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Have a Go-Green Birthday Party!

Easy ways to throw a bash that's healthy, good for the planet—and one that your child will love.

For a birthday party that’s truly special, forget the big-budget blowouts and go for a memorable celebration that’s healthy and includes a little hands-on learning—while also cutting back on party costs. “You need to remember that it’s not how elaborate the party is, it’s how much fun the kids have.” says Lynda Fassa, author of Green Babies, Sage  Moms. From fair trade cloth party banners to delicious, healthful cakes, here’s your guide to throwing an eco-fabulous birthday bash.

You’re Invited

To summon your guests to the party in eco-friendly style, try these alternatives to traditional invitations:

Paperless

Go web 2.0 with virtual invitations. Sites like evite.com and mypunchbowl.com offer cool, kid-friendly designs and spare you the cost of stamps.

Recycled

Create your own invites from recycled paper, suggests Terra Wellington, author of The Mom’s Guide to Growing Your Family Green. “Turn it into an art project with your kids.” Use old magazines, newspapers, cereal boxes, and any craft supplies you have at home.

Plantable

Set the eco-tone with invites printed on seed-embedded paper, which kids can then plant. The wildflowers that grow from Botanical Paperworks’ invitations will brighten any backyard ($0.87-$4,botanicalpaperworks.com)

Yummy Treats

“Kids’ birthday parties aren’t weddings,” says Helen Coronato, author of Eco-Friendly Families. “No one’s going to remember the food, so you dont need to serve chocolate-dipped strawberries.” Keep the menu simple, and stick with finger foods—such as mini-sandwiches (you can make fun shapes with cookie cutters) and veggie sticks with dip—to minimize waste like disposable utensils and tableware. When it comes to the cake, skip the bakery and make a sheet cake or cupcakes with your child, to make her feel more involved in the party planning.You might even start a birthday-baking tradition.

Some tips for healthier cake-making:

Go Organic

Try organic food mixes like Arrowhead Mills Bake with Me Organic Cupcake Mix ($5.50, arrowheadmills.com)

Be Allergy-Friendly

Gluten-free or nut-free alternatives, such as Cherrybrook Kitchen ($4.50-$5.50, cherrybrookkitchen.com), are perfect for kids with allergies.

Bake from Scratch

Look for recipes that use whole-wheat flour and include fresh fruits in the ingredients list (see kiwimagonline.com for kid-friendly recipes for Banana Spice Cake and Lavender Cake!)

Top it Off

Decorate without artificial ingredients with Mr. Sprinkles ($4, mr-sprinkles.com) and Let’s  Do…Sprinkelz ($2 ‚edwardandsons.com), or create colorful designs with icing mixed with plant-based food coloring from Chocolate Craft Kits ($9.50, chocolatecraftkits.com). You can also dice up organic kiwis, strawberries, and pineapple for a naturally colorful confetti. Adorn the cake with edible flowers (such as rose buds or chamomile blossoms) or SunDrops, a healthier take on M&Ms ($1, worldpantry.com)

Dinnerware

Kid Konserve’s Party Pak contains 25 reusable plates, tumblers, forks, knives, and spoons, all made from recycled yogurt containers ($55, kidskonserve.com). Also consider Gaiam’s brightly colored recycled and reusable partyware ($16-$18, gaiam.com).

Green the Scene

No birthday party is complete without festive decorations, but streamers and confetti always end up in the trash. Instead, look for reusable décor that can be shared with friends, as well as eco-friendly options for disposable items like banners and candles. These products will make any party fit for a queen (or king):

Hats

Top little heads with a variety of styles from Green Party Goods, including a pirate hat and queen’s crown ($6-$6.50, greenpartygoods.com).

Candles

Skip the paraffin candles, which are made from petroleum, and have kids make a wish on Mahar Dry Goods’ nontoxic beeswax cake toppers ($6 for 24, mahardrygoods.com).

Banners

The fair trade cloth birthday banners from Yellow Label Kids will welcome every lucky boy and girl to the party ($35, yellowlabelkids.com).

Fun and Games

Line up a number of easy hands-on crafts and activities (so you’re prepared for little attenion spans). Some fun green options:

Pot’ty Time

Help kids find their green thumbs with a planting project/party favor. Start with having them decorate a pot with nontoxic paint. Let them select seeds from a variety of packets, plant them in dirt, and then take them home to grow. “By having a plant to care for, kids can start to see the connection between nature’s raw materials and the finished product,” says Jennifer Schwab, director of sustainability for Sierra Club Green Home. Look for biodegradable planting pots from Burpee ($4.96 for 20, burpee.com), a set of Kid Bean’s hemp-based finger paints ($20, kidbean.com), and a handful of Home Harvests’ organic seed packets ($2, homeharvestseeds.com).

