Amid a sea of terrible news, going green is becoming more important than ever

Celebrating my youngest’s without plastic-filled party bags felt like a win, says Kate Hughes

It’s never felt more right to blow out the candles on non-recyclable, single-use party bags (Getty)

For a moment, it felt like a tiny but significant win. And at a celebration too. It was my youngest’s fifth birthday on Saturday. We had his friends round for games, cake and general chaos. All reassuringly ordinary, normal and safe. And at the end of the day the rabble of smalls departed, sans party bag.

If you’re a parent, you’ll know that’s high risk. It’s certainly something that has come back round to bite us more than once as we pursue a zero waste life.

Our lad was a newborn when we ditched the bin, so we’ve had a few bites at the no plastic party cherry, numerous lockdown birthdays notwithstanding. We’ve employed various tactics, from sending kids home with the equivalent value in book vouchers (back in the no fun mum phase), to the classic packet of seeds and a flower pot (which got rolled out three times before one particularly precious six-year-old screamed in my face that she hated gardening).