earth day celebrations.

reveling in our planet, our capacity to care for it, and all the stuff we already have.

As we eagerly wait for the celestial event about to unfold, I thought I’d send a hopeful missive regarding this planet we call home. I’ve written a bunch in the past year about how annoyed I am by the general trashiness (as in literal) of kids’ celebrations. United Statesian school children’s relationship to stuff can feel downright depressing, but I’m in the midst of helping to plan an Earth Day-adjacent spring festival at my kids’ school and the process has been so positive and happy.

In case it’s encouraging and energizing for anyone else, I thought I’d share some of the ideas folks are working on for a kids’-centric celebration that’s trashy, in a different kind of way—putting an ethos of reduce, reuse, recycle into practice with environmentally focused activities.

Most of these activities could be scaled and repackaged for kids’ birthday parties, play dates, weekend afternoon boredom busters, et cetera. They also don’t have to exist at Earth Day events, only. Getting into the habit of incorporating planet-friendly activities and initiatives whenever kids gather would not be wrong!

If you have other ideas to add to the list, or tips on what’s worked well in your own communities, please share!