1000 Flowers for the Planet - #622 Skip the Goodies Bag

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #622 Skip the Goodies Bag

For a few decades it has been the norm for children to come home from birthday parties with a plastic bag full of goodies. These goodies are nearly always pieces of plastic rubbish – little items designed to take parents’ money from them in return for a little piece of plastic that entertains a child for a minute or two. What a waste of resources! Birthday parties used to be really simple events, with children having fun playing games and eating party food. It’s the birthday child who is supposed to receive the presents, so why be obliged to give every other child a gift? Children need to learn that it’s not always all about them. At a birthday party it’s about the child having the birthday. It’s good for children to learn how to focus on other people and not focus on what they get out of it for themselves. It’s the gift of giving, not receiving. So let’s give a gift to the planet by not contributing further to useless plastic waste that only ends up in landfill, or worse, the stomach of a baby albatross, and skip the goodies bag.