10 Eco-Friendly Baby Shower Ideas (Food, decors, and more)
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Choosing to have an eco-friendly baby shower is one of the best ways to welcome a newborn baby into our world.
After all, they (the future generations) are the reasons why we are doing this in the first place, for them to have a better world to live in.
Because as you may already know, traditional baby showers can be messy and wasteful.
So to welcome a new baby while taking care of the planet, here are 10 brilliant and simple tips on how to throw an eco-friendly themed baby shower.
Let’s get started.
1. Prepare eco-friendly baby shower invitations
In these modern times, inviting someone to a party doesn’t require that much effort because of the internet.
Sending e-invites or electronic invites is the most eco-friendly way of inviting people since it doesn’t involve paper, which most likely will be a waste and the transport emissions of delivery.
Design-wise, e-invites are also easier.
There are available templates of baby shower e-invites on the internet, but if you have an original design, there are also tons of apps that can help you.
If you want to go old-school with hand-delivered invitations, there are papers certified by FSC that you can use.
Recycled paper brands are also available.
2. Pick greener baby shower venues
Venue influences the overall theme of your party.
It is advisable to choose locations with open spaces and greener surroundings with an eco-friendly theme.
If you have a lovely garden that would fit all your guests, that will be very convenient as you don’t have to pay for venue rentals and added fees.
Furthermore, having the party in your own house will also be less stressful with the mom-to-be.
However, if you don’t want after-party hassles, there are establishments and restaurants that promote green parties.
Availing this kind of service will save you from the hassle of decorating, preparing food for your guests, and cleaning up after.
This option will be more pricey, of course.
Also, choose venues that are near your homes to minimize carbon emissions of traveling and driving.
3. Pick greener baby shower themes
Under the eco-friendly theme categories, there are many options that you can try, or you can be creative on your own.
A vegan theme can be an option if your friends are willing to avoid meat for 3 hours.
A flower-oriented theme is also nice as you can also give the flower plants in small pots as give away after.
Two birds in one stone.
An overnight camping theme party is possible if your guests are willing to stay up until midnight.
You can serve grilled foods and salads and there are a couple of ways to have an eco-friendly camping activity.
To be honest, there are many themes to celebrate an eco-friendly baby shower.
If you can prioritize organic foods, recyclable decorations, and fewer to zero wastes, that’s already a huge win for our planet.
4. Opt for an organic menu
We all know how organic foods are better for our body and planet.
And an eco-friendly baby shower must be graced with organic and natural foods.
Here’s a guide on how to pick the food for your organic menu:
- Appetizer – Organic soup(vegetable-based, pumpkin, broccoli, etc.) Vegetable salad(lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, etc.)
- Protein – Use USDA approved meats (native grown without antibiotics and growth hormones)
- Dessert – Fruits or fruit-based sweets(carrot cake, banana cake, strawberry cookies, etc.)
- Drinks – Natural fruit-based juice or tea(lemonade, orange, pineapple, mango, etc.)
It is much better to acquire ingredients locally to ensure it all came from farm-to-table.
If there are local delicacies that your town has, that will be a very authentic dish to add to your organic menu.
5. Prepare reusable utensils
Most parties use single-use plastic cups, spoons, and forks, and all of these end up as waste filling landfills and oceans.
Good thing companies have produced reusable utensils to help our environment recover from years of plastics that have already created a fatal impact on our planet.
Steel spoons and forks were created long ago, but today, people would instead use disposable utensils for less effort and to avoid dishwashing.
But if dishwashing is not an issue, it is the most eco-friendly way of handling utensil wastes.
If dishwashing is something you don’t want to deal after the bay shower, use eco-friendly utensils made of bamboo, wood, or plant fibers.
For instance, many bamboo utensils are BPA-free and recyclable.
It would be very pricey to buy one for all your guests, but this could also serve as your giveaways.
Compostable plates are also available to substitute the usual paper plates.
6. Eco-friendly baby shower gifts
Encourage your guests to bring eco-friendly gifts for your incoming newborn baby.
Here are some usual options that are eco-friendly made:
If you are running out of ideas, there are many other eco-friendly baby products that would be perfect gifts.
But it is very important that all baby stuff is organic or made without harmful ingredients and chemicals.
As you may already know, babies put things inside their mouths from time to time, and as much as we want to keep an eye on them, 100% of the time, we just can’t.
We can only be responsible enough to provide them with things that will not harm them (and our planet).
7. Use eco-friendly baby shower decorations
Party decorations are often made of unearthly materials which go directly to waste.
In an eco-friendly baby shower, it is much better to use natural decorations like flowers, branches, compostable paper decorations.
Forget about balloons.
Balloons are the traditional decor that most people use when throwing a party, but the truth about balloons is they are not eco-friendly at all.
Balloons are almost like your plastic bottles but of less use.
You fill it with air, and after the party, it’s just a waste.
If there is a way to recycle balloons, people haven’t thought of it yet, and most of it just ends up in landfills and our seas.
8. Choose eco-friendly entertainment and activities
To make parties more enjoyable, we include fun activities in the program to make guests participate and interact with each other.
One activity that always pops up is games.
In choosing games, pick the ones with less or no materials needed.
If there is a need for materials, make sure that they wouldn’t just fall in the trash later.
At this point, we have used so many materials in the invitation and decoration.
We can use the same materials as we push through with our fun activities.
If it’s a formal event, you can hire a host and fill them with your theme and how you want things to happen in the program.
It will be less work for you, and you can put a close eye on things if something is not in order.
9. Prepare eco-friendly giveaways and favors
It is a lovely gesture to give something to your guests for coming to your party.
Here are some samples of party favors you can give with an eco-friendly twist:
- Fruit cakes or cupcakes
- Flower seedlings
- A succulent
There are many more ideas for eco-friendly giveaways, and you can come up with your own too.
Just be mindful of our planet as you come up with these ideas, and make sure to use recycled and reusable packaging.
10. Dispose of trash properly after the baby shower
As our party ends, let’s practice leaving it as clean as to how we first got there.
If it’s in our house, it is our full responsibility to keep it as tidy as possible so it won’t be toxic to the mom-to-be and your future baby.
If we are in a different venue, helping to clean up a bit will not hurt.
Some crews who clean these venues may not be as eco-friendly as we think. +
Being an example is the best way to educate people on protecting and caring for our environment.
Compost organic waste, recycle/upcycle those you can, and send as little to landfills.
Final Thoughts
Having a baby shower is exciting, especially for first-time parents.
But it doesn’t have to come at the expense of our mother Earth.
With this list of eco-friendly baby shower ideas, we hope you can throw a super enjoyable party with least impact on the environment.
