Plastic is common place at kids birthday parties with it being used to create a bright, colourful and fun celebrations for little ones. Whilst the intentions are good, cutting out the plastic balloons, straws, plates and toy prizes will help kids have brighter futures – with more plastic in the sea than fish predicted by 2050 if we continue down the path we’re currently soaring down.

On a practical level, there are so many exciting ways to cut plastics from parties. We’ve done some research and have five simple ideas below:

Serving up

Switching from plastic to paper throw away plates and cutlery seems easy but if they’ve got cream and cake stuck to them, they can’t be recycled. Nor can styrofoam and bottle caps. So, opt for finger food on platters that doesn’t require a plate or invest in some bamboo plates that can be used daily like these cute ones with animal prints. 

Sip it

Kids love animals and they’ll get onboard with banning plastic straws once they realise how bad they are for critters that call the ocean home. We’ve found these mini glass milk bottles at KMart which you can pop a paper straw inside to create a novel idea for juice, ice tea or water. 

Decorations

Through our work with the Sea Turtle Foundation, we have learnt that turtles mistake discarded balloons as jellyfish – digesting them and causing them to become very unwell. So please, we beg you – ditch the balloons for other bright and fun decorations. Have a crafternoon and get the kids involved in making bunting, signs, garland and more.

Games and prizes

We all have memories of pass the parcel and pin the tail on the donkey! Keep these classic games but change up the prizes from plastic trinkets to toys made of wood or paper. Aldi often have wooden toys in their weekly sales. We also found these skipping ropes, train sets and puzzles all under 10 bucks each.

Gifts

Don’t be shy – speak up and request plastic free gifts like books or even something pre-loved to prevent it heading to landfill. Experience based gifts, or contributions towards an experience, is a great option. Younger kids love going to the zoo and older kids might get a kick out of some movie tickets.