Sustainable Party Planning

Are you hoping to throw a party without all the single-use waste most parties generate? You are not alone! I recently hosted a birthday party for my toddler, and wrestled with my competing desires to throw my child and her friends a fun party, whilst staying true to my eco-friendly morals. I feel like I struck the right balance, and would love to share this with you! Here are some simple tips and tricks for hosting a celebration to remember, without costing the Earth.

Location

Your chosen location may well be determined by the time of year and what you have available in your area. If you have the option of hosting your party outdoors, I would highly recommend it. Especially if you are throwing a children’s party. Here’s why.

1- Kids love to run around, jump and climb. Parties in a controlled outdoor environment, such as your local playpark, are ideal. The kids can charge about and entertain each other, while the adults get a little break. And you won’t have the constant fear of your tiny guests breaking something special or valuable, or finding something they ought not to have.

2- You therefore will not need to hire or buy any additional entertainment. The play equipment that is already there will be more than enough.

3- Nor will you need to hire or purchase any decorations. The natural world or the equipment at the play park will provide plenty enough for your guests to feast their eyes on!

4- You won’t have an enormous mess to clear up after the party.

5- You can still provide snacks and birthday cake. But it is more acceptable to ask your guests to bring a cup and a plate to the play park than to an event at your house. Which means a lot less washing up for you!

6- And perhaps best of all, it’s FREE!

Usually we would definitely go for the outdoor option. But we happened to be hosting our party on a dreary winter’s day, so we were glad we opted to throw our party at home. If you have only limited space at home, or you intend to invite a lot of guests, you could look at hiring your local village hall or community space.

Decorations

It is so tempting to go all-in with decorations. Big foiled banners, balloon arches, photo backdrops and all manner of other Instagram-worthy items that all generate single-use plastic waste.

If you are throwing a party for your little one, why not get them involved in making some decorations? Paper chains, banners or similar. This is a good way to learn new skills and make memories together. And I suspect that the extra effort involved on your part will encourage you to keep and reuse your homemade decor!

If the party is for an older child or another adult, consider some reusable party decorations, such as these pretty honeycomb spheres.

Catering

Parties are almost always over-catered. We all seem to have an innate fear that our guests will go hungry. The truth is, most people attend parties in order to socialise. It it’s pretty hard to eat and talk at the same time. (Or eat and run riot, in the case of most toddlers!) And I don’t think anyone has ever starved to death during a two-hour children’s party.

Those who do nibble at the buffet are often too polite to put anything more than a morsel of food on their plate.

All this to say, parties generate an awful lot of food waste. Which equates to a lot of wasted money and effort on the part of the hosts. And all the resources used in the production of that food entirely wasted, too.

So, keep it simple. Something you can prep in advance and throw in the oven when your guests start arriving. We opted for falafels and sweet potato fries. Not forgetting the birthday cake and some muffins, too. A couple of cake options may be a good idea if you have guests with allergies or different dietary preferences!

When it comes to serving your party buffet, there is a huge amount of pressure to buy single-use paper table cloths, paper plates, paper cups and napkins. You really don’t need any of that. Use your regular dinner plates, or your stash of child-friendly plates, if you have enough.

If you are a few plates short, don’t be afraid to ask your guests to bring their own cup and plate!

Toys and Activities

This is not really an issue if you are able to host your party in the great outdoors! But if you are holding your party inside, you will need to give a little thought towards entertaining a gaggle of tiny tornadoes. Ideally without buying something new especially for the occasion.

Do you already have any big rough-and-tumble toys that can be deployed safely? Our Pickler triangle and slide went down very well at our party.

How about some arts and crafts supplies that you are happy to set out for the children to use? We provided a box of crayons and some A3 craft paper in case any of our guests were feeling creative! We also set up our chalk board with some chalk as an alternative.

If you don’t already have any toys or activities for your party, do not panic buy! Ask around to see whether you could borrow from a friend. You may even be able to hire items such as a small bouncy castle from your local playgroup.

Party Bags

When you consider whether or not to put together party bags for your little guests, think back to the party bags of your childhood. I remember small plastic bags with a silly plastic toy, a balloon, and a selection of miniature sweets. Perhaps I am becoming cynical and miserly with my advancing years, but present day me sees these “goody bags” as simply a lot of unnecessary plastic waste.

There are no rules to say that you have to provide a party bag. Entertaining a group of children and their parents for a couple of hours is more than enough!

But if you do feel you simply cannot allow your guests to leave empty handed, here are a few ideas.

1- How about asking your guests to bring a tupperware with them to the party. Then they can take an extra slice of cake or some food from the party home with them!

2- Or you could procure some paper treat bags and fill them with a few homemade goodies. Yum!

3- You could give each child a book to take home. (World of Books sells plenty of titles second hand, or you could move on books that your child is no longer reading.)

I hope this has given you some ideas and inspiration for throwing a party without breaking the bank or costing the Earth!