We decided to have his party at Tangerini's a local farm where he attended summer camp. The children enjoyed a beautiful day outside, including a hayride all around the property, past the giant sunflowers and out to the cornfields where the owner let each child take home eight ears of corn. YUM! She then showed us that fresh off the stalk it is totally delicious raw (sounds terrible right? But boy was it tasty!!)
The kids also got to play in the hay maze, chased the poor chickens around, visited with the goats and of course enjoyed cupcakes and ice cream.
I wasn't able to go fully green at this party there were a few things I could have done a better job, but here's what I did:
1) Made organic cupcakes and frosting from Cherrybrook Kitchens
2) Used cloth tablecloths that I happened to have at home already rather than buy those icky plastic ones from the party supply store
3) Didn't have balloon decorations
4) Instead of the goodie bag stuff that kids usually come home with (ahem, junk that usually ends up in the trash, or candy the boys can't eat with their allergies....) I purchased each child a return trip to the farm for a hay ride, trip through the maze and a pumpkin this fall.
5) I also hired a friend who makes custom cookies cook little piggy cookies for each child. See these beautiful, and delicious cookies at Crowley Cookies.
6) Gave each child a reusable shopping bag to carry their fresh picked produce home in.
7) Everyone raved about their fresh picked corn they enjoyed for dinner that night!
What I could have done better...
1) I wish I had brought plates and real silverware from home. I was lazy, and used paper products, which ended up in the trash.
2) Bought regular old juice boxes and ice cream --- I should have gone organic on those things, but I'll admit it, I was rushed and just hopped into a local store to get them. Next year, to avoid allergy concerns, I'll make my own ice cream at home instead and buy organic juice for certain.
Now, how about some Blog Candy? To participate here's what you've got to do...
1) Comment on this thread with one thing you've already done to be more green.
2) Post one thing that you know will do to be more green.
I'll collect comments to this post from now till next Sunday, September 7th. The winner will receive a string produce bag (hey, it is a green post right??) and a hand stamped card (or two...) from me too.
20 Comments Post a Comment:
Sounds like a wonderfully fun party. For my green thing--I bought the stainless steel water bottles that you told about and we no longer use any plastic bottles. For what I plan to do--I plan to recycle my coffee grounds onto the rose bushes rather than put them in the trash (I know they are biodegradable but this saves some garbage).
Love your green tips.
Cheryl Sims
We 1) recycle most of our aluminum, glass, paper, and plastic, and 2) have tossed mesh and reusable bags into the car to use for future trips to the store (see www.1BagataTime.com).
Oh...that party sounds awesome! What a great idea! I have gone green with my cleaning products. I use only Shaklee products that are safe for the environment and are concentrated so less packaging. My son's school also collected plastic bags to be recycled. In the future, I would like to be better at recycling cans. We do not have a convenient way to do that now.
Becky B
Jo, your green party has inspired me to put more green thought into our birthday for the little guy. We are having it at the local nature center with a green theme and goodie bags will be of the reusable/recyclable variety! audra
Trying to do several things.... but I am now committed to using my own grocery bags, not the store bags! I don't know why this has been so hard for me! Thanks for all the tips too.
I'm sure all the kids enjoyed your party. We recycle as much as we can and I now use the 'green' bags for groceries and Wal-Mart. It's been wonderful not bringing home all those little plastic bags!
I have changed all my lightbulbs and no longer buy paper plates and cups for home. My next action of choice is to install a water filtering system and say goodbye to buying water in plastic bottles.
Darlene L
I have cut down on watering! I am changing my grass to rocks and cement to avoid using water as much as possible.
cpullum(at)yahoo(dot)com
I only use cloth bags for grocery shopping. I am also trying to get away from the small plastic bags for produce.
What a great idea for a birthday party. I'll have to keep that in mind for the next time when my dds have friends over for a birthday party.
I just recently started reducing the water I use when I take a shower by turning off the water while lathering my hair, etc. I mentioned it to my DH and have noticed that he too is turning off the water. We got a front loading washer in March and between that and turning the water off while showering, our water bill has gone from $60 a month to around $38.
I need to get out and purchase some reusable shopping bags. I'm sure it will be a bit of work to get DH to use them though (he does most of the grocery shopping) because he won't want to bother with them.
Sounds like it was a fun party!
We have been using the cloth re-usuable shopping bags that I bought at our grocery store...the cool thing is that each time we use them we get a 5 cent discount per bag! Every little bit helps in a lot of ways!!
I would like to find a way to recycle more. We have a small, cramped house and it's hard to find places to store the recylclables without filling up my tiny kitchen. We already stack newspapers in the back of my car, and cardboard boxes go to the recycle bin at our church.
Anyway, I do find I really like the cloth bags for groceries - they are sturdy and hold a LOT! And I don't have so many plastic bags all over my house!!!!
I've been recycling all my newspapers, magazine, phonebooks, etc. for years. But just recently, I started recycling all the boxes that food comes in (ie., pizza, cereal, butter boxes, etc.). It's really made a difference in the amount of trash we put out each week.
What a fun thread!
hi! great party idea, I use cloth gorcerybags insted of plastic ones, and recycle my rubbish,
Thanks for the chance to win. Your birthday party sounds wonderful and I love the idea of a ticket to the place as the goodie bag treat.
I love going green. We recycle a ton in our family. Sometimes even have two blue boxes out and very often only have one or two bags of garbage in our can for the whole week.
Future recycling would include turning the shower off when I shave my legs in the shower. I do it sometimes, but need to be more consistent at it. Also trying to get DH to turn off the water when he is brushing his teeth - drives me NUTS when he doesn't!
I forgot to write what I want to do more, I should recycle more paper stuff
Loved your ideas Joanne! I recycle anything that I can. I also use cloth bags for trips for the store. Have a great day!
I recycle the plastic bags from the store. i save them until I get alot and then i turn them in. instead of a shower I take bath as this way it is more relaxing at night and a better way to sleep, what better way to relax than in a tub of bubbles.I use to take a shower but the hot water always ran out, now me i am a hot water person and i need it so i just turned to the tub. way easier. I am sleeping so much better.
I have all reuseable shopping bags now. No more plastic bags for me. I recycle everything that can be recycled. Thanks for sharing such great green tips, I am enjoying them and putting lots of them to use.
Well since we are military living in Germany and we have to follow their rules. Not that we wouldn't...but Germany is VERY "green" here. Recycling is A MUST. We have 3 different trash cans in our home to sort. We use the recycable grocery bags, we don't use any chemical agents to kill the weeds in the lawn, we have a compost tub. If we are stuck in a traffic jam or waiting for a train to pass we turn the vehicles off until traffic begins moving again. I'm sure there are other things I'm forgetting but those are the main ones we do on a daily basis.
We have recycled for years, all of our cardboard, aluminum cans, newspapers and plastic. I can't remember a time when we didn't. When we do get plastic bags from stores, they are reused as liners in waste paper baskets. Those not reused are taken back to the store for recycling. What I intend to do, start using the mesh bags for my shopping. I need to keep a dozen in my car for those spur of the moment shopping trips.
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