Eco-friendly child's birthday party

We threw a big birthday party for our 4-year-old son in March. I did a bit of research to try and make it as green as possible. We started planning it a couple of months in advance. I hope you'll find some useful tips.

Theme:
I drew up a list: super-heroes, Mr Men, pirates, The Gruffalo. DS1 chose his favourite hero, Tree Fu Tom, which was perfect. I didn't insist too much on explaining the eco-friendly aspect as DS1 is a bit young.

Outfit:
DH chose some green satin fabric, drew a pattern and cut out a leaf shape, and I put it together with the sewing machine and some bias tape for the neckline. The wadding layer gave it a nice quilted effect. We got the sap stone and holopax from a CBeebies magazine. We used normal clothes for the rest of the outfit (light blue long-sleeved T-shirt, dark blue sleeveless top as a tunic, beige trousers, belt).

Venue:
We chose to hold the party at Red House Farm in Dunham Massey so it would have more of an outdoorsy feel.
In hindsight, as the entertainment consisted in a barrel train ride pulled by a tractor, an inflatable slide and a bouncy castle, all using energy, and everybody drove to the venue, it wasn't particularly green. Plus, the weather turned out to be freezing, just before the freak wave of snowfalls, so all the parents huddled by a patio heater... But we had a great time!

We also considered a proper outdoor party with woodland activities as proposed by Nature's Den in Worsley (bug hunt, den building, bow and arrows and open fire cooking). That'll be for next year!

Invitations:
I sent out an email or a card (requesting parents' email address) to save the date. I found invitation websites such as evite.com too much trouble, so I just followed up with an invitation via email, addressed to the child, with additional information for parents:

• DS's name, specifying 4th birthday
• theme (but no need to dress up)
• our phone number
• venue address and phone number and link to a map for directions
• Does you child have any dietary requirements (gluten/lactose/eggs/nuts)?
• RSVP deadline

Birthday presents and gift wrapping:
We had a long hard think about this one and came up with the following statement:

"We do not expect any presents for DS1. However, if you wish to bring a gift, please consider a green option, such a used wooden toy or book from your own home or a charity shop, wrapped in newspaper or a reusable gift bag, with a homemade birthday card."

I was delighted when most families took to this approach like a duck to water. We received several second-hand books and some yummy homemade rock cakes, a spare truck, a butterfly hatching kit (my favourite - loved the sound of wings flapping, even the chrysalids were beautiful, and we can always order more caterpillars to use it again),



a bug house



and lots of handmade cards. Most presents were wrapped in kraft paper decorated with drawings, in particular a beautiful collection of rainbow catterpillars.

This made us think about what we give other kids. In future, we'll consider live plants, farmers' market finds e.g. lemon curd or honey, organic food e.g. Green & Black chocolate, fair trade items e.g. notebook from Oxfam, second-hand books or wooden toys, homemade toys e.g. cloth dolly, a tree planted or an animal adopted through a wildlife conservation organisation, a theatre ticket, a pass to a museum or aquarium.

But I confess that my favourite present to give at the moment is this wonderful book illustrated by Mark Hearld:

I usually wrap presents in blue kraft paper left-over from my pottery days, but I'm also interested in the Japanese method of wrapping gifts in fabric.

Food and drink:
I made our own chocolate cake. Instead of sugar, I used fructose and chopped dates. Red House Farm use local food. I requested some carrot sticks but they were forgotten.
I meant to collect leftovers and share with guests, and gather food scraps for the farm's hens, but it didn't happen, as I was too busy on the day.

Tableware:
I made sure that the venue used reusable plates and cups. But we had a paper table cloth and paper napkins. Parents' hot drinks were in paper cups too :(
I thought that writing the kids' names on their cups was a good idea (not mine!) but I didn't have time to do it on the day. That would probably work better for a smaller party.

Decor:
We didn't use any balloons, foil banners nor plastic trinkets.
I had planned on making a birthday banner but didn't have time. I guess I was put off by the need for one in English and one in French! I want to make some bunting too.
I hung a selection of our children's artwork on the walls: dead leaf collage, paper plates painted into ladybirds, butterflies, etc.
I don't think I'll go down the pinata route: I find all this stick wielding a bit hazardous! But I love the idea of making our own with papier maché, especially in the shape of a hateful figure rather than a poor donkey (how very PC of me, or unPC if encouraging kids to hit a war-mongering politician falls in this category).

Green games:
In future, I definitely want to organise a mud run!

Other ideas I have come across:

• Charge an Entry “Fee”: ask each of your guests to bring something recyclable like empty cans, plastic bottles or old newspapers, especially if it used to be litter! (Bit holier than thou IMO.)
• Outdoors: hide-and-seek, tag, Nature Scavenger Hunt, mud run. Indoors: Twister, musical statues, Blind Man’s Buff, Pass The Parcel (use old newspaper and recycle afterwards).
• Craft: make one of the first games an art activity letting kids draw their favourite animal (without its tail) on a piece of cardboard, drawing the animal's tail on a small strip of recycled paper, then randomly choose a drawing to be featured in a "pin the tail on the animal" game. Make birdie treats, grass heads, button clocks, recycled notebooks. Kids randomly pick packs of seeds and plant flowers, herbs or small vegetables in small pots they can take home. Kids decorate recycled cardboard airplanes that they can take home.

Party bags and thank-you cards:
I made our own paper bags with blue kraft paper. I used a model from Ethical Kidz. I attached a green paper tag cut in the shape of a leaf with a piece of cotton string.

No plastic toys: I included a packet of radish seeds (French breakfast of course ;) ) and a wooden Star stamp (from Ethical Kidz) so parents don't need to use star stickers for reward charts anymore.

No chemical sweets: I didn't have time to make anything so I included a Be Fruity fig bar (not so good from a packaging point of view).

Other ideas I have come across:

• A miniature potted plant, e.g. ivy, cactus, spider plant
• Grass heads
• Birdie treats
• Recycled rainbow crayons
• Ask guests to bring a gently used children’s book to exchange. Place all of the books in a box by the door and let kids pick out a ‘new’ book to take home as they’re leaving the party.
• Print mini colouring books on recycled paper based on your theme.
• Ethical traditional wooden toys such as animal-topped pencils, spinning tops, small jigsaw puzzle, skipping rope
• Fair-trade wooden or papier-mâché models for children to assemble and paint
• Homemade play dough
• Polished stones or geodes.
• Reusable drink containers

DS1 signed thank-you cards for his class mates. For the other children, I sent thank-you messages via email.

Conclusion: the main problem to make the party greener is a lack of time!

(Please note I have found most of these ideas whilst trawling the internet and, though I am not giving proper credit as I didn't make a note of the original websites, I don't claim them as my own.)