Tribe, my son recently turned 6 and we had a fabulous birthday party in the park. This also means that after planning 6 Eco-friendly birthday parties on my own I have gathered enough knowledge and experience to create this ‘guide to host an Eco-friendly birthday party’.
Now let me tell you in the below tips I am considering kids’ birthday party mostly but many of these tips are useful for any sort of party.
1. SELECTING A BIRTHDAY PARTY THEME
First few years when your kids are still babies and toddlers, you have the luxury to decide the birthday party theme, but when your kids cross 4 years threshold, they start getting creative and come up with their own party themes.
When you are selecting a theme, you can be as creative but just make sure that there is enough fun for kids in it. For example, my son’s first birthday was a farm-themed party where we had a petting zoo, pony ride. It was not just fun for younger kids around my son’s age to pet rabbits or feed horses, even older guests in our party enjoyed all the fun equally. Read more about our farm-themed birthday party here.
The best way is to plan a party theme in such a way that it can be a memorable experience for your kid as well as the guests like our farm theme party.
Having a nature-themed birthday party is a sure-shot way of an eco-friendly birthday party like camping in woodes themed party or growing your own food-themed party. You can find more such Nature-inspired themed birthday parties here on Wilder Child. However, if your kids are insisting on a theme that is not a very nature-inspired theme, you can always tweak it to add a little message or make it earth-friendly. For example, last year my son insisted on having a superhero-themed birthday party, So all I did was add a recycling superhero to his list of superheroes and bang out birthday party theme still has a nod to sustainability.
Added recycling superhero to the superheroes theme party
One of the toughest themes so far was this year’s Kings & Queens theme, but with our DIY cardboard castle out of repurposed boxes and handmade King’s costume with a lot of recycled material we could still keep our party Eco-friendly.
2. SELECTING THE PARTY VENUE
We are lucky that my son’s birthday falls in pleasant weather, so we always had an outdoor birthday party, close to nature. And that’s why maybe our guests every time tell me how much they loved our party. Now here is my secret, don’t hesitate to select an off-beat venue for a party, as long as it’s outdoors with open space for kids to run freely. Our farm-themed birthday party was hosted in a horse stable in a school in Jumeirah.
Farm themed birthday party
When you are hosting a party outdoors, make sure to find a spot near basic amenities like toilets and also give a thought to accessibility.
One of the birthday parties I decided to host on Kite beach. I even reached out to Dubai Municipality to check if I need any permission and explained to them that it’s going to be an Eco-friendly party. We even did a beach clean-up after our party. You can read more about our Earth-friendly beach birthday party here. Public parks or community pocket parks are the best and most convenient party venues.
If you are hosting a birthday party in hotter months my suggestion will try to host in places like splash pads or pool parties after sun hours, where kids can have fun in the water and can cool down. If you don’t have enough time to plan an entire birthday party, at least pick a fun learning venue where the kids can have some different experiences like learning or art classes or dance classes themed birthday parties.
3. PARTY INVITE
Honestly, sending printed party invites is not just wasteful but also outdated. If you can quickly send birthday invites on email or WhatsApp, then you can definitely save paper. In case you have no other option but to send a physical invite, then at least select recycled paper instead of glossy plastic-coated paper invites. You can also add a ‘recycle after use’ reminder on the back of your invite. Honestly simple handwritten invites are also beautiful, you don’t really need the store-bought glossy invites where you can use FSC paper or plantable paper (botanical paper), vegan ink, or even use the blank side of kids art.
4. BIRTHDAY CAKE
If you can bake a cake at home, there can not be a better cake than this. But if you are ordering a cake then be mindful of a few things. Order a cake in limited quantity to avoid wastage. Try to keep as food color-free as possible, though food colors are edible they are artificial. I also try to avoid fondant on the cake as fondant because nobody really eats the fondant and it gets wasted anyway. So I always come up with some simple but creative cake idea that can suit our theme but will be as free of fondant and color to keep it more of a basic, tasty cake that will finish without wasting anything.
For our ‘grow your own food’ themed birthday party, we had a potted plant-looking cake, which basically a simple chocolate cake with real mint stem planted in it. The combination of chocolate cake with real mint was so yummy, even kids loved it.
Our Kings & Queens theme birthday cake was also a simple vanilla cake but looked so royal with a metal crown on top. Last but not least try to find palm oil-free, sustainable candles for birthday cake.
5. PARTY DECORATION
Whenever I see party decorations, all I could see is disposable plastic and unsustainable balloons. Why these wasteful party decorations are so popular when they don’t even last long and are not cheap at all, think of the themed helium balloons. The best way to have greener party decoration is to make your own out of unwanted items from home like our cardboard castle or use as much natural material possible for decoration.
But if you don’t have time, then I would suggest buying plastic-free paper decorations, it looks classier too. If you want to avoid repeat buying of decoration, buy standard paper decoration items which can be used for many different themes and parties. You can also swap decorations with your friends or other parents.
For me, I generally prefer to have a beautiful natural venue where I will need minimal party decoration. Like a beautiful park party or our beach birthday party. We barely had any decoration as it’s windy on the beach. I even decorated the cake table with shells and corals found on the beach during our party.
My biggest recommendation is to avoid party balloons, they are very dangerous for the environment and sea animals. Remember balloons don’t keep flying in the air, they come down and end up in water bodies. After degrading the balloons turn into microplastic and add to ocean plastic. Read an interesting article about how balloons harm our environment here.
