A birthday party banner with a gardens theme. The other side features an animals theme. Photo by Terry Foxx

All set up and ready to party with PEEC at the Los Alamos Nature Center. Photo by Denise Matthews

By BONNIE J. GORDON
Los Alamos Daily Post
bjgordon@ladailypost.com

The PEEC Sustainability Committee has been dreaming up a lot of great ideas to promote sustainability at the Los Alamos Nature Center and beyond.

One of the most creative, and certainly one of the most fun is the Sustainable Birthday Party Kit. Birthday parties at PEEC have always been fun. Now they can take place without plastic tablecloths, banners or tableware.

PEEC parties are built around a theme, such as dinosaurs, gardens, tracking, forest fairies or elves and more. The party consists of a one-hour program with Nature Center staff and another hour for cake, presents and celebration.

Denise Matthews, the play-based education specialist at the Nature Center, helps families to plan the parties.

“During the current situation, we’re doing virtual birthday parties that involve a virtual meet and greet with our Nature Center critters,” Matthews said.

Once families are no longer homebound, the Nature Center will launch its Sustainably Birthday Party Kit.

In addition to tableware, the kit features themed cloth banners, placemats and tablecloths. The cloth decorations replace the plastic ones families usually bring to the Center, saving money as well as helping the planet. Use of the kit is free.

“We saw that people were bringing decorations and just tossing them after the party,” Matthews said. “We wanted to replace those disposable things with items that can be used again and again.”

Enter artist, storyteller, naturalist and seamstress Terry Foxx.

“I was at the Nature Center and Katie, (Nature Center Director Katie Bruell) said, ‘I have a project for you!’” Foxx remembered.

The result was beautiful two-sided cloth banners. Each side is based on one of the party themes. This makes storage easier, Foxx said. The banners are paired with party-themed tablecloths and 12 placemats, also two sided. The banners have numbers that can be interchanged to reflect a child’s age.

Foxx is contemplating replacing balloons with cloth parachutes, but that’s in the planning stages, she said.

Foxx has been sewing since childhood.

“My mother was a home economics teacher,” Foxx said. “She was hardest on me when I was in her class.”

Foxx’s sister was tall, and got her height early. She was six feet tall by junior high school. To be this tall was unusual when sisters were growing up and clothing was impossible to find, especially pretty clothing.

“I made clothes for my sister,” Foxx said. “When we moved here, I made my husband a suit. Later I got into quilting.”

Foxx’s talents have paid off for the Nature Center – big time. Now birthday parties at the Center can be more fun than ever and sustainable, too!

Parties are $50 for PEEC members. Non-members can have a party and a PEEC Family Membership for $150, a $50 savings. Visit peecnature.org to download a brochure and get the party started!