Sustainable Party Planning with STEM

• Learn how to budget and plan effectively. 
• Understand the environmental effects of their actions.
• Leadership Outcomes
  • Challenge herself to understand and take into account different perspectives.
  • Learn from her own feelings and experiences.
  • Seek the information she needs to understand the full picture
  • Adapt her behaviour to the context
  • Make choices rooted in her values. 
  • Innovate to create positive impact. 

What You’ll Need

• Newspapers or a Device (To check prices for items)
• Paper
• Pencil

Before the Activity

• Participants can start the activity by reflecting on the following questions:
  • Have you ever planned a party before? What are some things that you need to think of?
  • Have you had an opportunity to create a budget before? What did you learn from that experience?
  • What are some things that you do around the house that may not be good for the environment?

What To Do

• Participants will be told that they are planning a party for the unit. There are a few requirements for this party:
  • They need to have at least one type of food.
  • They need to have some decorations.
  • They need to have at least one activity.
  • This party will be for the entire unit/troop/Girl Guide group present at the event or meeting. 
• As a group, participants will need to pick what they would like the food, decoration and activity they would like to do.
• Once they have picked the activity, they need to make a list of all the things they need to buy, how much to buy and how much each item will cost. They may use the Internet or newspapers to get prices, but they can estimate as well. 
• After participants know how much money they will need to spend, the facilitators will say that they have a specific budget that they need to stay under (which is lower than what participants have budgeted, and they need to make it environmentally sustainable.
• Facilitators will provide the definition of environmental sustainability: responsibility to conserve our natural resources and protect our environment. 
• Participants will be asked to change their list of items to be within the budget and become environmentally friendly. 

After the Activity

• Participants can reflect on their experiences using the following questions:
  • What math skills did you use when planning a party?
  • Was it easy or hard to use those skills?
  • Where else might you use these same skills?
  • Was it difficult to create a party that was also sustainable?
  • What impact did the environmentally sustainable requirement have on your budget?
  • Do you think it’s easy and accessible to create an environmentally sustainable party?
• As an extra, as a group, go to the store and buy all the materials for the party so you can have a mini celebration.
• Complete this activity with other challenges such as: planning a camp, tea party or cooking a recipe. 

Tips and Tricks

• Leaders or facilitators can help participants guess the price of different items. They may also help participants ideate different ways to be sustainable:
  • Reduce the amount of single use items (e.g. forks, spoons, plates, napkins).
  • Reduce packaged items (e.g. food, gifts etc).
  • Use zero-waste decorations or recycled materials.
  • Send digital invites
  • Identify what pieces of their party will generate plastic waste.
  • Think about what the cost might be to create a “sustainable” party.
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• Age
  • For younger participants, consider asking them to pick only one food item and no decoration or activity. 
  • For older participants consider letting them complete this activity for an actual event. 
• Size
  • This activity is good for groups of all sizes. If the group is bigger, participants can work in small groups. 
• Online vs In-Person
  • If running this online, breakout rooms can be used to discuss the different items that need to be purchased. Otherwise, the group can complete the activity as a team online.