Organic Farmers MarketOrganic Foods, Green Products, Books & Farming Information

Earth-Friendly Tips for Children’s Parties

Any parent who has thrown a child’s birthday party knows all about the aftermath: piles of wadded-up paper napkins, stacks of paper plates smeared with trans-fat-packed frosting and melted ice cream, shreds of piñata strewn amidst the remnants of the sugar-addled guests, and several leftover ‘goodie bags’ full of cheap candy and plastic, useless trinkets. That’s a lot of waste and poor nutrition – hard for an eco-aware, health-minded parent to swallow.

Is there another way – a way that won’t make your child complain that his or her party wasn’t quite as cool as his or her friends’ parties? Can one throw a child’s birthday party in a way that will reduce trash and waste, offer more nutritious foods, and improve the quality of each child’s experience? Try these earth-friendly party tips to help make your child’s birthday both memorable and environmentally responsible.

Start by updating from the old practice of sending paper party invitations: go paperless! Paperlesspost.com offers elegant, upscale online invitations that are quick, easy, and affordable. The site is well organized and user-friendly; it’s a snap to create a beautiful and economical invitation for any occasion.

Try bamboo or compostable tableware. As these options become increasingly popular, more and more choices show up in stores and online. You can have an even smaller impact on the waste stream if you use unbleached coffee filters or large fig leaves instead of paper plates– this is something really fun I’ve tried with children’s parties!

If you’re thinking of having place cards or party favors, consider unconventional, eco-friendly items like organic seed packets, stones, small potted herbs, or glass jars filled with colorful organic sweets – you can find organic gummy worms or jellybeans locally or order them online. If you want these favors to do double duty as place cards, just write a name on them.

Try crafting charming napkin treatments with garden twine wrapped several times around a rolled cloth napkin and tied with a loose knot. Tuck in a couple of Yummy Earth organic lollipops (http://www.yummyearth.com/) for color – another way to offer party favors without the dreaded plastic-and-tissue-wasting ‘goodie bag.’

Plant a “fruit patch” for your centerpiece: pre-order a flat of wheatgrass from your local farmers’ market and “plant” it with assorted organic melon balls, berries, grapes, and other seasonal fruits on wooden skewers. Cover the edges of the flat by tucking in a strip of fabric around all sides. Use the wheatgrass to make a healthy juice for a great start to your next morning (any juicer model that works for vegetables should work for wheatgrass) or leave the tray of grass for your cats and dogs to nibble. Return the plastic flat to the grower to reuse on your next farmer’s market visit.

As an alternative to standard supermarket cake or cake mixes, try the wonderful vegan cupcake recipes in the new cookbook Babycakes, by Erin McKenna (Clarkson Potter, 2009). These are among the tastiest cupcakes I’ve ever eaten, vegan or not – cupcakes from McKenna’s vegan bakery in NYC were voted best in the city by New York magazine in 2006! If you want to serve ice cream too, serve it in Let’s Do Organic ice cream cones, which are delicious and waste free (http://www.edwardandsons.com/ldo_shop_cones.itml).

Create a cozy outdoor room using sturdy rope tied between posts or trees and draped in burlap, which you can purchase very inexpensively at a remnant store. The remnants can be held in place with wooden clothespins, or you can use large safety pins to secure them. You can reuse the fabric later to create canopies or tablecloth overlays for outdoor dinners. I have six burlap panels from the remnant store that I’ve used dozens of times – just make sure that you air them out a few days before the party!

For a girl’s elegant outdoor tea party, you could then set a table and chairs inside your outdoor room. Layer the table with vintage tablecloths; arrange recycled jars filled with organic Farmers Market flowers, or place the “fruit patch” centerpiece described above at the table’s center for a charming tea party. For favors, buy small jars of local honey and a few assorted tea sachets. Bundle them in natural soy wax paper and tie with some recycled ribbon to create the perfect fancy tea-party favor! Tuck a leaf with each person’s name into the ribbon and the gift will double as a place card.

If sustainability is important to you, you’ll really enjoy how it shows up in all of these lovely details. I hope you’ll use these tips as a springboard for your own creativity. After all, designing a party can be a big drag if you don’t find a way to use it as an expression of yourself and the guest of honor!

How can you create a beautiful earth-friendly party that everyone will enjoy and remember? As soon as you begin to play around with these ideas, you’ll see how easy and affordable it can be to have a high-quality, low waste party for your child’s special day.

About the Author

Merryl Brown is the President of Merryl Brown Events, a Santa Barbara based sustainable events company that is known for its elegant, classic events that are created within a framework of sustainable practices.

www.merrylbrownevents.com

The Millionaire Real Estate Agent: It’s Not About the Money…It’s About Being the Best You Can Be! $7.12 Whether you are just getting started or a veteran in the business, this is the step-by-step handbook for seeking excellence in your profession and in your life….

The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses $17.95 Choosing locally grown organic food is a sustainable living trend that’s taken hold throughout North America. Celebrated farming expert Eliot Coleman helped start this movement with The New Organic Grower published 20 years ago. He continues to lead the way, pushing the limits of the harvest season while working his world-renowned organic farm in Harborside, Maine.Now, with his long-awaited new bo…

Sewing with Oilcloth $9.66 20 fresh patterns to sew a variety of fun and functional projects with oilclothSewing with Oilcloth covers sewing with the family of specialty fabrics collectively known as oilcloth. You’ll get easy-to-follow instructions, special tips and tricks needed to get the most out of these fabrics, the unique applications of each, and how to treat and care for the finished pieces.From home goods to access…

Farmers Market (Paperback) $8.13 Colorful vegetables, delicious fruits, and lots of friends. . . . The farmers market is always fun! Illustrator Edward Martinez brings the hustle and bustle of market day to life.

Farmers’ Market Bridal Shower Invitations $1.81 These whimsical hand-drawn bridal shower invitations are reminiscent of posters you might see at your local farmers’ market.

The Irish Farmers Market Cookbook $15.99 Both a cookbook and a culinary tour of Ireland, celebrating the diversity and quality of local food and showing how the experience of shopping at farmers’ markets can transform your everyday cooking.Over 100 recipes range from new takes on traditional Irish favourites to dishes with more Mediterranean flavours, always emphasising seasonality, local produce and fresh ingredients the return to slow food.Includes a guide to the best farmers’ markets in each region of Ireland, with profiles of some of the farmers and producers bringing their food sensations to market.As well as using ingredients available at the market, recipes also recreate some of the breads, cakes, chutneys available, like Gallic Kitchens organic steak pies and Giana Fergusons baked cheese with winter herbs so even if you can’t visit the markets you can still enjoy a taste of Ireland.Recipes for everyday cooking Fried mackerel, Cork Beef Stew as well as more unusual offerings that reflect the wider range of produce available at farmers’ markets, such as Roast Pheasant with Apple and Sweet Geranium Stew.