Planning a Green Birthday Party

Earlier this month I tuned in for a Kiwi Webinar called Green Birthday Parties for Less. This topic is super timely for me right now, as I’m attempting to plan my daughter’s 5th birthday party. (She’s decided on a Hawaiian Luau theme.)

The webinar was lead by Corey Colwell-Lipson and  Lynn Colwell, authors of Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family. Corey and Lynn lead us through the major components of throwing an eco-friendly party without breaking the bank.  Here are some of my favorite ideas from the session:

I bought these two fabrics at Savers today for $5 - plenty for table cover and napkins!

• Make and Repurpose Decorations.  This is an overarching theme to go by when planning a green birthday party.  Think about what you have around the house that you can use for your party theme.  For example, we’ll be using an orchid, a coconut monkey, shell necklaces, seashells, and a couple beach wraps we already have for decoration.  We’re using ribbon and streamers from the craft closet to create “grass” skirts for party goers.
• Hide gifts instead of wrapping them.  This eliminates the cost, waste, and time spent wrapping gifts.  It also provides a fun activity for the birthday child.  Party goers could get in on the fun by yelling “hotter” and “colder” as the child looks for his/her gifts.
• Do a Gift swap.  This can be done in lieu of or in addition to traditional birthday gifts.  An example – have each child bring a book from home they would like to swap.  Have the children sit in a circle holding their book and make a game out of it by having the kids follow instructions like 1. Pass your book twice to the left.  2. Take your book to the person sitting across from you. 3.Put your book in the middle of the circle and take another one out….and so on.  Again, a great activity, makes for great party favors, and reuses resources.
• Use electronic invitations, or make a video invite and email it out! This saves paper, postage, and time!  A video invite would be a fun way to get the birthday child involved in party preparations. We often use Evite.com to send out our party invitations.
• Make cloth napkins out of an old tablecloth.  If you are including food in your party, avoid paper napkins by cutting cloth napkins out of an old tablecloth with pinking shears or scrapbooking scissors.  You can also designate a “birthday tablecloth” and have attendees add their handprints to a portion of it each year.  By the time the birthday girl/boy has outgrown traditional parties, you’ll have a fun keepsake. Find interesting ideas and menu tips at https://islandeventplanners.com/#menu.
• Greenhalloween.org for party favors.  Corey and Lynn also run this website.  Here, you’ll find lots of ideas for green party favors.

Pick up more green party tips an advice at Corey and Lynn’s website, CelebrateGreen.net.

Listen to several other parenting-related webinars at the Kiwi College webpage.  The Green Birthday Parties for Less webinar has not been posted there yet, but I imagine it will be there eventually.

Do you have other ideas to green a party?  Please share!

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