“Trash.” “Just junk.” “Total landfill material!” These are just a few of the messages I received when I shared my disdain for goody bags on social media. While a handful of parents made exceptions for more thoughtfully assembled gifts, the majority concurred: Goody bags are an enormous waste.
Lately, it feels like my home has been overtaken. There’s a massive Ziploc bag filled with sugary treats in my kitchen, while our office supply drawer overflows with cheap novelty items like pencils, erasers, and mini packs of crayons. At the bottom of my son’s toy bins, you can find a collection of tiny, shoddy plastic toys — all broken or missing parts. Surprisingly, nearly all of this has found its way into our home since school began in September, and my son hasn’t even attended a single party!
I’ve never been fond of goody bags. For each of my son’s birthdays, I’ve carefully chosen take-home treats that minimize my eco-guilt (like a paper bag of marshmallows or homemade wooden bead necklaces). Maybe that makes me seem snobby or a killjoy, but the wastefulness of typical party favors drives me crazy. Almost everything my son brings home is destined for the landfill, which wastes resources and, frankly, money.
Until this year, I mostly just sighed in resignation. However, the 2020-21 school year has left me feeling even more frustrated. Last year, our school suspended classroom celebrations due to COVID-19 concerns. While I know the kids missed out on the treats, I was relieved to avoid the inevitable goody bags that usually accompanied these parties.
Now that the ban has been lifted, we’ve been inundated with garbage. The first parent cautiously brought in donuts for their child’s birthday, but by the second party, someone eagerly decided to include goody bags. Since then, not a birthday goes by without a plastic bag filled with, well, garbage: tiny containers of slime, sticky hands that instantly gather dirt, and “useful” plastic bookmarks.
My son is already dreaming up extravagant gifts for his classmates this Valentine’s Day. I’m not completely against it; we’ll take part in the card exchange and I’ll include a piece of candy in the envelope, but we won’t include any favors. I dread the useless trinkets he’ll bring home.
Can we all come together and say, “Enough!”? It’s 2022, and many of us recognize the reality of our climate crisis. As birthday parties and classroom celebrations resume, I’m asking fellow parents to stop purchasing these cheap, disposable toys that offer just minutes of joy. This behavior only encourages kids to adopt a throwaway mentality, promoting mindless consumption.
It’s a vicious cycle: once one child hands out goody bags, others feel compelled to do the same, often making them more extravagant. And for the love of all things sustainable, please don’t just swap the plastic junk for “eco-friendly” alternatives, which tend to be more expensive. That packet of seeds or natural beeswax crayons still represents a waste of resources. So, who’s with me? Let’s put an end to the goody bag madness, at least in our children’s classrooms. Give them all the candy and cupcakes they want, but let’s cut out the junk.
One last idea: if you, like me, are accumulating a pile of these tiny plastic toys, consider saving them to stuff a piñata for your child’s birthday. This way, we can give those unwanted trinkets a second life. Surely, we have enough in circulation to last until our kids forget this wasteful custom?
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