'My kids feel proud’: Meet the Fife parent making kids parties greener

Anyone who’s organised a party for 30 five-year-olds will agree that the stress is real.

One Fife parent is doing their bit to take the pressure off party planning, as well as cut the amount of single-use plastic going to landfill.

Emma Goodfellow, 41, from Letham near Cupar, has been running a the North East Fife Party Kit for the past five years, after having been inspired by the international Party Kit Network.

Emma provides a full box of everything you might need for a class-full of kids, even down to a box of matches to light the birthday candles. The service is being highlighted as part of Great Big Green Week, the UK’s biggest celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature. It runs from 7-15 June, and the theme this year is ‘Lets Swap Together for Good.’

‘I have two children aged 7 and 9,’ says Emma. ‘I have parties and I realise how wasteful everything is.

‘In the village where we live we have a picnic every year with a street party, so there was already a pack but it was quite scruffy and missing some bits.

‘I thought it would be really good to if I could make something up for my family. Then, I saw the Party Kits Network online and that rang a bell.’

An international network

The Party Kits Network was established by Isabel Mack in 2019, after she heard of sustainable pioneer Jen Gale running a re-usable party kit in Somerset. She wanted to find a similar service near her and ended up discovering a patchwork of people all hoping to cut waste by providing re-usable party equipment in their areas.

Isabel said: "Since 2020 we’ve saved over a million items from landfill. We do an annual audit each year of how many items in our kits went out – and how many items that displaced. It was incredibly exciting when we finally passed the million mark.

"It’s such an easy swap to make."

For Emma, the idea struck a chord.

"I think there’s so much pressure on social media for your kid’s party to look perfect every time or to be one-up on the year before; and there’s the cost element, too. By the time you invite the kids from your kids’ class, that’s a lot of stuff, a lot of wrapping paper for pass the parcel.

"I go to so many places, and they just sweep a whole table into a black bag when the party’s done."

'It's there when you need it'

Emma’s party kit contains matching cutlery, cups and plates made of durable, tough plastic that will last for years. There are lunch trays with lids so food can be prepped beforehand. There’s bunting and re-usable pass the parcel wrappers, and it even includes a handy box with scissors, matches and tape.

‘I charged up until I paid off the cost, I now have a donation system where people can donate to the local nursery or school. Some people do, some people don’t, and that’s OK,’ Emma adds.

‘It’s there and it’s ready to use every time you have a party. My kids love it, and they love that we have something their friends use. My daughter has a level of eco-anxiety and she loves that we have stuff you can re-use. She feels proud.’

Nearly 20,000 items saved from landfill

Since starting the kit in June 2021, Emma has lent it out around 95 times. ‘Each time it is used we can avoid the use of 202 pieces of single use plastic. This shows we could have potentially prevented the use of 19,190 single use items in 4 years.’

Emma thinks even more could be done by teaming up with other local party kit organisers – a similar service has recently been started by Plastic Free Dunfermline.

Many party kits are now run as part of wider ‘Libraries of Things’, or borrowing services. ‘We’re helping to normalise a borrow, not buy, approach,’ says Isabel.

Emma adds: ‘I would encourage more people to get involved. Even if you do 10 parties a year that’s hundreds of packs of single use plastic saved – every single party helps.’