Green Birthday Party

Next time you’re planning a birthday party think about what things you can do to make it an eco-friendly event. Here are some tips that can apply to an at-home party for anyone, any age. 

(1) INVITATIONS. Invite guests ahead of time via email or e-vite to save paper waste, postage, and the USPS resources. If you like the idea of sending invitations in the mail, try to use 100% recycled paper invitations or paper from another source such as cotton or hemp. Ensure that dyes are natural. If you’d like guests to be aware, add a note in there saying that this will be a “green” event or an “eco-party” or similar. (more on that later*)

(2) GIFTS. We don’t need more stuff, do we? Most gifts end up in a landfill after they break or we’re done with them (their eventual home even if we donate to Goodwill, which we still should do). An option is, especially for an adult’s birthday party, is to explicitly *write in the invitation “no gifts please”. Okay, maybe the birthday girl or boy has a wish list and that can still be honored but add a note in the invitation to ask that gifts only be wrapped with recycled items. This can actually be a fun activity for the gift-giver, and a nice lesson for kids. For example, “Please wrap gifts only using recycled materials such as newspaper or a used t-shirt. Be creative!”

(3) DECOR. No need to head out to your local party store to pick up a bunch of matching paper plates, streamers, balloons, and all that wasteful theme-y stuff. If you feel the need to hang brightly colored streamers from the lamps and ceiling and things, use reusable fabric ribbon instead. Purchase or rent mini topiaries and add ribbons to them. Get some organic freshly cut flowers and put together mini arrangements then compost them afterwards. Let the food be the decor …  

(4) FOOD. Make the food you make or buy pretty. Let the color or the food tie together with whatever theme you’ve chosen. PIck your colors and go from there. If you want a clean fresh white and yellow look, put all food in varying shapes and sizes of white bowls, cups, and other vessels and make most of that food white and yellow. All of this works great with sweets. Same for rich colors; let the food display and food colors really show your theme. For a Moroccan theme, incorporate red and yellow linens and serving bowls. 

(5) FAVORS. Forgo favors unless you think you need to give them. A nice way to give favors without providing too much waste is to wrap up some of the extra candy or goodies from the party for each guest. Tie up with a little ribbon. Or, give some locally made organic chocolate as a treat for each guest. 

(6) CLEAN-UP. Use real plates, real cups or glasses, and real napkins. By real I mean washable and reusable — not paper, not disposable, not going to end up in a landfill. Even if you have different sized plates, bowls, and glasses, that’s okay. Mismatched has a nice appeal and guests are always impressed when they’re eating on a plate that doesn’t topple over and spill on them if they load up with too much food. If you don’t have enough for everyone, buy a few more pieces at Crate and Barrell or FishEddy.com or rent from a local catering or production company. By the end of the event you shouldn’t have too much to throw away. Wash the plates, glasses, and napkins. Tuck away the eco-friendly wrapping paper if you can reuse it, otherwise donate or recycle it. Recycle all gift packaging that came with the gifts. Pack to go boxes for guests so no food goes to waste; eat leftovers with what remains, and compost the rest. 

(7) PHOTOS. Take lots of digital photos and be sure to capture all the details like the best eco-friendly wrapping paper, that funny moment when someone won the game you were playing, a big toast, the delicious food spread you whipped up, etc. Send out photos online using kodakgallery or ofoto so guest can order prints if they want them. If the party was especially fun or memorable put together a quick slideshow (or video if you had your video recorder handy, like a Flip) and share that with guests online using something like iMovie and upload to YouTube or another site like that for guests to check out. Incorporate some of the music you had playing at the party into the slideshow. 

(7) THANK YOUS. Send thank yous either via email or with recycled paper or alternative paper products. 

(Newspaper wrapping from MintDesignBlog)

N.Parkington