4 Year Old's GREEN Birthday Party

I think it's great you are thinking this way!

The first thing that comes to mind is ask that the gifts be labeled but unwrapped, that would save a lot of waste. We went to adult party this weekend that did this, they just had the gifts displayed on a table and people could walk by and look, we didn't have to all sit around and ohh and ahh while presents were unwrapped so that was nice. If you want the thrill of unwrapping presents, maybe you can ask your guests to use recycled products...old newspapers, paper grocery bags or even recycle a previously used gift bag.

It will be a little more work, but don't use disposable dishes or individual juice boxes.

As far as the goody bags, we went to a b-day party last summer where the goody bag was simply a regular size bottle of bubbles. The tag read "I'm blown away that you came to my party". The kids loved it AND there was no bag to toss. I personally loved that there was no candy involved. (My friend bought three packs of bubbles from the dollar store and divided them up for her guests).

The dollar store also sells small canvas bags if you want bigger goody bags.

I'm not sure about the decor. For my son's birthday we just hung streamers and then let him use some of the paper for art projects later, the rest was simply recycled.

Hope this helps.
Good luck with your party plans.

You can make your own invites...There are a couple of kid's kits that allow you to "recycle" paper...my son and I make new paper all the time out of scraps, that can be used to make invites, etc...she will probably have fun making them with you...

In addition, kid's love planting stuff...maybe some type of garden theme would be good...such as giving the kids seeds and small pots (or even better collect some vegetable cans and make labels for them with the recycled paper you use for the invites) to plant during the party.

There are tons of cheap "reusable" bags nowadays and I'm sure you can find some cheap ones to use to put the "treats" in...My son loves using his own bag when we go to the grocery store, etc...

I used to plan parties and have always believed in not giving trinkets that cannot be reused for a "real" purpose or eaten. So for example for my son's 1st birthday, we did a Popeye theme...since most kids were about a year old or a bit older, we actually gave the kids "spinach" baby food! For his last birthday, we did it at a kid's location, but I just gave all the kids "reusable" water bottles with candy inside...I never buy regular cheap trinkets...I can give the kids something nicer, for the same amount of money, instead of a bunch of little things that get thrown away within days...

By the way, your child is still young enough...I have used my son's birthday banner since he was one year old and he's 7 now. It is a cloth banner that says "happy birthday"...It has very generic colors, green/red/blue and the background is beige...no cars, or dinosaurs or anything else...just letters...every year I wash it and use it again...actually, I've used it for many other birthday parties as well, including my 85 yr old grandfather!

Good luck! It sounds lots of fun!

PS - School House Rock came out with a new Green DVD...my son loves it! It might be fun to have that for the kids to watch or at least listen to the music while they do their planting...

I think "green" is a cool theme. You could put it on the invitation and invite the kids to think "green" for the party.

You COULD get crazy about this.
Crafts with left over cereal boxes, styrafoam, etc.
With it being green, make sure invites are recycled, or use evite.
have them all wear green, make the cake green, and look like a forest, dont use any paper products, etc

How about an "Adventure Party" at the lake and we could incorporate a pinecone bird feeder as a "gift" they go home with...activities could include archery, our water slide, an obstacle course, scavenger hunt, outdoor games, and more! Feel free to give me a call and we could go over options - ###-###-####...here's our site - www.AdventureDayCamps.com - on Lake Grapevine.