Poll: Do you consider environmental sustainability when picking out supplies for your kids' parties?

[Anonymous]

I do. I also get annoyed when I go to a party and get a bunch of plastic crap to bring to my house. I wish no favors were more common. If we do favors, they’re consumable or something like a book. No need to go overboard.

[Anonymous]

Not at all

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do. Sometimes I end up using things that are not the most environmentally friendly, but I try my best and it absolutely is a consideration.

+1
I am especially irked by the plastic junk people give out in goodie bags.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not at all

Why not? Not OP.

[Anonymous]

My kids are older, but I used to give candy for favors. Kids love it. They don’t need more novelty pencils, tiny pots of play do, and tiny plastic things. Alternately maybe one small toy or a craft they made at the party— a small painted canvas, etc.

[Anonymous]

I do and have done for awhile. It’s very sad that the environmentally friendly stuff is more expensive, but I realize that the best, most environmentally friendly thing I can do is make the guest list smaller. It’s also a lot more fun for my kids to be able to spend more time with each guest. It’s way cheaper with a smaller guest list. We can use real plates, napkins, and silverware without it being a hassle. I use fresh flowers for decorations rather than balloons. I reuse the same felt Happy Birthday bunting I bought long ago from I don’t know where. I pass out more useful and theme appropriate party favors in lieu of plastic crap from Oriental Trading. I also try to have the party favor be the result of an activity done at the party for a 2-in-1.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I avoid plastic crap favors and use use a fair amount of reusable stuff. I avoid some games and activities that require unnecessary purchases of new stuff in favor of thing that can be done with items on hand. I do usually end up biting some things though since we tend to do elaborately themed home party but generally there’s a lot that can be done with construction paper and paint. Materials needed figure heavily into what we end up doing as it just feels so wasteful to get a lot of junk for a 2 hour party.

[Anonymous]

Gift cards for lunch or treat instead of bag of junk

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all

Why not? Not OP.

I’m not big on the frills that birthdays involve. Minimal effort on supplies & more focused on the experience than trying to produce a Pinterest moment. Goodie bags are such a waste of money. Prefer to give a coupon for a Chick-fil-A meal or frozen yogurt. Something people might actually use. The environment is honestly not on my mind as I plan parties.

[Anonymous]

Yes I find it horrifying to consume that much plastic in such a short time. I use butcher paper for the table cloths. Shop for vessels with the theme (like secondhand oversized water bottles with a character) and put flowers in them, use paper everything and do books or socks or food favors.

[Anonymous]

Yes. No balloons. We only do consumable favors. When I’m done I give away our party decorations in my local buy nothing group (and I try to keep them to 1 or 2 cute but simple decor items from Etsy, no cheap plastic junk that will fall apart). Birthday present gift bags are saved and re-used.

I absolutely loathe all the garbage that goes into kid birthday parties. We went to a ChuckeeCheese party once and none of the parents took the little plastic souvenir cups with them (that I found out the hosts paid for as part of a package). I cringed when I saw one of the employees gather them all up and dump.them.in.the.trash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. No balloons. We only do consumable favors. When I’m done I give away our party decorations in my local buy nothing group (and I try to keep them to 1 or 2 cute but simple decor items from Etsy, no cheap plastic junk that will fall apart). Birthday present gift bags are saved and re-used.

I absolutely loathe all the garbage that goes into kid birthday parties. We went to a ChuckeeCheese party once and none of the parents took the little plastic souvenir cups with them (that I found out the hosts paid for as part of a package). I cringed when I saw one of the employees gather them all up and dump.them.in.the.trash.

For reference, imagine watching someone gathering up 12 of these that were used a single time, left on the table, and then pitched. I didn’t realize they were supposed to be ours to keep until I saw them going in the trash as we were leaving. And imagine how many parties they have at all their various locations. I’m not trying to call out Chuck E Cheese in particular, but imagine all the waste at all these various kid venues. Makes me nostalgic for some cheese pizza and homemade cupcakes with your 5 best friends in the backyard.

https://www.google.com/shopping/product/1?q=chuck+e+cheese+party+favor+cup&client=safari&bih=715&biw=414&hl=en-US&tbs=vw:g,ss:44&prmd=sinv&prds=num:1,of:1,eto:14899626523412806012_0,prmr:1,pid:14899626523412806012,cs:1

[Anonymous]

No, don’t do favors, reuse decorations and if at home use regular stuff.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I buy reusable decorations but disposable plates and napkins, cups and silverware.

[Anonymous]

We've done superhero themes with related crafts in the past, and the "favor" is the cape. I don't know how that ranks on the sustainability scale... It is extra stuff and some of it is plastic, but it's not stuff like plastic beads.