. Christmas is supposed to be about giving any way – much more than birthday parties of course!
Resource Lists | Tiffany Washko said,
February 20, 2008 at 11:04 am:
[...] Eco Friendly Birthday Party [...]
Paulina said,
February 23, 2008 at 9:11 pm:
Hello,
We have done few green birthday parties. We are lucky our boys love insects and it is all they want for their birthday party’s theme.
For goodie bags, we have used old towels shaped into hearts, cubes, etc. For goddies: necklaces we made using clay (butterflies shaped), homemade cookies, painted rocks (ladybugs), playdough, jump ropes, rhythm sticks (home made), drums (using recycled materials).
It takes more time planning and making all the stuff, I usually start gathering stuff about 6 months in advance… which is when they usually start dreaming with their birthday as well. It is fun for all of us to prepare their party and surprise their friends.
I hope this help!
Nancy Mathew said,
March 10, 2008 at 11:28 pm:
I feel using bio degradable and reusable bags as goody bags is an excellent way of introducing kid how to reduce wastage. http://www.thegreenaura has jute drawstring bags, shipping is free. I also like their hand bags nad shopping bags made of fabric.
fine art portraits said,
March 24, 2008 at 4:46 am:
My three-year old cousin will be celebrating her 4th birthday on July. When I stumbled upon your site, I bookmarked it and highlighted your suggestions. As of now, we’re collecting recipes of possible menus to be served during the party. By the way, it’s our family practice to serve spaghetti during birthdays. Do you have any ‘green spag recipe’? I tried serving spaghetti with green herbs to kids last week to test if they will like it but they didn’t even finish a saucerful of their spag.
Funtush said,
March 27, 2008 at 10:22 pm:
I got the goodie bags for my son’s b’day from http://www.thegreenaura.com. Their drawsting pouches are plain, you can decorate these or write on these with a fabric marker. The shipping is free.
Karen P said,
March 29, 2008 at 2:24 pm:
Great ideas. For my son’s 6th birthday this year we asked guests to make a donation to Plan International (they help children in need all over the world) and allow you to sponsor children. We have a child we sponsor in Africa so my son is familiar with this organization. Also, a great way to save trees is to send out evite invitations. You do need to have email addresses, but our school uses email now for newsletter etc. to be more “green” so it was easy enough to gather. It actually worked great and was a huge help because my son ended up getting sick and we had to postpone the party. Evite allows you to send a message to your guests. Most received the message saving me many phone calls. It also allows you to send out reminder messages a few days before the party which several parents thanked me for. In this hectic time a little reminder is a good thing! We had a basketball party at a local gym and after the games served organic carrots & veggies, hummus, fruit, and we did do a traditional birthday cake - the one thing my son really wanted (he is only 6!). Party favors were in reusable bags and the only food items were organic fruit roll-ups which the kids all seemed to love.
Michelle Rotter said,
April 1, 2008 at 9:22 pm:
I was in charge of my parents 50th wedding anniversary party at my house this past summer. All of our plates, glasses and silverware were compostable, and filled up my compost pile. The napkins were recycled paper. And the decorations on the tables were little pine trees that people could take home and plant. We also gave out favors of wrapped tulip bulbs that could be planted at that time of year. My parents asked for no gifts, but there are always a few.
Plus I had a blast with the handmade invitations. I made CD’s of the top 26 songs of 1957 (year they were married) and had their wedding picture on the cover. Inside was the play list and invitation (all from recycled papers). It turned out great, and lots of people noticed my attention to detail with the environment in mind.
By the way, my 10 year old daughter wants a green birthday party this year. We are planning a hike at the State Park 20minutes from our house.
Deirdre Gill said,
April 7, 2008 at 10:58 pm:
Thanks for all the great tips. I just posted about throwing green birthday parties as well:
http://greenguideforkids.blogspot.com/
Love your Site!
Deirdre Gill’s last blog post..Happy Birthday=Happy Environment
Raising Kids Who Care About the World Around Them | Natural Family Living Blog said,
April 14, 2008 at 11:53 am:
[...] world as a contributing human being. This is one reason I really like the ideas I spoke of in my green birthdays post: I read about a woman that orchestrated a puppy-themed party for her child to benefit a [...]
Emi said,
April 15, 2008 at 3:00 pm:
You can go completely green invitations and jusy an evite. evite.com
Valarie Roberts said,
April 18, 2008 at 9:29 am:
We are setting up a juicing station at our 6 year olds birthday party where the kids can make their own organic fruit juices.
Alicia said,
April 22, 2008 at 3:12 pm:
I really love this website. There are so many useful tips on how to be better. Giving it our all only shows our kids that anything is possible. Thanks for such a great reference point!
