Happy birthday. Long may he live... When it's your birthday, of course it's okay to throw a party, but you can also celebrate more sustainably. At least as cosy and say it yourself: with a much better feeling, right? Do you already know these tips for a sustainable birthday?
This is how to turn a birthday into a sustainable party
You are almost celebrating your birthday and decide to celebrate it properly. During the preparations, but also on the day itself - hello presents, a lot of stuff enters the house. Can it be reduced? Or at least differently? The answer is yes! You can, even if you handle a few things slightly differently, still throw a smashing party. From garlands to presents and wrapping paper to drinks boards, we'll take you through it all. Celebrating a sustainable birthday is how you do it!
The sustainable wish list
It's your birthday and you're having a party, which means presents! Let's start with this, because all that stuff you get on a birthday has the biggest impact. If everyone on this planet lived like an average Dutch person, we would have almost four earths per year needed. Four earths! Of course, that is far too many, as we only have one. So the Dutch consume too much, in all areas (living, eating, travelling, etc.). But it is stuff that ranks number one as the biggest culprit. So for your sustainable party, the most important thing is to carefully draw up that wish list and let your guests know about it. A good first step is to ask for a second-hand gift (or to put ‘gifts second-hand’ on the invitation), to ask for a sustainable gift card (such as a Sustainable Fashion Gift Card, a map of ohmygood or a recycling voucher) or to get something to do ask for gifts. Stuff we do have enough, but you can never have too many experiences....
- Also see: tips for giving second-hand gifts at a children's party without shame.
- Also see: tips for finding gifts on Marketplace.
Don't do it ahead of your sustainable birthday bash...
What is a bad idea: saying you have no wishes. Nobody wants to come empty-handed, so then your guests will start making something up for themselves. Before you know it, you'll find yourself with all kinds of gifts that you're not going to use at all, or you'll get a festive bunch of flowers. And if anything has a big negative impact on the environment, it's flowers. You can choose flowers that are more sustainable (ask for felt flowers, artificial flowers or dried flowers), but you will have to tell your guests that. Find out more about the environmental impact of flowers and how to choose flowers more sustainably. Avoid misbuying and make things even easier for your guests with a online wish list.
Photo 1: a second-hand gift: a vintage salt & pepper set from Marktplaats. Photo 2: a gift wrapped in a zero waste wrapping cloth with leaf confetti.
Zero waste decorations for your sustainable party
How will you decorate the space? Will you buy disposable garlands that will last a few parties at most, or will you opt for a zero waste garland made from leftover fabrics that will last a lifetime? Go for the latter: invest in fabric garlands once and you're set for the rest of your life. Fabric garlands - also made of residues - can be bought ready-made, but you can also make them yourself very easily. Our DIY expert Melanie does it for you. Buy them yourself? Miss Sustainable makes them to order from old woollen blankets, but these little flags from Return to Sender are also cool!
No balloons and glitter on a sustainable birthday
Unfortunately, for balloons and glitter, there is no good sustainable alternative (yet). Glitter, even biodegradable glitter, is of the worst kind. These are microplastics that end up in nature and do not break down, but instead enter our food chain via animals. The TV programme Inspectorate of Value devoted an episode to this and we wrote this article on glitter. You could still try tying balloons loosely so you can reuse them. But that did not work for me. A foil balloon is easier to reuse. You can read more about balloons and sustainable alternatives in this article.
Tip: confetti, though, you can choose more sustainable ones by making your own from leaves of plants. All you need for this is a hole punch and a lot of patience.
Sustainable birthday drinks
What will be eaten at your sustainable birthday party? After those presents, this is probably the biggest knob you can turn. Choose this more consciously (read: vegetarian, vegan, local produce, little waste) and you'll make a big difference! Will it be a vegan cake? This lemon poppy seed cake really doesn't suffer! Are you organising a get-together? What kind of snacks will you serve, because a vegetarian drinks board is just as fun. Find inspiration at the vegan Italian drinks board from Nina, but a tray of vegetarian dips (hummus & flatbread & carrot salad) and vegetarian croquettes often does well too. And do you pour wine? Which wine do you serve? Because even on the production of wines there is a lot to tell. On the other hand, wine from the Netherlands is a sustainable choice. Choose a wine from the Netherlands and you immediately have an interesting topic of conversation. Need help? These are my favourite Dutch wines that I have discovered so far. Also tasty: hugo, a homemade elderflower cocktail.
Bonus tip for when organising a big party. Don't buy disposable crockery, also less cosy. Try to borrow it or, if necessary, go to the thrift shop for a cheap set (which you return afterwards).
A festive vegetarian drinks board at a sustainable birthday, a sparkling wine from Friesland and a DIY packing idea from an old pair of jeans.
Zero waste packing
Packing tips, of course, are not meant for the person organising the sustainable party, but for the guests who come to the green party pig with their gifts. And yet I'll pack it in for a moment. Wrapping paper is a disposable product and the quality varies enormously. So a first step is to buy it from better paper (FSC-labelled!) and use it carefully, so you can use the paper more often. One step further are zero waste wrapping cloths. These are cloths made from residues that you can use over and over again. Ideal for small parties within your own circle, but such a wrapping cloth is also very nice to give as a present. At Atelier Revive you can find cool ones made by women distanced from the labour market. Use the code GREENLIST10 to get 10% discount.
- Want to get started with zero waste packing tips yourself? Then take a look at all the fun ideas our DIY expert Melanie has come up with.
- Want to know more about sustainable wrapping paper? We dived into this too!
Photo credits: main image: Ron Lach, other: thegreenlist.nl, Melanie de Oliveira (DIY tip).