Personal Pick

Whenever possible, try to create activities around the honoree’s interests, suggests Fassa. “If your child’s going through a cowboy phase, for example, you can find some inexpensive cowboy hats and let the kids decorate them.” She also suggests having kids make their own rag dolls, with just a few old T-shirts, fabric scraps, permanent markers, and nontoxic fabric glue.

Game Time

Often overlooked in today’s tech age are some fun classic games that only require your imagination, notes Schwab. Try Charades or Hide and Seek. Or set aside some clothes, scarves, and hats, suggest a theme or two, and have the kids act out a play.

Kiddie Kitchen

Have a food-or cooking-themed party, suggests Schwab. By teaching kids to create delicious dishes from natural ingredients, she says, you can help them understand how we thrive off of the gifts of the earth. For a food-and-crafts activity in one, try whipping up a natural pudding mix such as Dr. Oetker ($1.59, organicdirect.com) and, after letting it cool, giving it to younger guests to to use as finger paints. Branch Home’s biodegradableand disposable plates made from sugar-cane fiber ($6.50-$9 for 50, branchhome.com) make perfect cavases.

Unwrap New Possibilites

While you can’t control what gifts your guests will bring, your invitations can gently suggest a more green gift giving approach:

Give Back

Ask your birthday boy or girl if there’s a charity or nonprofit he or she would want to support in lieu of physical presents. “It’s good to get kids thinking about the causes they care about,” Schwab says. “See if they’d be open to having donations made on their behalf instead of getting an actual present.” (Kids are only human—and little ones at that; this approach works best if your child knows she is also getting toys and other presents from, say, you and grandma and grandpa.)

Swap Out

“A way to keep kids from amassing too much stuff is to have them get rid of some of their old toys after their birthday’s over,” says Coronato. For each new present, she suggests kids choose one toy they no longer want and donate it to charity.

Experience Life

Move away from toy-filled bashes and encourage guests to give experimental gifts; think museum and movie passes or certificates to a cooking class.

Favor the Moment

Plastic bags crammed with candy and cheap toys don’t usually last longer than a day. Make a real impression with your guests while making little impression on the planet with these alternatives:

• Fair trade handknit finger puppets from Peru Puppets (sets $7.50-$26).
• Carriages, dinosaurs, and more DIY toys from Calafant, all made from reccycled cardboard
   ($7).
• Ecojot’s recycled-paper sketchbook ($7.50) and Indo Crafts’ nontoxic, eco-friendly twig crayons ($12 for ten)
• Lip Stuff for Crispy Kissers, a super-sized, natural lip balm, available in Chocolate, PB&J,
    and Frosting flavors ($20 for gift set).
• A pre-made, eco-friendly goodie bag from sites such as Little Star Creative Parties ($4.50-$7.50). The Artsy Fairy Bug includes soy crayons and a sustainable-wood wand; the Music and Fun bag features a fair-trade whistle and wooden top.

For more great green birthday ideas and recipes, visit kiwimagonline.com

Budget-Friendly Green Birthdays

These tips can help you build a fun birthday party that won’t break the bank:

1. Location. Have a home-based bash, since most venues that specialize in children’s birthday parties will cost you hundred of dollars more than what you’d spend at your own place, suggests Fassa. Or go to a park. “If you host the party somewhere with lots of scenery-like the beach or a hiking trail-there’s no need to go all out with decorations, and kids will really be able to feel the message that nature is something we need to take care of,” Schwab says.
2. Favors. Turn your party activity into a favor. Try doing a scavenger hunt with organic candy, making bead jewelry, baking and decorating cookies or tie-dying T-shirts with vegetable based dyes.
3. Food. Schedule the party between meals (such as in the mid-afternoon) and set out healthy, inexpensive snacks such as trailmix, sliced fruit, and baby carrots.If you do serve lunch or dinner, keep it simple with meals like homemade pizza made from whole-grain crust and fresh veggies that the kids can use to decorate their slices.
4. Friends. If your child’s birthday falls within a couple weeks of one of her friends’ birthdays, talk to the other child’s parents about teaming up and throwing a double party.
5. Guest List. Don’t feel pressured to invited your child’s entire calass to the party. “Having ten kids at the party instead of twenty-five makes everything much more manageable,” says Coronato. “And chances are your child wants to play with her closest friends anyway.”