Picking up where we left off with the party planning:
The decorations/setting
The success of any party is highly dependent on selecting the right theme. Now you would have done that and incorporated it into your invites but the decor is going require a bit more thought. When going green, remember that no theme is beyond your reach. You can go ahead and select any – as complicated and elaborate as you would like, it would not be an issue. All you have to do is keep it to the 3 rules –
- Be innovative to reuse/repurpose anything that you have in hand or be insightful enough to purchase decors will last and is general enough to be reused in other theme you will have in the future – idea is to reduce unnecessary waste and save money
- Reduce the urge to buy everything new and party props such as plastic banners or ballons etc that are specific to the party (specifically mentioning date, event, etc) because you know the chances of you putting those out to use again are near zero and they don’t bio-degrade very fast/at all. Bottom line is if you buy such items you’re exchanging a lot of cash for a lot of trouble for your child’s future.
- For a children’s party I like to use whatever I already have around but I guess you’ll always find that you don’t have everything. Thus when you must buy, go for items that can be sent for recycling.
The menu
Clearly going organic is the best, but that can prove to be very expensive. So you do what you can. If you’re a gifted baker than baking one is a snap for you. But if you aren’t and the cake is everything to the party, you can go ahead and pick out a beautiful organic birthday cake as it will serve as the centrepiece of the party and of course the highlight of it.
For the rest of the menu, I would suggest you just whip up your old cookbook and be guided by it. Go down to your local grocers and buy the ingrediance fresh. Going green with your food isn’t just about going all out organic. It’s also about the smaller steps of reducing carbon footprints and keeping the food pure, free of chemical additives. Cooking your own food is always best because you know what goes in it, of course if you have the budget for it; there are always ‘green’ caterers you can engage.
Personally I find taking charge of the edibles served at children’s party to be vital because let’s face facts kids are attracted to colours and sweets – leave that to conventional manufacturers and you’ll find yourself serving nothing but a table full of health adverse artificial flavourings, colourings and sugar.
The souvenir
Everybody goes home with something- that’s the rule. So depending on the theme of the party you could consider getting eco-friendly toys or something fun yet practical like stationary (eco-crayons that comes in shapes are a great choice). If you’re handy with needles and thread you could always make little dolls from scrap fabric or even little pillows with the name of each child – serves as a place card too! Another fun thing you can do use ‘flower seeded paper’ to make those place-cards and they can double as the gift to take home because the kids can then just plant the paper and turn them into flowers!
