Action Tips: Have a Green Slumber Party to Spread Your Eco-Friendly Savvy

Slumber parties are popular with teens and tweens but they can be very unfriendly to Mama Earth. But there are steps you can take to make your slumber party as green as possible!

Theming it up

• Yes, even slumber parties have themes sometimes. Why not make it the environment since you’re making this an eco-friendly fete anyway? Raise awareness about environmental issues (like water or energy conservation, or even global warming) while spending quality time with your BFFs.

Get the crew there

• Of course the greenest invites are e-vites since they save paper and trees, but if you’re set on a paper invitation, you can use post-consumer recycled invitation, or check out seed embedded paper. These get planted and become a beautiful flower, with no waste!
• You can even take it a step further by suggesting that guests bike, walk or carpool to your party. Offer a special prize (green of course) to the guest who leaves the lightest footprint on your doorstep. After the party plant a tree to offset necessities like toilet paper!

Ambiance please

• Yes, decorations dazzles your space but be sure to use the recycled or environmentally-friendly kind. You can even repurpose things you already have in your cupboard. Like, how about using your cutting board as a tray.
• Don’t be afraid to talk a walk around your block to repurpose some of nature’s gifts as decorations for your slumber party. Pine cones, seed pods, and twigs can make a pretty arrangement.
• A bowl of colorful fruit (from the farmer’s market, of course) makes a great table decoration plus a tasty treat!
• Soy Candles can add an extra glow and are better for the environment than petroleum candles.
• Chances are you’ll have drinks and food too, I mean, you do have to feed your BFFs, right? So, nix the Styrofoam and plastic kind and use the biodegradable kind that’s sturdier than paper and plastic and compost in just a few weeks.
• Or, better yet, make it a BYOD affair and tell your friends you’re providing food but no dishes. Ask them to bring cups and plates (no disposables) that show their personalities. I mean, it’s pretty hard to lose your mug when it’s got a huge Hello Kitty image on it.

  What better way to show you’re an earth-lover than to have a backyard camping slumber party? Weather permitting, ask your friends to bring a sleeping bags and their favorite scary story.

• But if it’s nippy out, stick to the indoors, just make sure it’s green inside. Are your lights CFLs? Compact florescent bulbs are those swirly little gadgets that look like soft-serve ice cream cones. But get this; they now come in tons of fun shapers, sizes and colors of light! So you can add color and flair and still be green!

The eats

• Everyone knows that buying local is better for the environment because it cuts down on the energy needed to ship the food as well as the waste that comes from packaging.
• Finger foods are always great (and delicious) and reduce the need for plates or dishes. Serve fruits and veggies that are fresh from the farmers' market.
• Making your slumber party a camping affair? You can make natural versions of s’mores by finding homemade marshmallow recipes online and using natural chocolate and graham cracker alternatives.

Keep ‘em busy!

• This one’s easy because there are so many things you can do while staying earth-friendly.
• Your friends like crafts? Make animal sculptures out of recycled items like cans, plastic bottles and other items. Or you could try natural tie dying or natural soy candle making.
• Warm enough to hang outside for a while but not camp outdoors? How about going on a scavenger hunt in the park? This is a fun (and creative) way to pick up trash and clean up your park without knowing it.
• Are you all bakers and cooks? Bake some natural cupcakes and/or cookies together.
• Glamour girls in the house? Give one another natural makeovers using organic make-up and spa products, so all the girls can learn to pamper themselves ‘eco style’.
• Tired after doing all of the above? Be sure to have a green movie on hand. Need ideas? Try Wall-E, An Inconvenient Truth, The 11th Hour, Planet in Peril or Planet Earth, just to name a few.

When it’s all said and done

• Be sure to recycle everything you possibly can. Compost those leftovers.
• When cleaning up, use natural products and methods that remove the grime and leave your house smelling fresh without the toxic side effects.
• And be sure to leave your friends with a list of environmental facts and at least one thing they can do to keep up the green lifestyle!