It is the season for parties- not just birthday parties- so this post is for you! Sometimes it is just easier to have disposable plates and cups when entertaining. Adding several loads of dishes to the clean-up isn’t fun. But I often felt guilty about throwing away all those plastic plates and utensils. That is why I was happy to find a brand that offers convenience without harming the environment!

Susty Party manufactures responsibly made party goods. They create compostable, non-toxic, recycled, regulated, USA made cups, plates, utensils, straws, banners, napkins, and more! They have a nice variety of colors and options of material content. They carry sugarcane, bamboo, palm leaf, starch, recycled plastic, FSC wood, and PLA corn plastic supplies.

 We were sent the November Party Kit for review- though we did change the pink cutlery to the natural wood. The November Kit included:

• 50 10 oz FSC Cup
• 24 “10” Green Plates
• 24 Natural Bowl
• 50 Grey Straws

The kit serves 24 people, so this is a wonderful value pack for large get togethers, company functions, birthdays, holiday parties, cookouts and more.

I loved the durability of the plates, bowls, and straws! They were thick and sturdy, so no worrying about food leaking through or being flimsy and dumping food out. They are compostable and made with grass fiber and tapioca starch. They can hold varying temps from -30F to 420 F! There are 9 color choices of bowls and plates, and 4 colored straws to choose from to match your party decor. Check out this awesome story about the Susty Party plates, bowls, and straws. You can get the plates in sets of 8 for $6.99, bowls in sets of 8 for $4.49, and straws in sets of 50 for $6.99.

The FSC Wood Utensils were awesome! I love that you can personalize your utensils with stamps or your own artwork. The utensils are compostable, are splinter-free, and are heavyweight. Though, you should keep them below 110 F. They are made from birch wood that was sustainably harvested. The utensils are just wood with no coatings or nasty chemicals. They worked just as good as stainless utensils- even the knifes. You can purchase the utensilsin sets of 50 for $12.99 each.

While we used mason jars for lots of our cups, I really did like having the paper cup option. I think both were used equally. The 10 oz. FSC paper cups are great for hot and cold beverages and are lined with a biodegradable PLA made from corn starch resin. They can hold beverages as hot as 200 F. The cups are plastic-free and elemental chlorine free. They are available in packs of 50 for $8.

Be sure to like Susty Party on Facebook to receive their exclusive discount and sign up for their monthly newsletter to get even more savings! 

BabyElan {daily} Sample Disclosure: The opinions expressed above are honest, accurate, and not encouraged anyway by monetary donations. A sample free of charge was received from said company, as stated within the editorial.

I wanted little man’s birthday bash to be as eco-friendly as possible. 90%of his decor was recycled into his nursery, all of the supplies were made with sustainable products, and the food was mostly organic. When I was shopping around for eco-party goods, I came across GreenPartyGoods and fell in love! GreenPartyGoods has a huge selection of eco-friendly plates, napkins, banners, decor, cupcake everything, toys, gifts, party favors, and so much more! We were sent several items to match our theme that included: mason jar lids, paper straws, owl napkins, owl sugar toppers, and bamboo boats. But lots of our other supplies can be found there as well- including the Susty Party items.
One of my favorite items was the Bamboo Serving Boats. These adorable boats are available in 4 sizes- 3.14″, 7″, 8.5″ and 9.5″ and are great for all sorts of appetizers. The boats are made out of bamboo sheaths, so they are compostable and biodegradable. They are very lightweight, but work very well. I love how festive they are!  They range from $4.50-$7.70 for packs of 12-24.
We wanted to use mason jars as much as possible, and I fell in love with these adorable lids! They are great for holding straws and preventing huge spills- though they will still leak if tipped over and not caught in time. GreenPartyGoods has 3 different sets of mason jars with lids ranging from $4.50-$32.99 for value packs. I also love you can use the lids with tea light candles to get a design on your ceiling. GreenPartyGoods has a huge selection of paper straws with a variety of colors in the Chevron pattern, stripes, rainbow packs, and polka dots. The straws are biodegradable and made with food safe soy inks. They are the best, affordable plastic straw alternative for large groups. I do love our stainless steel and glass straws, but paper straws are only $3.50-$8 for packs of 144!  You can also use the straws for crafting, making cake banners, for cake pops, and other baking needs. The recycled owl napkins were a perfect touch to the party. I found the napkin holder in the $1 section at Target, so I got really excited when I saw the napkins. They are 3 ply recycled napkins with adorable 3Dish owls. They work great for beverages, kids, or to use as a small napkin. They are sold in sets of 20 for $4.95. I came across the “owl nests” on Pinterest and thought they would be perfect for our theme. I made them by melting chocolate chips, adding peanut butter, folding in chow mien noodles and letting harden in muffin tins. On Pinterest, they used jelly beans. When I saw the sugar owl toppers, I thought they would be even better. The 1.25″ sugar toppers come in packs of 120 and are great for cupcakes, cakes, or any other edible item you would like to decorate. They are made with regular sugar and no hfcs. The owl sugar toppers are $25.50.
GreenPartyGoods also has new flat sheet metal cookie cutters! They include 3-5″: Gnome, acorn, forest tree, fox, squirrel, and owl.  You can get the whole set for $17.99!

Be sure to check out GreenPartyGoods other woodland themed items like plates, washi tape, edible strips and more!

