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Parties Celebration

Waste less Gifts: 

  • Gift acts of service because time is one of our most valuable gifts. Cleaning gardening, child-minding, cooking, even make a special dinner for someone. Set it all up in their house and walk away with your wishes for an enjoyable evening.
  • You can give gifts of food, preferably home made. There are a lot of other DIY gifts you can make, upcycle  or re-purpose. Be creative. The internet is a good place for inspiration.
  • You can gift a huge range of experiences, outings or adventures.rather than things.
  • You can gift donations to someone’s cause. www.thegoodregistry.com offers gifted donations for 65 NZ charities. Overseas aid agencies like Save the Children and World Vision also offer this. Children learn from giving and receiving gifts and older children may learn something valuable from a gift given on their behalf to a child living a very different life.
  • Some families sometimes gift cards with thoughtful and meaningful affirmations about a person.
  • If you prefer tangible presents, gift pre-loved. Pre-loved gifting is increasingly acceptable, and definitely desirable. 
  • Reduce the number of gifts per adult by nominating one person to buy one special gift for someone within a family or friend group. There are apps you can use to make this process secret. There are also discreet means of suggesting presents that will be fully appreciated.
  • If you do receive a less appreciated gift don’t feel disloyal putting it to good use by re-gifting or on-selling. It is better to be used
  • There are a whole range of homemade treats, thoughtfully packaged, that make wonderful gifts.

Waste less Gift wrapping. 

  • Reuse wrapping paper because most wrapping is not recyclable especially when torn up into small pieces. Learning to savour opening gifts is part of this.
  • You can also reuse other paper: plain or adorned brown paper, thoughtfully appropriate magazine pictures, or children’s artwork that didn’t make it to the fridge.
  • You can add flowers, leaves, re-used ribbons and string.
  • Giftcards can be made out of old cards with scissors and a hole punch. It’s a fun project for kids and a set of them makes a good gift itself.
  • You can use fabric to wrap gifts or make reusable gift bags. The Japanese have perfected this. Google Furoshiki.
  • You can swap Sellotape for paper tape, removeable Blutak or re-used ribbon and string.
  • Save brown paper, bubble wrap, and other protective wrappings to send your gifts. 

Waste less Invitations: 

  • E invites saves transport.
  • If there is a sense of occasion for you with a hard copy card, don’t forget you can make your own in creative and sustainable ways.
  • Calling people can add  a personal touch.
  • If posting out lots consider buying stamps in perforated sheets (lick and stick) rather than on plastic strips.

Waste less Decorations:

  • You can make re-useable bunting from used fabric and fabric remnants.
  • You can choose plentiful, re-useable, biodegradable materials like flowers, wood, and stones instead of plastic. Find inspiration in nature (or for the less creative - the internet)
  • See what the op shops have to offer.
  • For big occasions see if you can hire or borrow rather than buy.
  • Save airmiles by buying local flowers for gifts and decoration. The most local are picked from your own garden. You can request less wrapping from florists or save wrapping for reuse. 

Waste less single use serviceware: 

  • You can find cheap secondhand serviceware in opshops rather than single use.
  • If you no longer need it after the celebration, return it to the opshop or pass it on to someone else. You can share a set of serviceware among friends and family, passing it on to the hosts in turn.
  • Ask good friends to BYO for informal occasions. For big events you can hire. Often single-use can be washed and re-used.
  • Try not to consign burnable or compostable single use to  landfill.

Wasteless Christmas trees:

At Xmas time a third more rubbish ends up in landfill than in other times of the year so don’t choose a tree that will end up there. Choose the biodegradable option.

  • In NZ wildling pines are a good choice if you have access.
  • A pruned suitably-shaped small bough of another tree, say a manuka looks great.
  • Grow a tree in a pot to use every year.
  • Make your own Christmas tree out of natural materials eg driftwood or grapevine prunings, internet sites have inspiration. 

Waste less Kids birthday parties: 

  • Make your birthday parties more about games and fun, than gifts.
  • Resist the pressure to give party bags and material prizes. Food makes a celebration so if you feel the need to send party bags home maybe use birthday cake and edible treats.
  • There are no party kit hire businesses in this area but you can pretty much assemble your own and put it in a box for re-use. Saves shopping later. You can make fun reuseable things like bunting, tablecloths or placemats. Compile a list of party games and the equipment needed.

Wasteless Fancy-dress:

  • Hire rather than buy something that will never be worn again and thrown away.
  • Be creative, use recycling fabric and materials to create your outfit.
  • If you have a great outfit that you will never wear again sell or donate it