How to Throw a Zero Waste Kids Party with a Few Easy Swaps

I have never loved hosting my children’s birthday parties because of waste that comes with parties – disposable plates, balloons, loot bags and worst of all gifts and packaging! I want to share with you how to throw a great party without throwing anything away!

How can I throw a zero waste party? You can create a beautiful and festive party with reusable bunting and furoshiki wraps. Finger foods are a great way to feed the guests and waste less food and packaging. Gifts can be waste free by communicating your wishes in the invitation – “no gifts” or “donation” parties are very popular. Zero waste snack bags filled with bulk goodies make loot bags easy.

If you are interested in getting set up to throw beautiful, fun and easy zero waste parties for years to come, continue reading!

Tips for Decreasing Waste at a Birthday Party

There are many aspect of a typical birthday party that cause waste (trash or recycling). But fret not, with just a few simple swaps you will easily be able to have a memorable party without any waste.

Keep the Food Simple – Serve Finger Foods

Keep the food dead simple. Kids are often too excited to eat very much and when given a plate, they often take more food than they will eat and waste the rest. You do not have to feed the children a full meal! Finger foods work best; veggie sticks, crackers, cheese, nuts, bread, cold cuts, pop corn.

Instead of a large cake, I always like to make small cupcakes but lots of them. You do not need a cupcake wrapper, just like a large cake, cupcakes will pop out of the pan if properly greased. Cupcakes can be stacked and decorated creatively to appear like a giant cake but they can be easily eaten without a fork and they can be frozen if there are any left over. I also like to send them home as a loot bag.

Decorations Can be Beautiful and Reusable

Decorations can make the room look festive but they don’t have to be wasteful. There are many tutorials on YouTube to learn how to make some fabric bunting that you can reuse for years to come. It is very easy to find enough scraps of materials at a second hand shop, or you can use clothing that you would have donated to create funky bunting. Look for a local fabric upcycle business near you to get larger pieces of fabric that have been donated.

You can also use nature to decorate your party! Get some clippings from plants or trees in your garden. Even in the winter you may have evergreen trees that you can cut small pieces of to spread around the room. It will smell nice too!

Avoiding Gifts – or at Least Use Suggestions

It doesn’t have to be awkward to write on the invitation “no gifts please”. You sometimes have to be VERY CLEAR about this as people will send gifts anyways. Perhaps a conversation about why you are requesting “no gifts” with the following:

• we are trying to have a zero waste party = no packaging, gift wrap
• we are learning that minimalism reduces stress in our home
• less stuff = less mess = more creativity

If you cannot avoid gifts altogether, you might need to offer suggestions in lieu of gifts. For example, plan a special play date, take birthday child to a movie, or on an adventure. If we can make the effort now to change the way we show appreciation for children (ie. not giving stuff), it will be normal to offer time together as a gift.

Be Sure to Create Cards that Do Their Jobs

Birthday Cards can be amazing when the giver has taken the time to write something specific to the receiver. Usually, a birthday card is an afterthought that quickly gets scribbled on. In this case, I’d say forget about the card, don’t waste time, money or resources on it.

If you are up for writing something special for the birthday person, you can make a card out of something from your paper recycling bin. Be sure to tell them the things you appreciate about them, let them know what they are good at or how much fun you have together. The keepers are always the ones that bring a smile their face with a heartfelt message.

Gift Wrap doesn’t have to be Single Use

If you did manage to find a perfect thoughtful gift that is second hand or does not include any packaging? You can still feel good about wrapping it up to make it a surprise without using single use wrapping paper. Yes, wrapping paper does look pretty and can be recycled in most cities but paper can only be recycled 6 times and it degrades each time.

Instead, you can use a piece of fabric to wrap a gift and either learn how to tie it the Japanese way (furoshiki wraps) or you can use small safety pins to hold it together. We often wrap gifts with our towels and blankets. In the case of a birthday party, you might want to use fabric and the recipient can then reuse it if they choose to give a gift.

Easy Invitations Online

Invitations and thank you notes are much easier to create online. No need to get a sore hand from writing all the details over and over again on a paper invitation. There are so many free apps online that allow you to do this like evite.com. You can even see who has opened your invitation and the guests can RSVP with the click of a button. It is always great to post a few photos after the event and thank all of the guests for attending.

Loot Bags

Loot bags – what can I say about loot bags? Let’s ditch the loot bags. Most parents agree they do not want the cheap plastic toys that come in a typical loot bag.

If you decide you must give something as a parting gift, a cupcake or some treats in a cloth snack bag would make a great loot bag. Or maybe a packet of flower seeds or a small potted plant?

Activities to have at a Zero Waste Party

Activities will vary depending on the age of the kids but there is no reason you need to generate a garbage bag full from the activities at a birthday party.

Activities for Young Kids

Good old fashioned freeze dance or musical chairs is always a hit. Have you ever tried getting kids to make a pyramid or get them all to do a handstand at the same time for a photo together? Hide and go seek, treasure hunts and pin the tail on the donkey are tried tested and true ways to bring a little laughter. I have had the same pin the tail on the donkey game for 10 years!

Memorable Activities for Older Kids

With older kids, I love food games like hanging doughnuts from the ceiling and having the kids race to eat them. 7-up or guess who’s under the blanket are also games they seem to remember for years. You can make your own escape room that the kids can solve together with just a few items that have locks (combinations or keys).

I also like to make the cup cake eating a sort of game by putting a piece of money under the icing for each cup cake. I cut one of my wax wraps into small pieces that could wrap a coin or bill. I place that on the cupcake and put the icing on top. Most of the cup cakes had a dime or quarter but some of them had $1, $2 or $5 inside. We told the kids ahead of time that each cup cake had money and they got to select from the tray which cup cake they wanted. Then they all ate the icing at the same time to get to the money. It was always pretty funny when someone gets the big prize. I collect the wax pieces and clean them for next time.

How to Enhance Your Party with a Theme

Choosing a theme for your party is a great way to increase the memorability. It doesn’t have to be a Disney character theme, it can simply be a season, a colour, a popular activity for the time of year or even a genre of music.

Be careful, setting a theme for a birthday party can provide temptation to go out and purchase a bunch of stuff that would enhance the theme. Children’s birthday parties are a big business and the typical parent will spend hundreds of dollars to stick to a theme. If you keep it simple and zero waste, it can be just as memorable while setting an example to all the children that are there.