 Be sure to follow GreenPartyGoods on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter!
Sample Disclosure: The opinions expressed above are honest, accurate, and not encouraged anyway by monetary donations. A sample free of charge was received from said company, as stated within the editorial

I love that there is sustainable art and art for a cause. I fell in love with Children Inspire Design a couple of years ago and was really excited about their Global Compassion project last year. With every Global Compassion print sold, money was donated to 20 pregnant women and children of Kenya which was able to feed them for a month!

 Children Inspire Design uses recycled paper for creating all of their collages and the prints are then printed using recycled card stock and soy ink at a certified green print studio. Not only are the prints gorgeous, most have a positive message!

When planning the woodland party, I thought about Children Inspire Design’s Forest Collection and thought it would be super cute as decor. And then would end up in little man’s woodland room. When I was talking to Rebecca, the designer, I found out about her other line of printables for parties! She was gracious enough to send prints and printable files and they were the perfect finishing touches for the party. We were sent the Nature Collection 8X10 set, plus a Hedgehog print. The collection includes Owls, Turtles, Birds, and Trees. They look wonderful together or spread out in the same room. The whole set is currently on sale for only $60! You can also purchase each separately for $22. I was reading the Children Inspire Design blog and came across a post about DIY corkboard frames. I had some leftover IKEA cork placemats and thought they would be perfect for the project! I decided to use Washi Tape as a border since it doesn’t hurt paper and works really well. I think it makes the print really pop- especially when hanging in his room! You can find step by step instructions here or get creative and make your own frames with other materials! We were also sent the Children Inspire Design recycled garland. The garland is handmade using recycled paper (book pages) by women’s cooperatives in Mexico and Haiti to provide handmade, heartfelt decor for your child’s space.  The garland is 12 feet and can be used in nursery’s, play spaces, family areas and more. My daughter colored the natural garland to match our party decor. She used colored pencils, so it was a faint color. Colored garland is also available- $12 each strand.

The printables were a ton of fun for personalizing the party. The PDF kit comes with a happy birthday Banner, cupcake wrappers, party hats, gift bag copy, garland, invites, thank you notes, placemats, place cards, and a welcome sign. I am totally in love with the whimsical designs! The whole woodland birthday PDF kit is $15 and you print them yourself. I took the file to Staples and had them print on cardstock for the best results.

Place Cards

Cupcake Toppers

Gardland

Note card

Happy Birthday Banner

The printables were loads of fun. Even though I didn’t design them, I felt like I had a big part of the decor. From the printing to cutting and finding ways to display. We hung the banners from the twine and used washi tape to hold them together.

DISCOUNT: Get 20% off Children Inspire Design by entering BabyElanDaily20 at the checkout!

 Be sure to follow the Children Inspire Design blog for freebies, DIY, crafts and more! Also find them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. 

Sample Disclosure: The opinions expressed above are honest, accurate, and not encouraged anyway by monetary donations. A sample free of charge was received from said company, as stated within the editorial.

Coming up with lunch ideas for E has been difficult while trying to juggle work, home life, and an active little one. Luckily, Weelicious just came out with a new cookbook, Weelicious Lunches: Think Outside the Lunch Box with More Than 160 Happier Meals, and it is packed with great ideas for children of all ages! Weelicious teamed up with Stonyfield and all of the Yo-Getters got sent a copy for review.

We found out that E is lactose intolerant 2 months ago, which has added to our lunchbox woes. She’s had the signs for years, just no one picked up on it. Since she has been dairy free, we’ve noticed a huge difference! But on the downside, she hates not being able to have YoKids Yogurt and other childhood diary staples. I’m so thankful for Stonyfield’s Soy yogurt cups, so she doesn’t have to go 100% without yogurt.

The Weelicious Lunches Book has several yummy yogurt recipes that we’ve been able to substitute with the soy and E is loving it!

One of our favorite recipes has been the pb&j yogurt swirls. They are made with yogurt, peanut butter, and jam and you can add the mixture to bread or even tortilla shells to change things up. The Stonyfield’s Soy Yogurt has worked great, but you can also use Greek or regular yogurt. E has loved taking these to school or enjoying as an after school snack.

Another one of our favorites is the chocolate chip granola bars! One batch can last 2-3 school weeks which is a huge $ saver. They are super easy to make and I love the recipe can be altered to add different ingredients like nuts, dried berries, quinoa, rice crisps…

Weelicious Lunches contains 160 lunch recipes like:

• Chicken Satay Bites 
• PB&J Pancake Sandwiches 
• Pumpernickel Tuna Melt 
• Chicken Salad Roll Ups 
• Chopped Veggie Salad 
• Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons 
• Carrot Hummus 
• Cinnamon Pita Chips 
• Chocolate Graham Crackers 
• Nature Cookies 
• Cinnamon Roll “Sushi” Sandwiches

They have everything for the pickiest of eaters and even for the more developed palates. Weelicious started as homemade babyfood resource and has grown over the past 6 years. You can find over 1,200 recipes at Weelicious.com with videos, pictures, and more. Check out the video below!

You can get Weelicious Lunches: Think Outside the Lunch Box with More Than 160 Happier Meals online for $13.95-$20.80.

*Disclosure – I received a complimentary copy of the Weelicious Lunches cookbook from Stonyfield, as part of their yo-getter program. I was not compensated for this post or for my time, and as always, all opinions are my very own.