Here are two birthday party ideas, both with a beach theme, one for a girl and one for a boy, that can be planned keeping “green” in mind, and are a whole lot of fun!
For Girls: Beach Party/Hawaiian Luau
A beach or Hawaiian Luau party can be held at your home, if you wish, or at another locale, such as an indoor community pool. For table cloths, use brightly-colored beach towels from home, instead of throwaway paper or plastic. Instead of paper cups, you can buy reusable plastic cups with a tropical motif (I’ve seen them at Target) that the girls can take home, or you can make your own personalized cups. To make your own, you can buy dishwasher-safe, plastic cups in lots of bright colors and write each guest’s name on them with non-toxic permanent marker. If you are feeling even more creative, you could also draw a beach umbrella or palm tree on each cup. If you want to serve lunch or snacks, sandwiches and fresh fruit stuck with toothpicks have a beachy, picnic-like feel. No need for plates with these kinds of finger foods, napkins should be just fine. If you want to go more Hawaiian, use carved-out coconuts and pineapples filled with the fruit chunks for centerpieces. Instead of juice boxes or water bottles, which create a lot of waste, you can make your own punch.
Instead of a store-bought cake, homemade cupcakes are a great alternative for a number of reasons. When you buy your own products and ingredients, you can take it as green as you want to by purchasing local and organic foods. Plus, by serving cupcakes there is really no need for paper plates or plastic spoons and forks, so there is less waste that needs to be thrown away. Cupcakes can be served either on a napkin or can be placed right on the towel tablecloths as they are washable. To stay with the beach theme, you can add candy shells or Swedish fish to the tops.
Some great games to keep the girls busy are limbo, beach ball bowling (use recycled, plastic water or soda bottles for pins) and a blow-up beach ball, and pin the shell on the hula girl or mermaid. For favors, skip the plastic goodie bags, as the girls can take home the reusable cups. You can give out cute, plastic sunglasses that they are likely to keep and wear again. Another favor idea is to give out beach toys to each guest made from 100% recycled materials. All of the wrapping paper from the party can be recycled curbside or placed in a recycling bin and gift bags can be reused another time. In addition to being eco-friendly, this kind of party is truly a blast, especially during the doldrums of winter.
For Boys: Pirate Party
With a pirate party for boys, you can take a lot of the ideas included above for the girl’s beach party, and change them a little for a more boyish, nautical feel. The tropical colors of the girl’s party can be replaced, instead, with red, black and white. If you can find them, red/white or black/white striped beach towels will look great as table covers, and if you are really lucky, you might even find towels with skulls and cross bones (not out of the realm of possibility thanks to the Pirates of the Caribbean movies!) Reusable cups can be purchased with a sailing or pirate theme, for the boys to take home, or personalize plain red and white cups with non-toxic, permanent marker, writing “Captain Jack”, or “Pirate Patrick” on each.
Sandwiches and individual packages of Pirate’s Booty snacks (made by Robert’s American Gourmet) are easy choices and fruit kabobs make excellent swords! All can be eaten with their fingers and don’t really require plates or plastic ware. If you want to control the quality of your ingredients, you can make your own cupcakes too. There are some great all-natural and organic mixes out there if you want to shorten up the prep time. You can add a gummy pirate or fish to the cupcake tops, or if you are feeling really ambitious, you can draw a very simplified version of a skull and cross bones with frosting on each. Some great pirate games include pin the eye patch on the pirate or plan a scavenger hunt with clues leading to a treasure or treat that will please any little pirate! Instead of goodie bags, the reusable cups can be given out as favors, along with felt pirate hats or foam swords that the boys will probably use again and again. The same beach toys made from recycled materials that were mentioned above would also make great favors for the pirate party. All of the gift wrap from the party can be recycled, and gift bags can be brought home and reused.
The pirate party is so popular right t now for little boys, this party theme is sure to be a hit. When you buy your own snacks and ingredients, you can take it as green as you want to by purchasing local and organic foods.
Article written by Sarah Reidy for EcoFriendlyFavors.com
