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Throwing a party and staying environmentally conscious can be a difficult task. Enter any party store, and you will see rows upon rows of paper and plastic products designed for one-time, disposable use. But throwing a shindig like a child’s birthday party or a baby shower without goodie bags or party favors can seem somewhat curmudgeon-y.  So what’s an eco-friendly party host to do? Save money, time, and resources with these 10 environmentally sound party favor ideas:

1. Growing Things

Invite guests to grow their own plants with homemade seed bombs or seed packets! Or invite guests to plant their own seeds in recycled toilet paper roll seed pots to take home. No time to make anything? Purchase seed bombs made from recycled paper in a variety of colors or these seed-filled paper flowers. Need an eco-friendly packaging option? Try these seeded gift boxes you can plant!

2. Jump Ropes and Sidewalk Chalk

Repurpose old plastic bags and save them from the landfill by weaving them into a child’s jump rope. Make your own sidewalk chalk using recycled toilet paper tubes for jump rope challenges.

3. Homemade Goodies

You can’t go wrong by filling a goodie bag full of delicious and healthy snacks like these raw vegan superfood chocolates, rosemary lemon sandwich cookies, hazelnut chocolate snowballs, or peanut butter and jelly shortbread! Yum!

4. Painted T-Shirts or Bags

Provide T-shirts or cloth bags from responsible and eco-conscious companies and then invite guests to paint them with eco-friendly paints or DIY vegetable dyes.

5. Homemade Playdough

Chocolate play dough is a sure winner in a gift bag, but you can also sneak in some extra nutrients with juice-dyed play dough! Kids love dough they can play with and eat!

6. Barrettes, Bracelets and Crowns

Recycled jewelry can be fun, easy, and very popular with partygoers.  Run old wool sweaters through the wash to felt or old recycled fabrics to make adorable cloth barrettes or woven bracelets, or use recycled paper to make these folded paper bracelets.  Save popsicle sticks to make cute stick bracelets. Use up scrap fabric and old cardboard to make these sweet pins.

7. Handmade Magnets

Still get the phone book? Before putting it into the recycling or cutting it up for recycled paper projects, check to see if the book contains any advertising magnets! These are great to cover with stickers, images from magazines, or children’s art and cut to the desired shape for custom magnet gifts.

8. Soap

You can melt pre-made natural soaps and then pour them into molds for custom shapes, or you can purchase organic eco-conscious brands and custom wrap them to suit your party theme.

9. Wizard Wands

A scavenger hunt to build a wizard wand creates a great take-home party favor and great memories as well. Have kids search for their perfect twigs, then help them whittle them into shape and decorate them with ribbons, beads or recycled paper. Recycle newspaper into these adorable wreaths, and then go on a scavenger hunt for flowers, leaves, and other treasures to make them into crowns.

10. Recycled Paper, Pencils, and Crayons

Make adorable mini notebooks by recycling old computer paper and attach pencils made from recycled newspapers or recycled tires. Give old broken crayons new life and a new home by melting and molding them into cute shapes like these adorable crayon cars or hearts. Not interested in melted wax, but love the recycled crayon idea. You can purchase recycled star crayons, stick crayons, heart crayons, or these adorable cupcake crayons! Wrap up your crayons in this cute No-Sew Crayon Wrap.

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