Ideas for a low waste eco friendly birthday party please

[pepinanalilyplant]

Hello all,

DDs 5th birthday is coming up and we are inviting about 15 children. Any ideas for alternatives for plastic favour bags and single use plastic cutlery and plates?

I know there are wooden cutlery available but are they more eco-friendly?

As for party favour bags happy to make my own etc.

Any ideas and suggestions much appreciated.

There's someone local to us who rents out reusable plates etc for kids parties. So worth seeing if someone round you does that?

You can use brown paper bags rather than plastic, and use washable ikea cutlery the plastic ones and you can take them home and use them after.

Hi Its not easy at the moment . Most party food is finger food at that age so if there is desserts then a regular as that age is absolutely fine. (jelly/icecream/even some cakes). Re drinks - you could buy picnic cups that are washable/reusable. AS for favour bags - well I didn't hand them out - I gave the cake/balloon. The party was a my child not those invited so didn't feel bad about not filling goody bags. And when we went to parties a lovely suitable gift - and never expected presents for attending. The idea of party bags filled me with dread and it was the parents that seemed to indulge the idea they were necessary. If you do want to make your own then you could be really crafty - toilet rolls covered in a nice paper and tied like a "Christmas cracker style. Not good for cake thou lol.

I’m currently planning DS’s fourth birthday party in a few weeks! Like a pp said there’s someone near me who rents kits, it includes all the plates, cups, cutlery, tablecloths, jugs etc you need. I’m only paying £15 for a kit for 36 - buying all the disposable stuff would easily cost that. Fabric bunting to decorate. I’ve bought paper party bags and nothing plastic in them apart from the sweet wrappers.

The one plastic I will happily allow is a giant 4 balloon for DS! He loves balloons and I’m not going to deny him that.

Thanks. I'll try to find if there's anyone local renting out cutlery and plates. I'm not sure about buying the same amount of IKEA plates though. We've got more than enough for personal use. Unless I use it for every birthday party and lend it to my friends. Great ideas though.

Get compostible plates/bowls, use normal metal cutlery or do finger foods, ask everyone to bring a cup or water bottle to use. Paper bags for party bags, shove in cake to take home, then we’re doing wild flower or sun flower seed packets.

If you can’t find compostible plates locally, you can easily find them online. Nisbets does them, and if you are near London or one of their shops you can collect.

We have Ikea bowls/plates etc. for 18. They've been used loads for pretend play too.

We've been to parties where instead of a party bag, there's been a single gift, e.g. a craft kit, or you could go for a book. The children seemed to cope!

I did a pack of personalised sunflower seeds (Thank you for coming to x's party from someone on Etsy I think) and little plant pot for DDs birthday. A friend did a book each (bulk buy from The Book People).