Host a Green Birthday Party for Kids

The best way to teach children just about anything is to make it fun for them. If your child's birthday is coming up and you are beginning the planning stages of the party-to-be, you should strongly consider throwing a green party. This will help to educate your and your friends' children about green living and environmentally safe decisions. Use this basic guide to assist you in your planning.

1.) Location

Location, location, location! Keep it nature. Find a clean and open park to host your birthday party. Also obtain permission from the city, if necessary. If the weather is against you, find a local community center and put up posters, banners, or pictures of trees, the sun, flowers, or whatever you can think of, to give it that 'outside' feel.

2.) Games

The games you decide to play must be taken seriously. Although the children will think they are just messing around and trying to win prizes, they will also be learning an important subject that could greatly affect their lives in the future. A good start is to develop a list of the animals, plants, and 'wildlife' that live on or near your park and make a checklist for each child and parent to find. This can also be done inside if you use your imagination. Another general idea is to have them play games that they normally play, like tag, but give it an Eco-theme. For example, instead of having someone just be 'it', have them be pollution, and whoever they tag has to join the 'it' person to tag everyone else. The children that have not been tagged can get their friends off of the 'it' team by 'cleaning' one of the 'its' if two 'clean' children tag him at the same time. This shows that teamwork can reduce pollution!

3.) Food

This is probably an easy one. Skip the typical cake and ice cream and substitute it for healthier snacks. Now we can't go and offer them vegetables, that would ruin their fun completely. However, you can find snacks that taste like the sugar packed ones, but are ten times more healthy. Just look down the snack aisles and keep an eye out for whole grain, low fat, and vitamin rich snacks. Many major snack producers are already incorporating these essentials in their already delicious snacks. Also, skip the soda, buy 100% juice. Juice always keeps the wonderful flavor but is worlds healthier than soda-pop.

4.) Favors

Party favors are always exciting for those attending an event. Instead of the typical bag of candy and one-time-use toys, put together bags of flower or vegetable seeds that are able to grow in your area. This will continue the fun beyond the party. the children, and their parents, can enjoy watching their seeds grow and blossom long after the party has been over. Not only that, it teaches kids to care about plants and life and how to nurture it from the seed to the end.

5.) Clean Up

Have everyone join in! Make it a game to the children to clean up the park before your go. Not only is this helpful to them, it is courteous to others who enjoy the park. Have the children line up and offer prizes for those who collect the most trash or otherwise unwanted debris in the park. Be sure to advise the children to not pick up any glass or ominous garbage and have them thoroughly wash their hands afterward. The park will be left cleaner and greener than when you left, and the children will learn it is best to clean up after themselves, even at a public place. They will possibly see how much trash there can be in a small place and have them reflect on how much there is throughout the whole world.

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Your child's next birthday can be mean and green! There are endless combinations and possibilities to the options available to you. The only limit is your imagination!