My baby girl turned two on the 17th and I cannot believe how fast time has flown.
I love parties and I get really excited to plan these events and thought that I would try and make this years be as low waste as possible.
Im excited to share with you what I did and how it went. I have also included a FEEBIE for you to help you with your party at the bottom.
Invites
We used Punchbowl for our invites this year. We were quite happy with how easy it was to use and how it displayed the RSVP’s.
Not everyone on our guest list had facebook so we thought this would be a great option as everyone has an email.
Location
Since it was Summer we decided to host the party at a splash pad & playground in our area. We thought it would be safe in the middle of August to not have a rain plan. I would not suggest just crossing your fingers…you should have a rain plan. It poured rain all night up until the set up time. Thankfully, the rain cleared until the party was over and it poured again as soon as we finished packing up.
As you can see by the smiling faces in the slide of photos the kids did not care about the dampness…any excuse to jump in puddles.
Food
The most time consuming portion of Mia’s party. I made sure to ask and write down all the food allergies and preferences in the evite.
I planned my food based on how little waste I could achieve. I wanted to not only produce lots of garbage but also not a lot of compost or recycle either.
I came up with the following:
-PB&J Sandwich bears for the littles
-Assorted cold cut sandwiches
-Vegan veggie sandwich with homemade hummus.
-Snacks from Bulk Barn
-Fruit with composting cores/skin
Bread– We were able to get all 8 (yes, 8) loaves of bread from Cobbs bread. We initially intended for these loaves to go into our own bags but they were too small. luckily they were able to accommodate us by using paper bags. These ended in the compost when we were done.
Veggies & fruit- These items were easiest to find without packaging. The apples we bought bulk and used our own produce bags instead of the pre packaged ones in plastic bags.
Cold Cuts- Unfortunatly, the store we were at did not allow us to use our containers so we had to go with packaged meat. We went with the 5$ packages to go the budget route. the three packages ended up in the trash.
Drinks- For drinks we made our own coldbrew the before and simple syrup to go along with it. We had a jug of water with ice and then cans of juice and pop that was recycled after. We decided to borrow a bunch of cups from a friend so we didn’t need to use disposables.
Msc extras- The rest either came from our fridge or Bulk Barn. Jam and condiments came from our fridge whereas the peanut butter and loose snacks came from Bulk Barn in our own reusable bulk bags.
Cake- How amazing was Mia’s cake? I was lucky enough to win a birthday cake from Batters Up Bakery in one of their contests back in February. She make this beautiful cake for Mia and it was so delicious every one raved about it.
Jamie-Lynn went above and beyond when she found out I was doing a low waste party. She offered to lend me a cake stand instead of a disposable box.
Decorations & Activities
Having Mia’s party outdoors I did not feel the need to decorate. I did want to have some activities for the adults who were too big to play on the play structure.
We are apart of our areas buy nothing group. It is and amazing group that is local to your area (most areas have one) where you give away items, borrow or trade. We scored a volleyball net, disks, & Bocce set.
Everyone had fun.
Planning a party is hectic in itself and then trying ot make it low waste adds a whole other layer to it.
I hope this post helps gives you ideas, I’ve also added a FREE checklist to help you keep track of everything you need.
Let me know if you have any questions or even to show off your low waste party!
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Email: Sarah@simplysarah.ca
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