Poll: Do you consider environmental sustainability when picking out supplies for your kids' parties?
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Anonymous
| I did my bit here by having only one kid. |
Anonymous
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Yes. I do use plastic cutlery and paper plates. But I do not buy many throw away decorations and plastic crappy favors. We use a homemade reusable birthday banner and a few balloons. That is it.
Whenever I see blog moms post these themed parties all I can think is how much waste they make |
Anonymous
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The one thing you can do is buy fabric that will fit your table from a fabric store in a child-friendly print. That table cloth was what we used for our birthdays - and honestly, at 55 when my parents were moving out of their house and my mother showed it to me, I took it and the memories of birthdays, cake, sandwiches cut in triangles, party games.... all came flooding back. It's also so incredibly 70s - I direct a preschool so I brought it to our school to use as a table cloth or picnic blanket - the kids love all the bright (retro) colors!
I know, I know, you MUST buy a tablecloth that matches the "theme" or "decor" of the plates, hats, etc because "X is having a Ninja turtle or Dora Explorer party" - well, you could instead buy a few fabric tablecloths that are plain colors, wash and reuse, and then have the hats, plates, napkins in the "theme" or "matching decor." If you did this, our child wouldn't know any differently, and it's a cost savings, too. |
Anonymous
Us too this thread is funny with penny wise logic. These apparently educated and intelligent people choose to have multiple kids and then we will be environmentally conscious by only serving reusable supplies at my kids parties 
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Anonymous
+1. |
Anonymous
| Yes. We have a big set of non-disposable lightweight dishes, cutlery, cups that we use for parties (adult and kid). Minimal party favors - maybe a book or a wooden toy or puzzle. No glitter anything. |
Anonymous
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Yes, I hate all the junky plastic toys that come in goody bags especially from places like Pump it Up, and the one time I made favor bags I filled them with things like mini notebooks, pencils and other non-plastic items.
I will also take this thread as an opportunity to vent about the huge balloon arches, balloon displays/installations (they are so large that's the word I think of) and oversized balloon names/numbers that are now trendy for kids' (and adults') birthdays. So wasteful and irresponsible (all those balloons go straight in the trash and sit around in landfills forever, all for a few hours and some posey pictures - or worse, released into the air in a fun and whimsical balloon release  ending up in the middle of nowhere, littering and choking animals). It's emblematic of the influencer/consumerism/self-centered exhibitionist culture that has had nothing but negative effects on society. /rant
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Anonymous
Anonymous
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Ugh those make me cringe. |
Anonymous
Agreed! Pose in front of some trees or flowers, people! |
Anonymous
| I have stacks of kid friendly reusable plates, cups and other stuff. I’m not a fan of goodie bags. We just organize fun games that don’t require buying much stuff. My husband is a kid at heart and he really organizes fun activities. If it’s a warm sunny day the kids all end up soaked and happy. |
Anonymous
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Yes, I do think about this. I try to think about the environmental impact of all my choices -- which isn't to say that I always make the right choice for the environent, but at least I think about it.
I bought a Happy Birthday felt banner at Target when my oldest was 2 and have used it for 12 years -- it matches everything and is still cute. (I think they still sell these in the party aisle.) We have melamine plates from Target my sibling bought for a bridal shower at her house and then passed onto me that I use for b-day parties or any outdoor event. The Ikea rainbow colored cups are great to have for kids and work really well for parties (as does the ikiea kids cutlery). I try to do gift bags with things that are actually usable or donatable -- art supplies; paperback books; matchbook cars; candy. Or do a take-home craft if it's a home party. I hate all the little plastic toys that break in 5 minutes. I know it's not the biggest thing I can do for the environment, but it's a small thing I can do. It's not just the trash that generated, but all those things are shipped from Asia, then shipped from California here, there's packaging, etc., etc. I look at the Oriental Trading website or places like Party City and I'm just blown away by the consumption of useless things....we didn't have any of that when I was a kid. Paper plates (that were made her in America and probably biodegraded pretty well anyway) were the most anyone had at a party in the 70s. At some point in the 80s, Americans just went ALL IN on consumption and every once in a while I take a step back and am just amazed at how many categories of stores/products we have now that just didn't exist 40+ years ago. I guess we had a lot of wrapping paper back then, and people use gift bags now, so I guess that's some offset. I agree I should have had fewer kids...but I bought into that story that women's fertility decreases in your late 30s. I think a lot of women end up with families bigger than they intended because they think "I'm 39..what are the odds that I'll get pregnancy just having unprotected sex ONCE?" |
Anonymous
Ha ha. This is great. |
Anonymous
I don't. If I did, I wouldn't have had kids in the first place. The easiest way to save the environment is to stop having kids. |
Anonymous
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I try to. I don’t do gift bags, as I personally never want the bag of random plastic stuff. Now that my son is older I may do like one thing - maybe a small box of crayons and some coloring pages.
One Happy Birthday sign from Etsy used over and over. I use my Buy Nothing (group on Facebook you join in your neighborhood) to source other items. Last year I really wanted to do Dino-Valentine’s for my son class. Printed out cards (that can actually be recycled because they are card stock and don’t have plastic and glitter) and then asked on my Buy Nothing if anyone had any small plastic dinosaurs, and found some in minutes. I always see post for birthday decorations that get fufilled. |