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Birthday parties of today are not like the birthday parties that I grew up with. When I was a kid, I had one or two parties my entire childhood. Nowadays, almost every kid has a party every year! The typical formula is games or playing at the rented venue, followed by pizza, cake, presents, and party favors. Usually you invite everyone in the school classroom. That is a lot of presents. To complicate things, wrapping paper, party bags, and party favors are highly composed of plastic. You would think that wrapping paper is recyclable, and some types are, but any paper that is shiny or has glitter on it is actually a combination of paper laminated with plastic and cannot be recycled. If you seal the paper with tape that also makes it unrecyclable unless the tape is removed first and who has time for that? Well, that puts a damper on the party. Time to change the formula and start your own trend!
Today’s Challenge: Here is one trend that I can get behind – host a no gift birthday party. On the invitation make it really clear that gifts are not necessary. If your child loves animals or has a kind heart to help others, you could suggest that guests bring an optional donation for an animal or food shelter instead. No gifts goes both ways – forget about party bags filled with disposable trinkets. If your child really wants to hand something out to guests, consider books or a hand painted rock or craft. You may be the talk among all of the parents, but I bet you will start a lasting trend because deep down no parent wants the extra clutter of plastic junk and toys that are bound to be played with exactly once. Save the special birthday gift requests for the grandparents.
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