Birthday party book swap
A fun way to address party problems around climate, clutter, and inclusion
This year, for my kid’s birthday party, I tried a riff on the usual birthday giving rituals. At a typical birthday party, each guest brings a new gift. Then at the end of the party, the host gives each guest a goody bag full of party favors. Instead, we did a book swap.
Why? To address three big problems: climate, clutter, and inclusion.
Climate
A typical birthday party involves a lot of waste. Gifts are often made of plastic, packaged in plastic, and then wrapped in paper. Goody bags are filled with dinky plastic toys that break almost immediately. Importing all this stuff from China adds additional climate cost. I wanted to find a way for us and our guests to recycle instead.
Why I like a book swap better: No one buys anything new. Used books get upcycled as gifts.
Clutter
We live in a city, so apartments are small. Almost no one has space for 15 new toys — the haul from a typical birthday party. And regardless of home size, if more stuff comes in than gets cleared out, clutter will necessarily build up. Any kid who has been to year of classmates’ birthday parties already has a drawer filled with forgotten party favors. Most of the families I know are trying to get rid of stuff, not acquire more.
Why I like a book swap better: Swapping helps people clear out the old to make space for the new.
Inclusion
While many families can easily spend $10 or $20 on a birthday gift, I don’t assume that every family can afford it. In addition, shopping for and wrapping a gift takes time, which I don’t assume every family can easily spare. I wouldn’t want a kid whose family couldn’t provide a gift to feel ashamed or miss out on the party.
Why I like a book swap better: Most people have a spare kids book in their home. And for those who do not, there are Little Free Libraries all over the city. Picking up a book is convenient and free.
What about no-gift parties?
One common alternative is to request that guests not bring gifts at all. While it addresses climate, clutter, and inclusion to some degree, people still want to give and receive. This creates some problems:
- Many people feel uncomfortable showing up to a party empty-handed, so they bring a gift anyway. This can create weird dynamics where some guests bring a gift and others don’t.
- Kids still expect to receive party favors, so even hosts of no-gift parties still typically provide them. This results in some degree of climate and clutter issues.
Why I like a book swap better: everyone gets to give and receive without any new stuff!
So how did it go?
I was a little nervous how families would react, but it went great!
To set expectations, I added this to the invitations:
In the spirit of sustainability, we’re trying a new twist on gifts and goody bags. In lieu of a gift, guests are invited to bring an unwrapped, gently used children’s book. At the end of the party, each kid will get to pick a book to take home as a party favor. Happy reading!
I was worried that people wouldn’t bring books, so I brought several extras from home, but it almost everyone brought two or three books. This meant there were plenty of options and kids got to pick more than one to take home.
Guests seemed happy and comfortable with the concept. It fit the expected ritual of giving and receiving, and no one seemed to mind the lack of plastic and wrapping paper.
We came home with six new-to-us books, which was plenty of novelty for the birthday boy. We’ll keep the books for as long as we enjoy reading them and then drop them in a Little Free Library or bring them to another birthday party for other kids to enjoy.
If you try a birthday party book swap, let me know how it goes!
