“What are you going to do for her party?”, he casually asks me before stuffing the rest of the sandwich in his mouth. “She o’ly ges one firs’ berfffday, you know”.

This was months before my daughters actual birthday and sparked from some small banter with one of my dad’s friends. Months in an infant’s life stretch much longer than us adults (that’s why we count their age in it), so June felt very distant. “She won’t even remember it though, so don’t worry”, the man’s wife chimed in. “Just get some paper plates, a cake, some pizza for the parents, and presents and she’ll be happy”.

They were both right. She does only gets one first “berfffday”, she definitely won’t remember it and no matter what we do, our smiling daughter will have a great time. Although, we saw this party as more than just a necessary tick on the parent checklist. We looked at it as an opportunity.

It’s an opportunity to connect with all the people that make her life and, by association, our life special. It’s a way to show to people that having a kid’s birthday party doesn’t have to be wasteful. And when she is older and looking back at the videos, pictures and notes that people left for her on that day, she can see that her parents tried to embody the values that we hope to have instilled in her. That’s why our goal for the day was to make an inexpensive, zero-waste, vegan birthday party, that was also a wildly good time. And of course, a great opportunity to have some cold beers and sangria out in the sun.

A lot of thought went into this party, mostly by the woman who puts a lot of thought into everything she does, my girlfriend Rachael. Everything from the bulk food ingredients and produce that had no packaging to the kind request for no physical gifts (every guest wrote a personal note in a journal instead), we wanted to make sure that nothing would be wasteful. The dishes were purchased second-hand, the decorations were minimal paper garlands to be reused, blankets were borrowed, and guests brought their own cups for the vodka-lemonade, sangria and non-alcoholic punch. Zero-waste can be hard, but once you do a bit of research and preparation it was super achievable.

This post is not meant to be an egotistical showcase of how great we are as environmental parents. Especially not myself, who as mentioned previously, took a far less active role in this whole process. We definitely try to be conscious of what we do overall, but like any new parents, we sometimes do what we need to do to survive, even if that means the convenient route. While we are always striving for absolute zero-waste parenting and the highest form of environmental awareness, we do fall short. This party was meant to achieve that though. To, for one day, show people that raising kids doesn’t have to fall into a wasteful trap and teaching our kids about sustainability doesn’t only have to be a verbal lesson. When our daughter is older and the state of our earth is in whatever form it may be, I want her to look up at us, look back at this party and think that at least my parents tried. Because after all, she only gets one first birthday.

*Song credit in the video above is Lil Thing by Knox Fortune. Such a dope track.

*Contact me for recipes or more information on where to get bulk food in Toronto.

*Photo creds to @avocadomuncher