Green Paige

It’s Thursday afternoon and in our house, chaos rules.  Squealing toddlers are racing cardboard cars through a miniature town made from egg cartons, toilet paper tubes and plastic tubs.  Animated conversation surrounds our kitchen table as kids and parents help each other craft decoupage treasure boxes from discarded wrapping paper.  Intermittent bursts of laughter radiate from our family room where teens take turns playing game-show host for an environmental quiz they created themselves.  April, with its spring flowers and gentle rains, is here at last.  Our neighborhood is celebrating with an Earthday party.

   

How on Earth did this all begin?  One day while unpacking from our cross-country move, I noticed that my toddler was completely ignoring her big basket of colorful toys in favor of a large, brown appliance box.  I watched as she happily moved her favorite doll, an old shoe box and several empty yogurt containers into her cardboard play house.  Peeking through the corrugated shutters, she gave me her happy-face smile, the smile that is all teeth and pure joy.  “Me home, mommy,” she announced.  This statement provoked my own happy-face smile and gave me an idea.

   

I phoned the only neighbor I knew on our street and casually mentioned this crazy notion I had about hosting a neighborhood Earthday party.  I suggested that if each family came armed with wrapping paper, boxes and other materials left-over from the holidays or salvaged from their recycle bins, we could all have a great time creating crafts and games that would be fun and educational.  She loved the idea and quickly called another neighbor who called another neighbor.  Within a day, I had met more neighbors via the phone and in person than I had met in the entire time I had lived in the area. My wild idea for a neighborhood Earthday party had become a reality.

   

Create Your own Earthday Party

From that first experience, I learned that coordinating a neighborhood Earthday party is not only a great way to bring neighbors together but also an excellent opportunity to promote environmental awareness in our community. Here are a few ideas to help you organize your own neighborhood Earthday party:

   

• Invitations - Create fun not waste. If you know your neighbors, call them up and invite them personally or email them.  Visit a social-planning site like Evite.com that allows you to choose an Earthday-themed invitation design. Personalize it with party date and location specifics and email it directly to your neighbors.  If you prefer hand-delivering invitations, consider making recycled Earthday postcards by cutting the fronts off of old greeting cards and writing your message on the back. 

   

• Decorations and Supplies - Decorate naturally. Take your family on a spring flower safari and pick just enough flowers to brighten up your house. Enforce a zero-waste policy by using real plates, silverware, napkins and cups to serve food and drinks rather than disposable party supplies.

   

• Food and Drinks - Invite each of your neighbors to bring a signature dish for everyone to try while you supply the organic beverages and dessert. Introduce your neighbors to organic food from your local co-op, CSA farm or market.

   

• Activities - Make sure the crafts and games that you plan are fun, educational and age-appropriate for all the kids who will be attending your party. The EPA website has some great suggestions for Earthday activities suitable for all ages. Download their 11-page coloring book with tips to help kids care for the Earth not only on Earthday but every day.  For younger children, try building a miniature city from items in your recycle bin. Used boxes, canisters, plastic bottles and milk cartons can be repurposed into tiny houses, toy cars, play boats and even a choo-choo train. For more suggestions, visit PBS.

   

• More Ideas - Make a difference in your community by planting trees or flowers at a neighborhood church or school. Organize a community clean up.  Encourage your neighbors to volunteer their time to help a local environmental group.  For more ideas, visit The Heartland All Species Project  which has scripts for environmental plays and skits as well as directions for creating an Earthday parade or go to Earthday.gov  for links to several Earthday sites.

     

This article also appears in the April 2008 issue of Rocky Mountain Parent Magazine under the title “Earthday Party.”