It's Waste-Ed with Kate's 18th Birthday - Here's some Top Tips for your next birthday Celebration!

Birthdays are such joyous occasions to celebrate milestones and I’m so lucky I get to celebrate my 18th twice (pretty much)! July marks a special time for my business and it falls perfectly in line with Plastic Free July (PFJ)! In this blog post, I’ll share some of my tips for organising a plastic-free or sustainable birthday celebration.

Invitations – The Digital Approach

Digital innovation is at our finger tips! Forego the traditional paper invites and utilise email invitations or even easier, make a Facebook event page! Not only does this reduce paper waste, it makes things so much easier for people to RSVP and get updates along the way!

Decorations – Choose eco-friendly or reusable options

Opt for sustainable materials, washable napkins, or reusable party banners.

Heres some cool ideas:

• Confetti – Hole punch fallen leaves to make confetti! This is a great task for children or for friends and family to help out with.
• Cutlery – If you don’t have enough reusable cutlery for the party goers you’re catering for, get some wooden disposable cutlery! But make sure you put these in a home compost and not the rubbish bin.
• Handmade napkins – Cut old linen or cotton pillowcases into napkin sized squares and simply overlock the edges!

Gifts – Wrapping options 

If you’ve found the perfect gift for someone try wrapping their gift in plain brown paper that can be put in the recycling bin. If you want to go super sustainable you could use old news paper (sometimes this isn’t so ‘pretty’). You could even have a go at furoshiki wrapping your gifts with old fabrics or a nice scarf as part of the gift!

If you’re stumped for a physical gift idea, cash or vouchers always often go down a treat and don’t require gift wrap, bags or ribbons!

Still got some waste? – Waste Management Solutions

Knowing that waste and recycling can often be overlooked in the excitement of the celebrations, make sure to set up clearly labelled bins for recycling, compost, and rubbish throughout the party place! Having these bins clearly labelled makes it way easier for guests to dispose of their waste appropriately and even saves you a great deal of time when it comes to the end-of-the-night “rubbish sorting process”. Bin stations even promote responsible consumer behaviours.

Celebrating special occasions, like an 18th birthday, and sustainability can go hand in hand! By prioritising sustainability and making conscious choices, we can all contribute to a cleaner, greener future! Even if you choose 1 thing at your next shindig that is completely eco-friendly, thats 1 less piece of rubbish going into landfill!

How we're celebrating our 18th Birthday & PFJ - Giveaways

I hope you enjoyed reading my top tips for being sustainable at your next get-to-together! As I mentioned its also Plastic Free July, and as part of that I will be giving away some prize packs on Facebook, Instagram, and our newsletter. If you want to be in to win any of these packs check us out on all the socials and sign up for our newsletter with the links below!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wastefreewithkate

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katemeadsnz/

Newsletter sign up at the top of our home page on the website: https://katemeads.co.nz/