Editor’s Note: Bevin Clempson is here today letting us take a peek into her son’s very cool green birthday bash and her adventures in planning. This whole green thing is complicated some days. Have a great Friday!

Last month my wee dude turned 3. It was the first ever kiddo-centric party I had ever thrown. The pressure was on.

The idea of the third birthday party began long ago, back when my son turned 2.

We were still relatively new to the Comox Valley. Through activities the dude knew a fair number of little people, but not well enough to invite to a party. There is not a single relative on Vancouver Island.

So, we opted for a family day at Goose Spit followed by an ice cream cake for a party of three.

The day was an average beach day for us. It was sunny and warm. Castles were built. Exploring was done. We all had fun. The cake did not disappoint and was definitely a big hit with the toddler.

While a big milestone for me (my baby turned 2 – sniffle, sniffle), the day passed quickly and rather quietly. The little guy didn’t really get the whole birthday gig and was done with it all fairly quickly.

I was left feeling a little empty, a little sad and a whole lot second-rate mom.

Well those feelings were certainly not going to be repeated. I had one child, was currently at home and loved the dude more than anything. So, second-rate mom was not going to cut-it. No excuses.

The birthday plans began to unfold.

Thoughts consumed me. I bought a notebook and jotted down party ideas – so many ideas.

It’s crazy how I could almost fill an entire notebook with party plans for a toddler, but yet I have major difficulty coming up with column topics each month. Eesh.

Ideas are wonderful. I’m a huge fan.

But ideas filled with all those commercialized cartoons, paper plates, plastic tableware, mounds of gifts, junk filled loot bags and the attached price tag were just too much for this girl to handle.

Unwanted visions of mass waste and debt haunted me during the party’s infancy.

As months crept up and flew by, I panicked, felt queasy and contemplated cancellation.

I gave my head a big old head a shake and started asking myself some questions.

Why did it have to be a party filled with excess and waste? Why couldn’t it be a simple celebration? Would the kiddo even care? What was I thinking?

Well, after polling friends and loved ones there was a popular consensus.

I wasn’t thinking.

I couldn’t argue with that.

I had this party thing all wrong. This party could be simple, cheap, waste-free and memorable.

I had a 3-year-old party to rock out and I was going green.

The clouds parted. I was panic free. I was focused. I was super charged. And I was rising fast from second-rate to marvelous mom!

I had some targets to hit when planning this birthday bash. It had to be economical and eco-friendly. And the birthday boy was adamant that it must be fun.

I could easily do fun, but not spending much money can be tricky when going green. It came down to having no choice. Money was tight. I had to be frugal.

With those three targets in mind, I tossed the well-worn notebook in the recycle bin and got busy.

Here’s how I greened things up…

Invitation

No paper here.

Choosing email as my mode of delivery, I spent an hour creating the invitation using one of my own photographs and the free photo editing software Picasa. Because of photo size, I sent the invitation from Shutterfly for better viewing.

Table Ware

No plastic here.

Hosting in my backyard, I used everyday dishes and cutlery. Thinking regular glasses would be a bad idea, I asked each child to bring his/her own water bottle. I also had ceramic mugs on hand for those who needed one.

Two race car-themed pillowcases were fashioned into a tablecloth and a dozen kiddo-sized cloth napkins. My everyday cloth napkins were ready for adult hands.

Decorations

No garbage here.

The purchase of reusable decorations didn’t fit my budget, especially when I had the materials and the skills to make my own.

So, I searched online for ideas, rummaged through my fabric stash, dusted off the old sewing machine and sewed as quickly as I could.

These are reusable, machine washable and festive. I even managed to personalize one just for the wee dude. It now hangs in his room.

Activities

Reusable. Affordable. Fun.

We made our own bubble solution and the dad set to work fashioning bubble wands of all sizes from zap straps and coat hangers (things we already had).

The collage station included paper (cut from large sheets we had), crayons, stickers, glue and bits of paper from old magazines, used wrapping paper and old artwork. We used rocks to keep all the paper from blowing away.

Four colours of tempura paint, stir sticks and large sheets of paper made for the most popular activity of the day.

The paint was cheap (dollar store), non-toxic and made in Canada. The stir sticks were wooden and free. The newsprint was also free (thank you wonderful friend).

The Jackson Pollock inspired activity was cheap, messy, incredibly fun and reusable. I’m using the piece of art for note cards and have set aside one section to frame.

Gifts

None.

A pile of gifts was completely unnecessary because my son has more than enough toys.

Rather than bring a gift, each child was asked to bring a twoonie towards a donation to the No. 6 Mine Memorial Park in Cumberland. The wee dude really digs this park and I wanted to give to something local. It was a great opportunity for him to learn about giving.

I was incredibly shocked, relieved and proud that my 3-year old did not once ask about gifts. He’s all stoked about the donation and talks about it regularly.

Loot Bags

No plastic here.

Inspired by a SouleMama pattern, I returned to my sewing machine. Using denim from an old pair of jeans and fabric I had from another project, I assembled 16 bookmarks.

The bookmark, a crayon and a small reusable bottle of bubbles were placed in a square of fabric, wrapped and tied with yarn. I reused old note cards to create nametags.

Food

Packaging kept to a minimum.

Eating local and organic wasn’t in the budget so I stuck with healthy snack choices and did my best to sneak in local eats where I could.

The fare was simple and kid friendly. I made as many eats as possible. Things that needed purchasing were bought in large quantities to minimize packaging. Food was served on reusable dishware.

I turned to the Rebar cookbook for a healthy cupcake recipe. I used 100% unbleached baking cups that were also biodegradable, compostable and didn’t contain chlorine or toxins.

That’s it. Celebrating green was a great opportunity to have my family (and our guests) thinking about consumption and waste. It reminded me that living a greener life extends to every corner of our daily lives.

Looking back, there are definitely ways to make a greener party. I did what I could with materials that I had. The only things that needed to be purchased were food, paint and electrical tape.

While the party was a success, it was definitely a lot of work. The sewing was time consuming and I had to make peace with the bits of type-A personality that surfaced throughout the planning, prepping and execution stages of the party.

Next year we will revisit the green themed birthday party.

There are plenty more ways to incorporate recycling, reusability and responsible consumption.

I’ve got a notebook set aside. Let the planning begin…