Making re-use fun – party style

Parties are lots of fun, but between single-use plates, cups and decorations, they can also produce a lot of waste.

The team at Stoke Toy Library have come up with a creative solution – reusable children’s party packs that bring all the fun, but only a fraction of the waste, to the party table.  

Six themed packs were created with the help of $3000 from Nelson City Council’s Rethink Waste Whakaarohia Waste Minimisation grants. Each pack contains reusable plates, cups, jugs, serving platters, decorations and some costume pieces matched to the theme of the pack.  

The packs are themed for a range of favourite party go-tos, including dinosaurs and princesses, and have been increasing in popularity with parents – the party packs have been hired more than 20 times in the past six months, and demand is increasing. 

Stoke Toy Library librarian Katy Towns says anyone in the community can contact the toy library to hire a pack. As one parent said; “huge shout-out to the toy library for their commitment and motivation to create these high-quality zero-waste party packs… A gift for a busy parent!” 

Katy says they estimate at least one large rubbish bag of waste is avoided each time the pack is used. As a bonus, the packs are standing up well to repeated use, and are expected to party-on for quite some time.  

“We get a lot of feedback about how much the children enjoy the packs, and how much stress it relieves from party planning, as well as making the whole drama of cleaning up afterwards so much easier.” 

People wanting to book a pack can email stoketoylib@gmail.com , and if you want to know more about Council’s waste minimisation grants programme, go to http://www.nelson.govt.nz/services/rethink-waste/waste-minimisation-grants/