Germana Carillo A growing number of UK parents, led by Charlotte Mason-Curl, are rejecting the waste and excess of kids’ birthday parties through the eco-minded Kids’ Party Pact.
Plastic everywhere. Bags of every kind. Overpriced (and mostly useless) gifts. Sugary treats piled high. And let’s not even start on the chaos. Children’s parties often feel like a bizarre mix between a descent into the underworld and a badly written Venezuelan soap opera — loud, endless, and full of dramatic tears.
But have you ever stopped to ask yourself: what could we actually do without? Maybe it’s the sheer number of gift bags, the sugar overload, or even the disposable plates and cups. And perhaps, for the love of sanity, we could skip the balloons and paper lanterns entirely.
Many people see gifts as a language of love. Everyone wants the best for their children, but we’re sold the idea that “the best” means having a lot of things. When in reality, what children really want is time with their loved ones.
That’s exactly what Charlotte Mason-Curl realized. A mother to four-year-old Heidi and 18-month-old Max, she rolled up her sleeves and decided to put an end to the madness.
In the UK, we buy around 28.5 million brand-new gifts every year for parties for children aged 11 or younger. Do the math: if a million children each go to five parties annually, and each party includes a goodie bag with three short-lived plastic trinkets, that’s 15 million pieces of throwaway plastic handed out every year. “It’s insane,” says Charlotte.
The kids’ party pact
Inspired by the Smartphone Free Childhood campaign, which helps parents present a united front against big tech companies, Charlotte launched her own eco-friendly revolution: the Kids’ Party Pact. It’s a commitment more and more parents are signing, agreeing to host and attend low-waste, less-consumption birthday parties.
She even coined a new name for the movement: No Crap Parties.
The reaction? Overwhelmingly positive — and tinged with relief. For many parents, the top frustration is the mess. Close behind is the skyrocketing cost. When Charlotte surveyed families in her hometown of Kendal, 43% said buying gifts for kids’ parties strained their household budget. Add to that the mental load of picking, buying, and wrapping all those presents — a task that still lands overwhelmingly on mothers. (Of the 4,300 followers on Instagram at @no.crap.parties, 95% are women.)
The pact has three simple pillars:
- No plastic-filled party bags.
- Second-hand or homemade gifts only.
- Clear guidelines for eco-friendly presents for your own children.
“We’re so conditioned not to show up empty-handed, even when asked,” Charlotte explains. “It’s better to give people guidance on what to bring than to tell them to bring nothing, because they’ll often go rogue and bring ‘something extra’ anyway.”
And when “a little something” gets multiplied by 20 guests, it becomes a whole lot of clutter.
Why don’t we bring the Kids’ Party Pact model here, too?
Source: No Crap Parties