Natasha said,
April 30, 2008 at 11:39 am:
I am about to host my son’s 2nd birthday. We are going eco friendly by only using recycleable or re-usable products. Our loot bags are made from brown paper and are hand decorated. Inside them are homemade bean bags, wooden toys and pencils with note pads. I am making all the food, and of course the cake! We are topping it off with a homemade pinyata filled with wooden or and bamboo toys. We are even making our own lollipops! Hope this gives some ideas!
Melissa Aird said,
May 6, 2008 at 2:54 pm:
I was so excited to come across this blog. I am in the process of planning my son’s fifth birthday party. He is a HUGE animal lover and a Steve Irwin fan. Because it’s his current interest, every opportunity we get, my husband and I are trying to teach him about what it takes to save habitats and wildlife (money, money and money, and effort, effort, effort). So, for his Crocodile Hunter themed party, we are requesting that his friends donate to Wildlife Warriors, Steve Irwin’s organization, instead of bringing him a present. My boys, like some of your children (as I read), have way too many toys already. My son’s first reaction to our suggestion was “That’s a deal”, which made both me and my husband tear up. (Later on it was followed by “But I still want presents.” Hey, he’s five…) We explained to him that family would bring him gifts, but this will cut down by at least half. This way, we’re both happy. He gets presents, just not as many.
I also have started a business making die-cut party invitations using only FSC-certified and/or 100% recycled materials… (www.bluewhaleinvitations.com). I made a boot that’s laced with real ribbon and there’s a crocodile sitting on top of the boot. Cutest thing I’ve ever seen in the way of invitations, if I say so myself.
I also wanted to let you know how responsive Wildlife Warriors has been - they put together personalized donation envelopes and made my son a certificate in recognition of “requesting donations instead of receiving presents”, which made my son feel even better about the decision. If you’re looking for an organization to support, this one really seems to be a good one.
Thanks…
Monika said,
May 13, 2008 at 10:53 pm:
I am glad I fund your site. I am planing a fun play party for my son and try to be eco-friendly. You just gave me the idea, to give each of our guests a strawberry plants for gift. My son, 3, is excited having strawberry in our balcony, so his friend will like it too. And they will remember the party where it is time to harvest the berries.
I also asked them to bring plastic yogurt cups so we can build a castle or a fort together.
Thanks for the great blog!
Yvette said,
June 15, 2008 at 9:48 pm:
I love this website and wanted to share a great website that I just did feature article on for my website.
The website is called http://www.greenpartygoods.com. I had the opportunity to speak with the founder and she was delightful. Her article is posted on my homepage with a jpeg of some of the party hats. I love her produce and this here website is wonderful. Check it out you may like it.
This year for my sons birthday I sent out invites through my website http://www.mykidsregistry.com. I was able to save paper, postage, and receive online R.S.V.P.s. I absolutely loved it and it acutally kept me so much more organized with who was coming and who was not. Some other PRO PAPER inviters kind of turned up their nose to my einvitation but I thought “whatever” invitations get thrown out at the end of the day and it is such a waste of paper, money and time unless of course if it is recycled paper.
THE IDEAS ON HERE ARE FANTASTIC. I would love share this blog with my members too. Is that o.k.?? Great Job Tiffany and all the moms making a difference.
Suzanne said,
July 15, 2008 at 11:41 am:
Green Birthday parties are more fun than conventional parties! Making your own decorations may take more time and creativity, but it makes the birthday party process more enjoyable and exciting to the child. I am co-owner of The Little Green Tambourine, A Healthy Living Creative Arts Studio for Kids. We host green birthday parties and they allow the child to really feel special as all decorations and activities are much more creative and interactive than most other birthday party places offer. We have a big dishwasher in our studio so clean up isn’t that much harder. We don’t mind washing dishes when we know we haven’t created a bunch of paper waste! Most of the time the kids don’t know they’re at a green birthday party until we tell them!
I hope more people think about the effect our holidays, not even just birthdays, have on our environment! I’m happy to see that this website is doing such a wonderful job making being green seem easy and cool; It really is!!
Suzanne DeRosa
Co-Founder of The Little Green Tambourine, LLC
Bev Young said,
July 26, 2008 at 10:47 pm:
I used this site to plan my daughter’s party and it was FANTASTIC!!! Finally a way for us to have a party and not get tons of toys, stuff that she does not need. My daughter got One big gift and gave to charity and everything was done online. It was easy and i will use it again. Check out http://www.echoage.com for a truly green party alternative. Finally!!!!
organicbaby'smom said,
July 30, 2008 at 5:57 pm:
Ooh, I’m loving this thread. Yes I may have to trackback ya. Wonderful blog!