Eco-Warrior Parties – Hold a Green Themed Party!

At partycloud we love a good themed party, and what better theme could you come up with than an eco-warrior party?

We all recognise the need to do more for the planet and the importance of teaching children to care for the environment. If you can make it fun for them, they may want to be superhero eco-warriors all the time!

So, when you’re planning your party, you may want to sit down with your children and draw up a list of ways in which you are going to go green for the party. Although it may not be easy to go completely eco-friendly, the following ideas will definitely help limit the impact on the environment, so try to aim to do as many as possible:

1. 1. Use fresh food for the party, rather than anything which has come pre-packed in plastic or cardboard wrapping. It will be fun! You’ll have to bake your own cakes, visit the local butchers or greengrocers for fresh produce and maybe even visit a ‘pick your own’ farm vegetable store. A day out picking fruit with your little ones will create memories for a lifetime.
   2. Choose to Reuse! If the children are old enough, make sure you use ‘real’ cutlery such as stainless steel knives and forks. If they are using plastic cutlery, make sure it’s re-useable. Sturdy plastic knives and forks and plates can be easily cleaned and used time and time again. At all costs avoid using flimsy, single use plastic cutlery and crockery. If you’ve not got quite enough to host the party, how about getting other guests involved and asking them if they can bring their own too – that way you won’t need to pop out for any paper plates. Likewise, avoid plastic straws. Anything that only has a single use has to be out for a true warrior party!
   3. Food Storage – store any leftovers or party food in glass containers, rather than plastic and consider having your own composting system for any food waste.
      
   4. Say a firm no to plastic sandwich bags or clingfilm to wrap your party produce – there are plenty of much more eco-friendly ways to store food, such as permanent storage containers or glass tupperware. For keeping things fresh, you can always pop a plate (or even a saucepan lid!) over a plate in the fridge, or consider the popular beeswax wraps as alternative.
   5. It’s better to reuse than to recycle, but if you do have to use any plastic products, make sure they are widely recyclable and avoid plastics which can’t be recycled. Checkout this  great website guide on plastics as to what can and can’t be recycled
   6. If you are serving water for children at the party, make sure you don’t get out bottled water for them! Consider investing in a good water filter so you can save money and use tap water instead.
   7. Giving out goody bags at the party? Make sure they’re not plastic ones! Instead, consider having some cute cloth bags as a treat for all your children’s friends. They are eco-friendly and enviably stylish too!
   8. Going shopping for the party? Make sure you take your bags for life with you by putting them in the car. Or why not have crate in the back of your car permanently – ideal for carrying shopping from the till to your car and into your home. Better still, if it’s only a small shop, make sure you ‘choose to refuse’ when checkouts offer you small plastic bags. If you can carry it to the car (maybe with your little helpers!) then you’ll avoid the need for having any plastic altogether.

Partycloud would also like to introduce you to The Final Straw project, headed up by Bianca Jayne-Carr. It’s thanks to her hard work that she has managed to get 164 businesses in Emsworth and the local area to give up their single use items! At our last networking event, she gave us an inspirational talk and it’s got us all thinking much more about the environment and the ways in which we can all help.

Do let us know how your Eco-Warrior parties go! Take some photos of your efforts for a chance to feature on our Partycloud Facebook and Instagram! If you can create a great moral theme for the party you’ll encourage your children as well as all your children’s friends and family to consider the future of our planet the next time they host a party. The more you can make changes (however small) the more it will come naturally to you and in no time you will all be Eco-Warriors!

Happy Partying!

Guest Blog by Chloe Hibberd