With all of our hard work saving the earth from global warming, let’s remember to take time to celebrate— greenly, of course! With a few simple adjustments, we can turn our celebrations, from birthday bashes to baby showers, into eco-friendly fiestas—a step that raises awareness about global warming while keeping the good times rolling.
Check out these easy ways to add green to your parties:
Balloons; Believe it or not, your choice of balloons can affect global warming! Choosing latex instead of mylar balloons helps our environment. Latex balloons, made of natural rubber that can be extracted without damaging the rubber tree: are 100% biodegradable and break as quickly as an oak leaf under similar conditions.
Mylar, made from petroleum-derived polyester, takes hundreds of years to biodegrade. Harvesting latex has the added benefit of preserving tropical rainforest and rubber trees (and we know more rainforests mean less CO2 in our environment)
Cakes; Organic, healthier cakes, and goodies serve our bodies as well as our environment. Organic food nourishes the soil instead of saturating it with harmful pesticides and chemical fertilizers (the production of which contributes to greenhouse gases).
Organic soils absorb more carbon from the atmosphere than soils containing pesticides and chemical fertilizers. When your guests comment on how delicious the cake is, you can tell them about the benefits of organic food. You can buy delicious organic cake mixes at goodbaker.com, at health food stores such as Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s, as well as at some traditional grocery stores.
Burn beeswax candles instead of conventional candles and start the conversation about the environment.
Introduce your guests to the benefits of beeswax, a 100% natural and renewable resource that improves air quality when turned on, as it releases negative ions that remove pollutants and allergens from our air. In contrast, candles made from paraffin (a petroleum byproduct)pollute the air with unhealthy, black soot.
We’re told by idealbite.com that for 10,000 people who choose “beeswax birthday candles instead of conventional oil-based these, the weight of 4,000 by-products of oil-based birthday cakes will be avoided.
Offer green bags made of fabric or recycled paper and filled with eco-responsible delicacies to pass on your eco-message at home with your guests.
Consider wooden toys with no packaging, art supplies, seed packets, or small plants like flowers or herbs, instead of made-in-China plastic throwaways(virtually all plastics are petroleum-derived). Or invite your guests to make eco-friendly items to take home as a parting gift.
Eat and drink from reusable or biodegradable plates and cups instead of disposable plastic.
Eco Products and Plum Party offer compostable and biodegradable items made from environmentally friendly materials, including bagasse (sugar cane pulp), recycled paper, corn starch and vegetable starch. Composting these materials reduces trash from carbon and methane generating landfills.
Gifts. Designing the theme of your party around a good cause encourages creative gifts that reduce waste and greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.The Green Guide tells the story of a hugely successful puppy-themed birthday party where attendees were asked to make donations or items from the local animal shelter instead of traditional gifts and from the shelter bring the puppies for the kids to play in the afternoon.
Suggest children bring slightly used toys as gifts that will be fresh and interesting in a new home. Remember, every time we avoid the production of a new toy, we also reduce carbon emissions. Adults who already have everything they need can ask guests to donate to a specific cause instead of bringing gifts.
The collective donation could be used for the symbolic adoption of a wild animal such as a jaguar or an dolphin from around the world.
At the end of each theme night, the group will have created something good for the world, instead of buying unnecessary gifts that add to emissions and landfills.
Baby showers and weddings can also be green. Let guests know in the invitation that it is an “eco-friendly” event, and they will be more inclined to purchase accordingly.
Games. Games such as charades, musical chairs, and treasure hunts provide fun and generate zero waste.
When planning games that require paper, save money by using scrap paper, writing on both sides, and cutting the paper into small pieces.
In his book Simply Green Parties, Danny Seo suggests a method for creating eco pinatas, as well as many other green party decorating tips.
Other fun zero-emissions activities like crafts with recycled materials or edible creations like gingerbread houses or personal mini pizzas will delight and entertain.
If your party plans to include confetti, Ecofetti that are available is completely biodegradable and water soluble, leaving you with no landfill-cluttering mess to clean up.
Decorations. Use flowers to add color instead of unnecessary paper ribbons that require trees and carbon emissions to produce. Beeswax candles in patterned crystal dishes also add magic to an evening party.
By breaking the disposable decorations habit, your decorations will often look a lot classier, and they may even double as party favors, helping you save money and the planet.
Erzsebet Frey (Eli Frey) is an ecologist and online entrepreneur with a Master of Science in Ecology from the University of Belgrade. Originally from Serbia, she has lived in Sri Lanka since 2017. Eli has worked internationally in countries like Oman, Brazil, Germany, and Sri Lanka. In 2018, she expanded into SEO and blogging, completing courses from UC Davis and Edinburgh. Eli has founded multiple websites focused on biology, ecology, environmental science, sustainable and simple living, and outdoor activities. She enjoys creating nature and simple living videos on YouTube and participates in speleology, diving, and hiking.