Goody bag campaign

Piece of Cake’s Anti Goody-Bag Campaign

Please join Piece of Cake to create a nationwide debate about birthday party goody bags.

Use our contact form to send in suggestions and comments.

The debate about goody bags is reaching fever pitch. The Goody Bag has become a mind-bendingly, stress-fuelled chore for anyone throwing a children’s birthday party. I’m always dismayed by the plastic junk brought home by my two children in (more plastic) goody bags after a birthday party (usually in broken bits on the floor of the car before we’ve even got home) and the cost to the environment of all these little plastic bags filled with crappy toys often worse than anything you’d find in the cheapest Christmas cracker.

With the average children’s party costing around £300 plus another £60-100 or so on goody bags and one shop on the King’s Road offering goody bags at £25 a pop, it’s time to get back to basics and ditch the whole concept for good. When I was young, you were lucky if you got a piece of birthday cake wrapped in a serviette and a balloon. Such is their grip on the nation now that it is rare not to hear at least one child at a party asking ‘where’s my goody bag’? Much has been aired recently on this subject in the national press and in a new parenting programme on BBC 2, ‘The Madness of Modern Families’, which recently focused on the negative views of parents regarding goody bags.
It’s an issue I’ve had to grapple with when throwing parties for others and my own children.

The simplest solution I’ve found is to give departing guests a balloon and a piece of cake, and if I’m feeling particularly yummy mummy, a rummage in a Lucky Dip bucket. I fill ours with one wrapped present (worth keeping) per child, suitable for boys or girls. The bucket has been well-received by parents and children and is simply filled with sawdust bought in bags from a pet shop. What’s more, the sawdust goes straight on the compost heap later.

Piece of Cake wants to encourage people to use local, organic produce and artisan suppliers and entertainers who have a reputation for delivering something exceptional in terms of design, presentation, service and the important little details, even if it means bending the rules a little, but without breaking the bank.

Keen to promote environmental responsibilities from using renewable resources, fresh, organic local produce and recycling post-party detritus to reducing food and air miles and carbon emissions, Piece of Cake hopes this debate will help mark the beginning of the end of this noxious gift.

Further reading:

How can I make my party eco-friendly?
By Lucy Siegle, Observer Magazine 25 March 2007.