Birthday parties are always so stressful for both kids and parents – the theme, the invites, the activities, the thanks yous and the gifts – all the gifts.
Where to put everything? And do your kids really enjoy each and every gift or do you find yourself giving a certain amount of gifts to be “fair” for each kid?
Now there’s an alternative to help with at least part of these challenges – ECHOage – “where children celebrate giving.” ECHOage offers kids the opportunity to give as well as receive and helps teach them a bigger purpose at birthday time.
Started by two moms Debbie Zinman and Alison Smith, ECHOage offers on-line invitation delivery to your guests, RSVP tracking, on-line thank you notes but the best part is the gift-giving.
“Like many parents we were frustrated by the waste that traditional birthday parties generate and were determined to come up with an alternative. So we decided to find a way to recycle only the best and most giving parts of a party,” according to their website.
When guests RSVP for the party, they can contribute to a group gift for your child as well as a donation to the charity your child chooses. Half of whatever your guests contribute goes to both the gift and the charity.
The result – your child gets a large amount of money to buy one big gift for themselves (or maybe a few small ones) and they also give the other half to assist kids around the United States and Canada who need a little help.
Not only does this help save the environment with less paper and waste, it also helps teach values to kids such as giving feels as good or better than receiving and less is better when you get a really great gift you’ve been wanting.
The contribution is tax-deductible for the birthday kid’s parents (not the guests) and a tax receipt is sent along with the funds once the party is closed.
According to their website, they partner with 10 U.S. charities and 14 Canadian charities.
To get started, you just pick out the invitation (they have 12 choices), choose which charity you wish to give to, and email the invitations. So easy! So green!
Like an “E-vite” the ECHOage site then keeps track of your guests and their RSVPs and emails them a reminder a week before the party if they haven’t responded yet. Only the party host sees the contribution amount – none of the other guests know how much others have given.
The amounts range from $10-$40 to give, with a 50/50 split going to birthday kid and charity. There is a 15% administration fee taken out to help maintain the site, and pay expenses, etc.
You can also print a special certificate for your child from ECHOage that acknowledges their involvement in the cause. Post this on your door the day of the party so everyone can see.
When the party is closed, it’s so easy to send thank you notes to your guests, which again, saves paper. Once the party is closed, the funds are distributed to you and to the charity.
If your child is reluctant to give up all the “stuff” that comes with a birthday party, this is a great opportunity to discuss with them about helping others, being green and how great it will be to get an expensive gift they might not otherwise get.
As with any paradigm shift, the more kids start doing this, the more it will catch on so spread the word and start thinking about who has the next birthday coming up.
ECHOage doesn’t host the actual party for you – so you still have to think up the themes, activities and snacks but they pretty much take care of the rest!
For more information, frequently asked questions and to get started on your party, go to www.echoage.com. You can also follow them on twitter at www.twitter.com/echoage and like them on Facebook here.
Have you used ECHOage or know someone who has? Leave a comment for others to hear about this great idea!
