A few months back I hosted Kobe's 6th birthday party at a community centre & wanted to keep the waste to a minimum. Here's a few simple things I did to keep wastage low.
1. Set up a drinks station. I sourced peach tea for the grown ups in glass & coke in cans, these were hardly touched? Maybe just water jugs next time. I provided jars as glasses aswell as an assortment of mix matched melamine cups. I even used an empty clean Moccona coffee jar for the Hulk cordial (unfortunately the cordial came in plastic. But it is the first time I used cordial since my teenage years so I wasn't too worried for one slip).
2. Use large towels as table cloths instead of those coloured plastic throwaway table covers.
3. Provide reusable cloth napkins to put the party food on. I sewed around 20 napkins & had 10 already to cut down on paper napkins being used. A friend did bring me spare paper napkins. Next time I'm bringing my kids melamine plates. I did run out & thankfully had some brown paper party bags to use to put the cake slices on.
4. Opt for paper party loot bags instead of plastic. I was going to source lollies at a bulk shop or books to put in the loot bags but a friend offered to buy a piñata filled with goodies (yes there was plastic in there but the gift was very thoughtful & the kids really enjoyed the piñata).
5. I chose games like musical chairs, musical bops, and I even painted a Captain America shield on a piece of cardboard for pin the star (pin the donkey) game. Prizes were books not toys.
6. For Kobe's gift from Luke & I, 2/3 was preloved. I managed to find the Scooby books & Robot at the markets in mint condition. Unfortunately the slippers came in plastic packaging (which I plan to post back to the company I bought it from). We spent $15 all up:)
7. Boycott balloons & streamers. They all end up in the bin afterwards anyway. Instead I used secondhand action figurines which Kobe & Dylan can play with for many years. No doubt they will be used again for one of Dylan's birthdays.
8. If you go for packaged party food, go for ones packaged in cardboard (which is easier to recycle than plastic). I bought the Patties party pie/sausage roll range which comes in cardboard. Aeroplane jelly which comes with paper & cardboard. Crackers did come in foil (which I took to Redcycle) & cardboard. And I bought the fruit all loose. A friend kindly gifted the iced cupcakes. And his rainbow cake came in a cardboard box. The only thing that came in plastic was the coloured popcorn which I took the packaging to Redcycle. I set up a recycling tub underneath the table so I made sure anything that could be recycled I took home to recycle.
Overall I ended up with 2 little tubs of rubbish which could of easily just of fit into a regular bucket & I think that I can do better for Dylan's 2nd birthday party later in the year.
I would love to hear what you did to reduce waste when hosting a party?
Happy Sunday!
Grace
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