Stephanie Moram

Party Green Style

Eco Living

Tomorrow, we celebrate “We are moving to Texas for 7 months approximately and it so happens to be little E’s first birthday!”

I am not a big birthday party celebrating kinda gal, but for J.P it was important to celebrate in some form. Who am I to argue with that.

Of course, we had to come up with creative and fun ways to celebrate her birthday and our departure without creating waste and harming the environment in the process! Some may be thinking “how the ~beep~ is she going to do this?” Easy peesy! I will let you in on my secret.

The invites: I sent out an email to our family and BFF’s with a nice picture of little E as our invitation. Other options could be sending an evite or creating an event on Facebook. I was too lazy, so I opted for a simple email.

The food: We used all organic with minimal packaging and we tried to get as locally grown as possible for the food! Not always easy living in Quebec! Here is what’s for snacking:

  • Tortillas in brown bag SCORE, but USA product.
  • Homemade salsa with all locally grown tomatoes, parsley, basil and onions. Unfortunately, I was unable to find organic cilantro~insert sad face here.
  • Homemade guacamole made with California avocados (better than Mexico), local tomatoes, Ontario oil.
  • Veggie/fruit platter will have all locally grown carrots, yellow peppers, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, gooseberries, and radishes (I hate them, so I am hoping my guests love them) as well as fair-trade Peru bananas.
  • Raw dip will contain U.S brazil nuts and cashews, coconut sauce, nutritional yeast  and dates (all ingredients we already had from being in the US), as well as local parsley and basil, and Ontario oil.
  • Salmon bites will be marinated in U.S soya sauce (Canada apparently doesn't make soya sauce) and local maple syrup. We bought the salmon while in the U.S and it was sustainably caught fish.
  • Bruschettea (yes, I love tomatoes ok) with local bread, tomatoes, parsley, basil and Ontario oil
  • Cake will be banana bread made with U.S dates, homemade quebec apple sauce, fair-trade bananas from Peru, Ontario oil, and U.S flax seeds/Canadian flour, both we already had in our cupboard.
  • Peanut Butter Balls-local honey, U.S PB and rice cereal-have had for months now and never used.
  • Pizza slab (not organic) a guest is bringing, so I have no idea where it is coming from and will most probably be wrapped in paper, but paper will not be recyclable because of oil stains.

If anything came in a package it was recyclable. Most of the veggies and fruit were bought in my reusable bags. The only waste I can see is the stupid cereal bag and paper from  the pizza! But oh well, I think that is pretty good.

 

The supplies and decorations: Balloons are out because they are toxic and when released into the air end up polluting the environment, and when left deflated on the ground, they lead to trouble for local wildlife that may be killed after ingesting them. Therefore, I have some used paper laying around, that I will write Happy Birthday on!

We are most definitely using reusable dishes and utensils, as well as a cloth napkins and tablecloth. No disposables for us!

The gifts: Well, I don’t know about you, but most kids already have way too many toys.  Receiving tons of toys on ones birthday sends a message of over-consumerism that I just personally don’t like. Furthermore, many of the gifts will be plastic toys that are so full of toxins and chemicals that can have harmful effects on kids. Most of the toys are not made to last, and seeing as they’re non-recyclable, they end up in landfills.

 

What we wrote to our guests: We do appreciate the thought of getting little E a gift for her birthday, but we would a prefer a “no gifts” party. As you all know, JP and I are trying to live a more minimalist lifestyle, and we will be starting our “Project Green Foot” where we will be reducing our waste significantly and not consuming anything for one full year.

We are opening up an RESP account for her education, if you would like to contribute, but it is not necessary. We would just like everyone together to celebrate and have some yummy foods!

Of course, this may be extreme by other people standards, but be creative and do not be shy!

Here's to hoping everyone respects our wishes of how we have decided to celebrate our little E's birthday because the environment and Project Green Foot means so much to us!

The goody bags: There are 4 cousins that will be in attendance and seeing as we are trying to go waste free; I am not sure about the goody bags. Undecided! If I were to do the goody bag option, I would go with one of these great ideas over at Groovy Green Livin! My personal favorite is the tree.

There you have it; our plans for our eco-friendly/waste-free party. We know as she gets older, it may get more difficult but we love a challenge!

We feel that birthday parties or any type of party can still be fun and enjoyable without the large environment footprint!

How will you celebrate “green” at your next party?

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Comments

  7. Lynn says

    Great ideas! Love everything you are doing. Thank you for it. Especially love your food choices.

    We’ve had luck at getting people not to bring presents when we ask for donated items for the food bank or for another local organization. Or asking for something pre-owned, especially if it’s been in the family of the giver.

    I’m going to link from this post to Celebrate Green’s birthday party page. Hope that’s OK.

  8. Emily says

    Hi! Those are wonderful ideas! I’ll be interested to see how many show without gifts!

    Thanks so much for linking up with our Feed Me Friday hop. There are several wonderful blogs participating again this week, you’re certain to find a few new favorites!

    I look forward to reading more from you!

    Your Co-Host,
    Emily from Nap Time Is My Time

    • Good Girl Gone Green says

      Everyone should show up without a gift well except maybe $$ for her education fund! If they know me at all, they will come gift less. I think it would be disrespectful if they do. We are trying to live one full year waste free and would love our friends and family to support our decisions!

  10. Tracy Cazaly says

    Wow, how fabulous and informative is your blog! Happy First Birthday almost entirely green, now that’s impressive!!!! Thank you for following me by the way, great to have you on-board.

  11. Terri Babin says

    I’m stopping by from hop along Friday! I adore your blog, if you are ever looking for a blogging buddy to host events with or to promote one another consider me your girl! I am planning my daughter’s “green” first birthday party as well, it’s on 10/1 and I’ll be writing a post after the party. I love your ideas, but we are doing some things a bit different (such as wood forks and biodegradable plates). It would be fun to link our posts to give readers two different perspectives. Feel free to add your blog to my blog directory at http://www.EcoCrazyMom.com under the “bloggers” tab, I look forward to keeping in touch!

    -Terri

  12. Nacia K. Walsh (@MomsInBoyland) says

    I’m a new follower but I think your birthday idea is quite impressive. I never thought of how much disposable and toxic stuff is used at a party. Thanks for the great post.

  14. Jen says

    We asked for no toys for B’s 1st birthday and everyone but 1 person obliged our request! For gift bags we did little trees, the kids apparently loved planting them. For his 2nd party we didn’t do any gift bags as there was nothing I wanted to give out that didn’t seem wasteful.

    Have a great party!

    • Good Girl Gone Green says

      Sorry to hear that Jen! If my family and BFF’s know me, they will respect our wishes. They should know how important this is to us and it would be a slap in the face if they dont respect our wishes. We are not asking them to go waste-free, just support how we have chosen to live our life!

      Thanks Jen. We are going party hardy, green style! lol