Since kids love pizza, why not the top ten favorite pizza places in this area! (that kids love)

Great idea for another week...

I like this idea because I was so disgusted in myself one year (read below) that I vowed to figure out greener birthday parties. After my daughter's 5 year-old--fairy-birthday, I wrapped up the half-drunk juice boxes, plates, forks, cups into the disposable tablecloth and filled 2 trash bags--what a waste of resources and money.

Birthday parties are easy to "green" and with just a few tweaks you'll save money and help the environment. These ideas can be incorporated into parties at a special site, or at your home.

A few ideas:

1. Invest in washable plastic cups and plates and commercial-grade silverware for all of your parties. The "big box" discounters have great options and after a $25 to $30 investment, you'll never throw out another piece of plastic.

2. Ditch the "goody-bag-full of plastic junk-costing $10" (by-the-way who started this idea anyway), and get creative. Get a party gift for $5 or less and base it on the party theme; CROC jibbets, puzzles, paperback books, photo frames or disposable cameras for a few ideas.

3. Instead of hitting the "party store" and buying all that disposable stuff and balloons, try these ideas. Have kids draw birthday messages on brown paper tablecloths, decorate the table with your child's own dolls, cars, fairies, etc.

4. Make cup cakes and have the kids decorate them for a party activity. Saves you money and the waste associated with a store-bought cake.

5. Use your plastic cups and pour kid's drinks instead of buying juice boxes and bottled drinks. Consider milk instead of juices.

6. Put out bowls of popcorn, pretzels and grapes instead of buying little packages of chips.

7. Wrap gifts in white recycled paper and have your children decorate the gift. No need for a card, just write the information on the paper. If you love to gift wrap, surf on-line for green suppliers, there are many with great wrappings and cards using post-consumer recycled paper, soy-based inks and green business practices. Or, buy brown paper gift bags in bulk, which can be recycled after use.

In short, my kid's parties seem, well, more like my childhood parties--simple and very focused on the special birthday person.

Thanks!

How about skipping the gifts for and from the other kids at the party?

The birthday boy/girl will plenty of stuff from parents and grandparents anyway.

Well....for making birthday parties green(er)...reuse wrapping paper, have your kids make their own cards, reuse heavy duty plastic products...

For a future tip sheet...I would love to hear from other parents their organization tips - how do they keep the calendars straight, and how do they manage the volume of paperwork?