How to Throw a Green Children's Birthday Party

With all of the current focus on the environment, it is nice to be a positive role model for our children. Raising children who are environmentally conscious is our responsibility. There are some things you can do to throw a green birthday party that is a lot of fun.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• tablecloth
• recycled paper or seed paper invitations
• green party favors

1. Send out party invitations from recycled paper or paper you already have around the house. You can put together your own, cute invitations. Another option that is always a big hit is seeded paper invitations. These invitations have flower seeds in the paper and your guests can plant them in their gardens. What a cool way to go green!

2. Find a good, low-fat cake recipe. Or, you can make healthy cookies. These can be made in place of a store-bought cake loaded with sugar. It will also help to avoid that big box the cake comes in that ends up in the trash.

3. Discuss the party theme with your child. Older children may be willing to have guests bring gifts to donate to a family shelter or an animal shelter. Do not insist on having no gifts for your children. You do not want them to associate being green with missing out or have negative memories.

4. Ask guests to bring gifts unwrapped. Two other options are having the gifts wrapped in newspapers or coloring pages. Regular wrapping paper creates a lot of trash.

5. Look online for gift bag templates. You can make your own birthday goodie bags from recycled paper and decorate them yourself using crayons or soy-based ink and stamps.

6. Fill your goodie bags with nature-friendly items such as seeds, natural lip gloss and homemade play dough.
   
   Another option is to skip the goodie bag altogether and have the kids plant seeds into a pot. They can take this home with them.

7. Some party games that do not create waste are musical chairs, charades, a silly dance contest and running races. You can find more green party ideas online or just use your imagination!

8. Serve your cake on plates that can be washed and reused. Resist the temptation to buy juice boxes. Serve the juice in washable cups.

Tips & Warnings

• If you can not incorporate all of these ideas into your party, don't panic. Any improvement is a step in the right direction and sends a message to your children to be conscious of their impact on the environment.

[edieness]

on 7/16/2009 Excellant advice on How to Throw a Green Children's Birthday Party.