Earth Day Party!

Earth Day . . . it can easily go by unnoticed. Maybe the evening news will have a story telling of the coming destruction of the planet followed by a feel good story about an elementary school that saved their milk money to plant some trees.

I wanted Earth Day to be something different at our house this year, so I decided to throw an Earth Day party. Now, we are a Christian household, so we are definitely NOT tree-worshipping hippies, we are Christ worshipping hippies (well, at least I am!). So, this party had an underlying theme . . . but it was very subtle. We'll get to that later on in the post.

First order of the day was checking the RSVP's. I used evites because 1. I didn't get my act together in time to use regular invitations and 2. they don't use any paper. Power yes, paper no. So I was expecting roughly 25 people. Yay!

Second, we needed to prepare the snacks. We were having dirt cups, grapes and juice. This was an after lunch pre-nap party, so the snacks were light and easy going.

Third, prepare the activities. This all required the help of a good friend, since as usual, I was running a wee bit behind schedule! She came over and helped prep snacks and activities, which included planting pole beans and making bagel bird feeders.

The bean pots were fun . . . each child brought an applesauce, yogurt or fruit cup they had previously used as their pot. We then used scraps of wrapping paper, old pompons, googly eyes and the like to decorate the pots. Add dirt and a pre-soaked bean (speeds germination for impatient planters), ta-dah! Earth Friendly Bean Plant!

The bagel bird feeders were neat, too. We tied strings around the bagels and spread shortening on wherever the kids wanted (on the bagel, that is. Some did taste test the shortening and my son checked out the bird seed; thumbs up to both I believe!). Then, the larded/shortened bagel was smooshed, rolled, sprinkled and patted with birdseed.

We hung ours in the maple tree and are waiting for some feathered friends to come for a snack! I am excited because I had a blue bird and his lady friend sharing bugs in my front yard this morning . . . maybe they will return!

We then read a book to the children who weren't busy playing in the grass. We read My Bag and Me, which is adorable! It is a board book and a reusable bag and both are 100% recyclable! The bag is so cute and I can't wait to go to the farmers' market this weekend and let my son carry his own little bag!

I also had books out for the adults to peruse (this is my subtle theme . . . ahem ahem). Serve God Save the Planet, by J. Matthew Sleeth, MD is what I am reading now. It is a book about Creation Care or Stewardship of the Earth and it is fantastic. I also had out Go Green Save Green, by Nancy Sleeth as well as It's Easy Being Green by Emma Sleeth (Matthew and Nancy's daughter). All of the books are aimed at Christian readers, but I will not go into too much detail, because that is another post!

So, we had a good Earth Day Party. Some friends car-pooled, some did not. Everyone brought their own reuseable bags to tote their crafts and we all noted the importance of carrying on the Earth Day feeling. We don't want this to be "funeral syndrome," where everyone stays in touch and holds their family close . . . for a week and then forgets. Earth Day should be every day. Every time we wake up on God's Earth we should be thankful and ask him what he needs us to do today . . . but not just for a week, forever!

Happy Earth Day!