Celebrate Green Blog

by Corey

Last weekend we celebrated my daughter Zoe’s 8th birthday.

It was an old-fashioned affair with eight friends (and a few parents) featuring some easy to make snacks, a few games and a lot of room to run around.

It took about five minutes to plan, an hour to prepare for (including getting the half-folded laundry off the couch) and little to no time to clean up after.

And I know it may be cause for gasps and perhaps, in some circles, a nomination for the worst parent of the year award, but this year we even went without decor.

This was as simple as simple gets.

And guess what, everyone had a great time. (Including me!)

What was our secret?

We included a few components that made the day special…

1) The kids played “pin the tail on the kitty” - on a handmade, over-sized, reusable kitty board. Although ours was borrowed, it’d be easy to make one with some foam board, fabric remnants, ribbon, push pins and bits of cardboard (attached to the end ribbon to write the players’ names on).

How this is simple: No buying a new game or making a new one each year.

How this is green: Reusing saves on resources and cuts down on waste.

Bonus: Saves money over time and creates fond traditions.

2) We featured Zoe’s birthday ring in the center of the table. A birthday ring is a piece of wood with holes in it for candles (we use candles that we hand roll from sheets of 100% beeswax - a fun and easy craft that can be incorporated into the party) and “ornaments” such as a mermaid, butterfly and gnome. The child selects as many candles as she is old and then places ornaments in the rest of the holes. (On this birthday, there were 8 candles and 8 ornaments… hard to believe my baby is half way to sixteen!) In our family, we also place an extra candle in the center (one to grow on) and the birthday girl places little treasures that represent her year on the inside of the circle. A birthday ring is the perfect centerpiece because it is beautiful, unique, functional and a tradition in and of itself. My girls (and their guests) love it.

How this is simple: No need to buy decorations and decorate the entire room as the focus is on this one, exquisite and interesting piece. Making candles is an easy, mess-free party activity made even more meaningful when hand rolled candles contribute to the special day (i.e. they are burned in the ring or the cake).

How this is green: No new resources go into decor, nothing to toss in a landfill. 100% Beeswax candles are sustainable and burn cleanly and completely.

Bonus: Saves money over time and creates fond traditions.

3) We asked the children to bring handmade cards in lieu of gifts. That’s right - no gifts! And guess what, no one missed them (don’t worry, the birthday girl got presents from the family. Her favorites? A pair of wooden stilts and a pop-up book about fairies). Not only that, you should have seen the care and love that went into the sweet little cards Zoe’s friends made her. They were clearly proud to give them to her - and she was clearly touched by their generosity of spirit.

How this is simple: No shopping for gifts, no gift wrapping, no focus on all the “stuff”

How this is green: No shopping for gifts ( no driving around), no gift wrapping (no waste), no focus on all the stuff (a focus on meaning over things is always green).

Bonus: Saves money and creates fond traditions. Also instills in children, a sense of purpose, generosity and gratitude.

Other simply green birthday celebration tips?

We (re) used recycled/reusable/recyclable Preserve cups, composted the leftover food scraps and paper (such as cupcake wrappers) and used chlorine-free napkins (we normally use cloth, but these were leftover from an event we attended). With all the energetic little bodies running around, we even turned off the heat!