Children's Birthday Parties with a Purpose

I don't usually like to post about corporate campaigns, but I liked the idea of this one, so I'll bend the rules. Quaker Snack Bars has created Birthday Party with a Purpose Kits in partnership with Kids Care Clubs. Kids Care Clubs are a program of the HandsOn Network whose mission is to, "develop compassion and to inspire a spirit of volunteering in elementary and middle school age youth."

According to their site, the kits contain:

• How-To-Guide: Step-by-step instructions for planning and hosting your child’s party.
• "Kids Doing Good!" T-Shirt gift for the birthday boy or girl.
• Goodness Bags (qty 10), including "Kids Doing Good!" wristbands, temporary tattoos, and activity booklets.
• Achievement Certificates (qty 10).
  

To get a kit you have to mail in UPC codes from 4 Quaker Chewy® Granola Bars or Quaker® Granola Bites boxes. The details are available at www.QuakerKidsDoingGood.com.

I liked a couple party ideas from their site:

• A treasure hunt where everything the guests find is donated to a children's hospital.
• A green themed party where guests can plant seeds to take home and grow.

Here are more ideas from the blogosphere:

The Mom Salon writes about ECHOage: Teaching Children About Giving Back. ECHOage sends out an evite which allows the recipients to make an online gift of money. All of the gifts are pooled to purchase one gift, and one donation to a cause for the birthday boy or girl. I like this idea 'cause you are getting one gift for you, and one gift that helps others.

In her post, Eco Friendly Birthday Party, the Nature Moms Blog writes about a woman who used her child's birthday party to help an animal shelter:

"She made dog-bone shaped oatmeal cookies for snacks and in lieu of birthday gifts, guests brought donations, dog food, leashes, water bowls, and toys for the abandoned animals. All the kids, and especially the birthday boy LOVED it, and the animal shelter brought puppies for the kids to play with"

She Scribes' post, Earth Friendly Kids Birthday Party Ideas has lots of suggestions including making teddy bears to donate to a hospital or shelter.

It's all about balance. Your child's birthday absolutely has to be fun, and feel like a celebration, but if you can balance the fun with doing good, all the better!

Flickr photo credit: Birthday Cake 08 uploaded by Anne Norman.
Cross-posted from BlogHer.


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