Happy eco birthday to you…..

Happy eco birthday to you…..

Balloons, plastic wrapped lollies, party blowers, party hats…..memories of a childhood birthday party.
Waiting in anticipation for the day and counting out the lollies for each of the party bags.

But with all of this eco guilt how can we have a more eco friendly birthday party without skipping out of all of the fun?

Plastic free July has been a great challenge and although i have slipped up a couple of times, (post here) overall we are making progress in using less plastic in our house.

But in the middle of this plastic free challenge is a birthday party.

You can’t be a wowser at a birthday party.

Especially a kid’s birthday party!

Fruit just won’t cut it

So how have we managed to create less plastic for this year’s birthday party and not driven ourselves around the bend in the process?

  • We made our cake from scratch (no packet mix this year)
  • We are making our own lemonade (following this recipe here)
  • We are using brown paper bags for lolly bags.
  • We are giving our guests a packet of seeds instead of plastic toys. I’ve heard of people gathering books from second hand stores to give as gifts as well. 
  • Our cupcakes don’t have any wrapping as they were made in silicon cases.
  • We are making our own chocolates from chocolate bought at the whole food store.
  • We are making popcorn

 

What a wowser you say but Don’t worry, there are still lollies involved so there will be plastic – but just less of it. 

I also think our children adjust much better than we do as as long as there are friends, games and cake – the party will be a success.
Perhaps we need to refocus on how we celebrate parties so we can still party in the future.

How can you celebrate your next birthday with less plastic?

Testimonials – Jack and Jill Kindergarten, Berowra.

Testimonials - Jack and Jill Kindergarten, Berowra.

Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning.
Vanessa Ryan-Rendall
2021-05-17T03:33:47+00:00
Testimonials - Jack and Jill Kindergarten, Berowra. Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning.

Author Visit: Jack and Jill Kindergarten Berowra

Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning. 
Teacher notes written by Vanessa
2021-04-21T02:54:08+00:00
Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning. 

Georgie Donaghey

I was impressed with Vanessa’s professionalism in preparing the teacher notes for my picture book, In the Shadow of an Elephant. Her depth of knowledge on the multitude of topics covered was just incredible! She has compiled a 15-page document that will allow Educators and students an opportunity to explore conversations and discover different layers within the book. Georgie Donaghey
Teacher notes written by Vanessa
2020-08-01T07:42:45+00:00
I was impressed with Vanessa’s professionalism in preparing the teacher notes for my picture book, In the Shadow of an Elephant. Her depth of knowledge on the multitude of topics covered was just incredible! She has compiled a 15-page document that will allow Educators and students an opportunity to explore conversations and discover different layers within the book. Georgie Donaghey