MNN - Mother Nature Network

Danielle proves that it is never too early to go green at this kid's birthday party. (Nick Scott/MNN)

 

Danielle: So, its Danielle from dvGreen, and today we’re gonna talk about how to throw a kid’s birthday party.  There is literally not one type of party I can think of where it’s more important to introduce eco-friendly elements than a kid’s party.  But that doesn’t mean they have to be boring.  It doesn’t mean they have to be crunchy.  They can be vibrant and fun and fresh and cutting edge.  Happy birthday to me!  So, for our kid’s party, we’re going to introduce a lot of color.  We want it to be happy and vibrant and fun and, of course, all organic and sustainable.  What I love to do for a kid’s party is to use tissue paper flowers.  So everything is like fair game for them.  If they want to touch it, they want to play with it, it’s fine.  They can just go crazy.  So, this is all handmade tissue paper flowers made from recycled paper.  This is actually a fun activity that you can do with your kids in preparation for the party.  As you can see, we used a  construction paper runner.  So, in addition to being just fun and interactive for the kids, it’s really inexpensive.  You can go to the butcher shop or the flower market.  To make it fun for the kids, you can use these – these are crayons.  They look like rocks.  They called crayon rocks.  And they’re totally soy wax.  So, much better than your regular crayons, and the kids can just go crazy and draw all over the place. 

Danielle: For our centerpiece where we use the tissue paper flowers for the vase rather than using a glass vase or something that lacks any interest, I found this old vintage marshmallow jar.  Check it out.  Like, go around to vintage places.  Maybe you have something in your kitchen or in your attic and then we just took that and used that as like a little bit of inspiration.  So there’s these random marshmallows just thrown around the table, which is just fun.  I mean, it’s a kid birthday.  Let them go crazy.  Let them eat candy.  Let them eat cake.  But these marshmallows, there not just any marshmallows, they’re organic marshmallows.  They’re great alternatives to your standard candy that’s super-high in sugar and has all these additives and preservatives.  These gummy bears, which are made with real fruit juice, you can get in most natural food stores.  And the same thing goes for these jellybeans. 

Danielle: So, for each place setting, to get this really great, bright [indistinct], we used preserved plates.  S, these are made from recycled materials and they are recyclable.  They are also reusable and dishwasher safe.  These are a really good option instead of your usual plastic plates.  And for the utensils we used bamboo-wear.  When you're done with them, they’re compostable and they’re made of bamboo, which is a renewable resource.  Much better than using a straight wood utensil.

Danielle: And at each place, just to add like a little bit of fun for the kids, we placed a little finger puppet.  So everyone gets a little animal.  Here we have a monkey.  Over there we have an octopus.  We got all these little guys.  Maybe their little fingers can fit in it better.
And of course, the most important thing, the most important to all the kids: the cake.   So, if you are going to be baking your own cake, which is great, I really recommend go for some organic options.  At Whole Foods or different natural food stores, they sell a bunch of different brands of certified organic mixes.  You can make the icing.  You can do the whole—the whole kit and caboodle.