Green Kids Birthday Parties

Birthdays come once a year and only last a day, but the waste leftover from your kid’s last bash will be taking up space in a landfill for hundreds of years. Do things a little differently this year, and throw a more eco-friendly party for your child.

1. Invitations get the crowd psyched for the big event, but paper invites and the fossil fuels burned from mailing them make them seem outdated. Freshen things up this year with an easy-to-use evite. Personalize it with photos of your birthday boy or girl, evoke the theme of the party, and best of all, keep track of RSVPs easily.

2. Bake your own cake to save money and to ensure that if it can’t be outright healthy, at least it’s not full of fillers and processed foods. Dr. Oetker’s and Pamela have the fixings for DIY organic versions, both cake and frosting. And you can even have sprinkles without the scary food coloring ingredients from Let’s Do…Sprinklez ((tinted with beet, turmeric, and more))

3. Wrap gifts in fabric remnants (furoshiki-style!) and old bits of ribbon instead of buying wrapping paper. Or just reuse your brown paper shopping bags, and have kids decorate them with markers or paint.

4. Greenpartygoods.com is the must-bookmark website for eco-friendly party items. From reusable felt party hats to compostable plates, utensils, and decorations, to beeswax birthday candles, they have it all. www.greenpartygoods.com

5. If you must have favors, instead of buying little trinkets at the dollar store and handing them out in cellophane bags, look at options like giving each child a crystal or geode to take home: it lasts forever and it’s something they’ll treat as a treasure, not trash.

Bonus: Take the green lifestyle with you to the next party your child attends as a guest. Instead of buying a traditional gift (with the fossil fuels burned from production and shipping, along with all the packaging, etc), go for an experience gift, like tickets to a local museum or a children’s concert, or a cooking or art class.