So what are alternatives to balloons? Many! I prefer to use paper lanterns, paper fans, paper kites, buntings, garlands, real flowers, or plants, and honestly, these items add more style to your party than balloons.
6. PARTY FOOD
I know ordering kid’s meals from MacDonald’s or Burger King is much more convenient when you are hosting a party. But honestly selecting healthy snacks for a birthday party is not that difficult. Healthy pizzas, fruit skewers, veggie sticks with hummus, guacamole with crackers, or easy barbecue, fruit juices can be some simple ideas.
Home-made food is always healthier and guests appreciate your efforts. There are also some very cool quick fixes of course with some awesome creativity; read to get inspired by fantastic fun learning and make some bugs-inspired snacks for the kids. Tastes better from scratch is another place to find creative healthy snacks for kids.
Any party can create food waste, so whatever you do, just make sure the food won’t be wasted. Also, remember you don’t need to decorate your tables with unnecessary sugar-laden junk, they are not really healthy, and they get wasted.
In any case, think about a plan for left-over food. You can keep some food boxes & containers to pack left-over food. You can also distribute the leftover yummy treats among your guests and in this case, choose Eco-friendly packaging instead of plastic containers.
7. GOODY BAG/ PARTY FAVORS
Honestly, it’s better to give kids and your guest an experience instead of things. However, as a mum I know, all kids love goody bags and return favors so I won’t say ditch goody bags. But create a responsible goody bag. For gifting inspirations, read our detailed sustainable gifting guide.
Adding candies & gummies wrapped in wasteful plastic or cheap plastic toys that break easily is not responsible. If you are adding treats, add healthy treats. I prefer to add dates, oat biscuits, raisins, or sun-dried fruits.
As for plastic toys and a plastic jug of bubbles replace them with simple but useful colored pencils, notepads, tiny activity books, stationery items.
There are always better sustainable return favors options like edible plants which we gave during our ‘grow your own food’ birthday party with tiny notes for plant care instructions. You can also give a pot of soil and seeds. For the first birthday party, I made return favors in farm themes out of repurposed baby food jars.
Just make sure to use paper or cloth bags instead of plastic bags and natural strings and paper tags instead of glossy alternatives.
8. PARTY TABLEWARE
This is one of the most wasteful parts of any party, single-use plates, cups, cutlery, straws. I would say, keep enough aside out of your party budget for this item. No, not for personalized plastic water bottles by adding your printed tags but for investing in Eco-friendly disposable items like palm ware or paperware.
Ideally, it’s better if you could use reusable plates, cups, cutlery. You don’t necessarily own it, you can rent it. However, if disposable items are the only option available, then try to use the same plate for food and cake, pour juices in cups and avoid juice boxes attached with straws. Also try avoiding packaged food in a smaller portion, instead ask your friends to help serve food and reduce food packaging waste. Basically, try and find ways to reduce the use of disposable items even if you are using sustainable alternatives.
Definitely say no to plastic, polystyrene single-use items, and even paper items that are plastic coated. They are not just wasteful but they unhealthy to use for food, especially hot food & drinks. And please don’t use the excuse of ‘party theme’ to opt for these unsustainable single-use items. Whatever your birthday theme is you don’t want to add an unnecessary extra burden on the planet or harm sea life for celebrating your kid’s birthday. There are many Eco-friendly disposable items available in the market made from cornstarch or palm leaf or bamboo.
9. TRASH BAGS
Have separate trash bags for recyclables like plastic (if your party is not plastic-free), metal or glass (for soft drinks tins or bottles), paper & cardboard (remember those pizza boxes & paper party hats?), organic or food waste, etc. Label clearly the trash bags, so that your guests know that trash is getting segregated at the venue.
10. RECEIVING GIFTS
For kid’s birthday parties, generally, there is a popular ritual for birthday boys or girls to open the gifts after or at the end of the party and this is their most favorite part. Who doesn’t love to receive gifts? But there are ways to go for more sustainable options based on your comfort zone.
In my honest opinion, the best way of celebrating a birthday could be by asking guests to donate to your favorite charity or cause. Of course for these options, kids need to be mature enough, but this could be a great way to let them know their social responsibility. Or you can always leave a note in your party invite giving them a hint of a plastic-free gift or ‘Eco-friendly gift’.
11. PARTY ENTERTAINMENT
Party entertainment for the kids needs to be age-appropriate and as much in line with the party theme. However, don’t worry too much as long as kids are having fun. Also add simple and fun games kids know like a tug of war, musical chair, etc. If you want to distribute party hats or some fun party stuff, give it to party entertainers so that they can give them to kids as a prize for winning party games or so.
One of the non-fail fun activities for any age group of kids is to host a scavenger hunt. We have a nature-based scavenger hunt in the form of an e-book that will not just entertain kids and their parents but will also educate them about UAE’s biodiversity and natural ecosystems. Get your copy of ‘UAE Outdoor Scavenger Hunt‘ here and if you use it during your party, please do share your with us your feedback!
I would suggest a few things here try to include a few games for parents or interacting with parents so that parents are not getting bored just waiting around and watching. Also, try to keep some free playtime in the end especially when the party is outdoors in the park or on the beach, kids can have fun playing outdoors. You can bring some appropriate props, for example for our beach party I packed a few sand toys and the kids loved playing with them on the beach.
If you are outdoors, just keep the music sound low so that you won’t scare away the wildlife in a natural setting.
Here are some of our past Earth- Friendly Birthday Parties in clickable links:
‘Grow Your Own Food’ themed Birthday Party
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