One of the enquiries I get in the shop a lot is for plastic free party bags!
It is such a difficult thing to do, and as we are seeing more and more parents turning to Temu in desperation for low-cost fiddle toys that can go into bags, we would love to try and help if you are looking for a lower impact way to celebrate your little ones big day.
We get it by the way, and in no way are we here to judge you if you find yourself turning to the low cost, less environmentally friendly option – we’ve all been there! But we wouldn’t be doing our job properly if we didn’t try and provide you with some other options that might just help you to choose something a bit different, and hopefully reduce the carbon footprint of your child’s birthday party in the process.
First up, and one of my favourite options, is to buy a Mandala mix bag from Grapat, and divvy up the pieces into little treasure bags!
You can create little mini treasure bags for your children’s friends to dip into and create their own small worlds. Invite imagination to the party – add little stones, Nins, pineapples, anything! To the grown ups at the party it might look like a bag of not much really…but to the children, a world of imagination has been opened to them, that they can play with for hours on end
The best thing about this is that the children can all play together with their party bag contents to create small worlds, trade, and imagine – for a whole lot more fun after the party has ended. Or they can take them home and begin building their collection of wonderful wooden toys.
You can buy packs of mandala pieces for £10 – 15 and they come with around 30 items each. Couple this with some chocolate or sweets from your local sweet shop or our very own Playin CHOC and you have a gorgeous plastic free party option.
Why not pop in a tea bag from your favourite tea makers, for the parents to enjoy whilst the children play?
Another option is to get packs of pencils or crayons and split these up between bags. We love The Crayon Company for this, their crayons are made here in the UK and come in fun shapes and designs that you can match to the theme of your party! You could print out some colouring sheets and add them into the bags for a fun activity when they get home.
I love to visit our local independent sweet shop too and pick up some assorted sweets to add into the bags, all children love a sweet treat and this way we get to avoid the extra plastic waste of sweet packets whilst supporting a fellow small business.
It’s not easy to avoid plastic at children’s parties, and especially not in party bags, but I hope this blog sparks some ideas for creative ways to include different things to the usual, and maybe create a bit of a talking point at your next kids birthday party!
