It’s my youngest’s birthday this week and fuelled by watching the David Attenborough documentary last week, we’re trying to make it the most eco friendly yet. But it’s so hard! There’s a huge amount of plastic tat and it’s taking a bit more determination to find plastic free alternatives.
I went shopping this morning and my first port of call was the local sweet shop. It’s the done thing at my daughter’s school to handout sweets to classmates on your birthday, normally it’s the little plastic bags of Haribo. I did briefly contemplate making biscuits for her to take in but was worried about allergies etc.. so have opted for sweets. We’re lucky to have a traditional sweet shop in local town so I was hoping I’d find something for in there that would fit the bill. There was a surprising amount of plastic packaging but after speaking to the helpful shop assistant I filled up a paper bag with paper and foiled wrapped sweets from the pick ‘n’ mix section.
I also picked up some sweetie necklaces to go in the dreaded party bags. I absolutely hate the plastic tat in party bags – I’ve always hated it, even long before we started making a conscious effort to be more environmentally friendly. The toys always break after one or two uses and then have to thrown away. Our local newsagent has a party section and I actually felt quite angry looking at all the bits of plastic marketed specifically for party bags. My little girl is having a few friends over for a birthday tea and I’m aiming to keep the bags simple with a few sweets, a slice of cake and the non-plastic wands and crowns they’ll be making at the party.
We’ve totally failed when it comes to getting non-plastic presents. When the kids were younger it was easier to find nice wooden toys but now they’re into Lego, Sylvanian Families and princess dolls it’s impossible to avoid plastic. What we have done this year is reduce the amount of presents. She’ll still be getting a lot of what she’s asked for but just none of the little extras I always used to feel compelled to buy and I have tried to find a few bits secondhand. My one win with the presents is the wrapping – I’ve used brown paper and pink wool to avoid using sellotape and we should be able to reuse the paper. It was actually easier to wrap without sellotape as there was no getting cross when you lose the end of the tape! I’m planning to wrap the pass the parcel like this (I’ll let you know how I get on!)
I’ve drafted my mum in to help with making some cakes and biscuits for the party and I might even have a go at making my own sausage rolls. My daughter has requested iced party rings and crisps so I’m not going to be zero waste but hoping I can keep the packaging to a minimum. I’ve got a stash of reusable plastic cups and plates that I always use for parties so I’ll be using those as well as using up some of the random paper napkins I’ve still got.
Fingers crossed that the birthday lives up to all the excitement!
Eco Family Life 