An Introduction to Sourcing Sustainable Party Decorations
When I stopped and looked at my idea of the perfect children’s party – brightly coloured balloons, brightly coloured themed wrapping paper, a themed party cake, throw away cups, plates, and table cloth, party bags (can you tell I was a 90’s kids?) – the only sustainable thing that I feel comfortable taking from our childhood birthdays and bringing forward to do with my children are the awesome party games our Mama would play with us all. The rest needs to be rejigged!
Balloons:
Is it even a party without balloons? It’s hard to imagine a children’s party with no balloons, or at least I found it hard, especially as my children know what they are and associate them with birthdays; they are in so many children’s books and tv shows, and it doesn’t take long for your child to pick up on them and say “I want a balloon just like *insert current favourite character’s name*”, but no matter how you look at it balloons are bad – super bad, up there with plastic straws and carrier bags bad. It’s just that people aren’t really talking about it because to start taking away party staples or fun things isn’t a particularly popular idea.
However, if you really do want to try and make a difference I encourage you to stop using balloons. It’s hard when you see baby showers and children’s birthday party photos all over social media with balloon banners and personalised creations everywhere; I got the Mama guilt, but my children and I are absolutely obsessed with birds and turtles and wildlife in general and I know cutting balloons from our lives is in their best interest. We spend hours nature watching and reading nature books together (a post on my favourites for children is coming soon) and it doesn’t matter how you look at it, balloons kill wildlife. Even the latex balloons which are labelled as biodegradable are bad as they take 6 months to 4 years to decompose, and that’s only if you dispose of them correctly. Even then, that’s still plenty of time to cause harm.
So my solution is paper lanterns and paper chains. I got a packet of purple-themed paper lanterns for T-Bears birthday to go with her mermaid theme and once they are hanging from the ceiling they really do add to the party feel.
I also got a bigger pack of green and yellow for Easter and this pack came with pompoms and butterflies and a cute leaf streamer to hang. I’m a little bit obsessed now with hanging things above our kitchen table. For us, it is the perfect solution to the balloon issue.
I struggled trying to find these at first, as I was hoping to get them from an ethical source, however we were in a national lockdown at the time which made it much harder, as I’m sure you can understand having no doubt experienced the delights of Covid-19 yourselves. I ended up getting these from Amazon, which I usually try to avoid, but sometimes I do find myself placing an order despite not feeling great about the ethics of the company – we are still learning ourselves and are by no means experts or perfect, but we try our best, and are continually looking for better options.
If anyone knows where you can buy sustainable decorations from please do comment below, it may well help out another Mama in need!
Wrapping paper:
There are a few alternative options for wrapping presents; either no wrapping, popping presents in reusable bags, fabric wrapping which can be and is then reused, and brown paper which again, can be reused. I find that using string or ribbon negates the need for cellotape and adds a nice decorative touch as well, an idea I got from my sister-in-law who has done it for years and simply asks for the ribbon back if the recipient of the gift isn’t going to reuse them.
The issue with the traditional ‘pretty’ wrapping paper is that it can’t be recycled – something that does not seem to be common knowledge; Summer used to recycle hers thinking she was helping the planet and was shocked to find that she was mistaken. The thing is, traditional wrapping paper is covered in inks and dyes that are bad for the planet and compost bin and anything shiny or glittery will have microplastics in it to get that effect. The sticky tape you use will also stop the paper from being recyclable.
The sheer number of trees cut down to make wrapping paper is also horrifying. For this reason, though we currently use brown paper I am looking at changing to fabric wrapping in the future. I will be keeping a lookout at charity shops and car boots for nice fabric and bedding sets that I can cut up to create different shaped wrapping from.
These might seem like more of an effort than your usual approach but remember, every step no matter how small is a step in the right direction. And if all else fails, be like Summer and axe the wrapping all together; after all, it is the gift that counts, not how it arrives right?
Homemade themed items:
My little girl wanted a mermaid birthday party so I did my best to give her just that. I got the purple paper lanterns which we can reuse for other occasions, I made her a mermaid themed cake which you can find here, and then I also made a few little banners and signs to go with her theme.
I painted a little mermaid sign that she kept on her chair all day to look at while she ate, I painted her name in the birthday-themed mermaid colours and also made her ‘mermaid’ number 3 to represent her new age. I saw lots of photos on Pinterest of children holding up their birthday number and I love it as a way to document their age, however buying a big cardboard cut-out number isn’t the most sustainable or cheapest way to achieve this so I made T-Bears from the side of a cereal box (cornflakes that we got to make out Easter nests). She absolutely loves it and I love the photos we have of her holding it.
Paper cups and plates:
This one is a simple fix; just use your own plates and cups. Yes, they may not match the theme that you have picked for the party and if you have young children there is a chance that something may get broken, but it really is the best option.
The other viable option that we can see is to source second-hand plates and glasses that you use solely for parties. You can get amazing things in charity shops and on Facebook marketplace that don’t cost the Earth. If you do this (I’m thinking about it for the future) then I suggest going for something plain and elegant so that it can be incorporated into any future parties you may throw.
Being honest, yes, all of this does take more time and planning from the party thrower but even if you can only make one change, that is a step in the right direction.
I hope this has given you some inspiration and the confidence that you need to make a few small changes and please know that all changes are good; it’s not about being perfect, it’s about being aware and trying out new, more sustainable ways of doing things.
Livvy and Summer
