These were the basic blueprints for our first baby shower, and it was meant to be as low waste, and eco friendly as possible. I’d say it was a super success! I received just about everything I needed and kept it pretty minimal! I’m so thankful to everyone who came and helped organize and clean up, it was just incredible! So here’s how it all played out!
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Spreading the word & eco friendly invite ideas
Originally, I had wanted to send out e-vites or those invitations that have seeds in them, but since I wasn’t the one the planning it I only had so much say.
My mom and sister also told me that people more than likely wouldn’t plant the seeds if they got an invite like that. And I guess e-vites weren’t as fun. Oh well!
We still ended up printed them on recycled/recyclable paper and they went with a forestry theme to keep with the eco friendly baby shower concept.
Having an eco friendly baby shower
So we told everyone on the invite not to wrap anything in paper. Preferably wrap it some creative way, in a basket or blanket. Something we could use again and be as low waste as possible with it. Instead of buying a card and me just having those forever or just throwing them out after, bring a book instead and sign that so we can keep it and start our baby’s first library!
When it came to decorations, my mom already had a ton of reused stuff on hand because she’s an event planner and loves to host things .
The few things that she did buy included compostable and recyclable cups and silverware, all the necessities needed to eat. She and my sister made a ton of healthy foods which ranged from gluten free, vegetarian, and vegan. Not to mention my sisters amazing lemon blueberry cake she home made! YUM!
Minimal Favors and Eco Friendly Games
None of us were too keen on having a ton of games because since it was mainly family that came, and we are a social bunch, there wasn’t going to be a lot of time to play all these games you see on Pinterest.
Instead, we made a game of the gift wrapping; who could wrap the most creatively and who had the least amount of waste in their gift (I.e. No packaging, plastic, waste, etc.)
The only actual game we played was guessing how big my belly was all the way around. We simply had every one cut a piece of yarn to the length/circumference that they thought I was then did an actual and compared!
That was a lot of fun because everyone said I looked so small (even though I feel enormous) then when we did the actual it was AMAZING to see how short that piece of yarn actually was.
The winner of that ironically was my great aunt who has a touch of dementia! She was maybe a fourth of a centimeter off and we all were so surprised!
I kept all that string and still use it when I need to use a piece of string to hold things together or send out a package.
For the prizes, I honestly don’t remember what everyone got… I do know we only had gifts for the winners so it was kept minimal. Plus, everyone took a local handmade cookie home from my mom’s friend’s cookie business!
Afterward & the clean up of an eco friendly baby shower
At the party itself, the amount of trash going to the landfill was pretty darn small! Most everything was recyclable, although I wish my mom still had her compost, but that’s all good and well.
We had maybe one grocery bag size of packaging to be recycled from gifts and one grocery bag worth of trash headed to the dump.
When my husband and I got home and had to unwrap everything from the remainder of its packaging, we did come out with a lot of cardboard and then just so many tiny plastic tags and casings. It wasn’t enough to fill a 13 gallon trash bag which relieved me, but our recycling was overwhelming.
We did end up sending out thank you cards that my mom had left over from another party.
There were so many more things I wanted to do with my baby shower had I planned it, but since it was across state lines, it was my first, and my family did the planning there was only so much control that I had. Next baby, I’d like to compost all food waste and for the gifts give out little plants or homemade foods, something useful and practical with less waste involved.
We didn’t up having a shower for our second baby but I don’t think most people do after their first.
Did you have an eco-friendly baby shower yourself?! What things did you do to celebrate baby and go green in the process? Maybe you didn’t have a party at all because of Covid? Or maybe you were a rebel and did it anyways! I’d love to hear some stories from you all!
In gratitude,
Tayler
