How to make decorations for a zero-waste birthday party

Let’s face it, the last thing we want to be as parents is the fun police. But sometimes when we’re balancing fun and our eco-friendly values in a world that values consumption it sometimes feels like we’re always saying no.

In this blog I’ll show you why decorating with balloons is a bad environmental choice but you don’t have to be the fun police, because it’s easy to replace them with zero-waste decorations. I’ve even given some half-hearted instructions on how even the most creatively-challenged of us can make tissue paper pom poms so you can avoid both balloons and spending too much in this fiscally-challenging year! 

How to throw a zero waste birthday party

Forget balloon arches, disposable plates and crappy plastic gifts in party bags, it’s time to make your life a whole lot less stressful and much more affordable by throwing a zero waste birthday party. Because the point of a party is for the kids to have fun with their friends, not to be drowning in plastic rubbish.

Firstly ditch the disposable plates and cups and use real ones. Borrow from friends if you don’t have enough and then all pitch in together to wash them up at the end. Cleaning up the party shouldn’t just fall on one poor over-worked parent. If your friend group is doing the birthday party rounds then why not all help out with the clean up each time?

Why shouldn’t you use balloons?

Does it make you the fun police to not have balloons? Are they an essential part of parties, or are they just a sign of the single-use culture we live in? Will anyone even notice if you use something other than balloons? (Answer: no).

Are balloons biodegradable?

As much as the balloon industry wants to convince you that balloons are biodegradable, they’re not (we’ve read the research on this). Balloons are made from natural rubber, but they also have a heap of other chemicals added, like plasticizers, heavy metals, waxes, flame retardants, pigments, anti-fogging agents and buoyancy agents. Once all these are added, balloons are no longer biodegradable, they just break apart into tiny pieces which litter the environment.

What’s even worse is that for turtles and seabirds balloons look like food. Balloons’ likeness to turtles’ favourite jellyfish meal means that sea turtles specifically target balloons to eat. Eating balloons is particularly harmful to turtles because their inability to throw up means that the balloon is stuck and can result in starvation.

Short-tailed shearwaters are seabirds that breed off the south coast of Australia and are sometimes seen in NZ waters. They especially like eating red arrow squid but can eat red, pink and orange balloons by mistake. 86% of the balloons eaten by shearwaters are these three colours.

In fact balloons are considered ‘disproportionately lethal’ to seabirds and turtles, which is not the vibe you want at a birthday party. For other reasons to say goodbye to balloons check out this blog.

Sustainable party decorations

So as we now all agree that balloons are not a cool choice in 2026, but it’s a party and we’re not the fun police so we need to come up with some other plastic free decorations. What about paper streamers, reusable bunting or flags? You can still get those packs of crepe paper that you cut into strips and wind together to make streamers, or you can just buy ready-cut crepe paper streamers from the supermarket.

Homemade birthday party decoration ideas

We had a go at making tissue paper pom poms. I’m not really into crafts and get annoyed pretty quickly when doing them but this was super easy. You can use them to decorate or throw them around like balloons.

How to make tissue paper pom poms

I forgot to take photos of the process, so just google for instructions from someone who has put the effort into crafting properly!

1. Take 8-12 sheets of tissue paper and stack them.
2. Accordion fold them into 5 cm pleats. Make the folds nice and sharp without ripping the tissue paper
3. Tie string around the middle of the folded tissue paper to secure it. Leave one end long enough to hang the pom pom
4. Separate out the pieces of tissue paper. Gently pull them apart to make a floofy ball.

Make it into an activity

If you’re not up for the hassle of making tissue paper pom poms before the party, and you also don’t want to buy ready made ones, why not make it into an activity at the party? Slot it in when some of the energy has been burnt off but before the cake!