Pretty much every community in Australia now has at least one local sustainable party manager, offering all kinds of services, from renting utensils to furniture or the entire themed event - animals, props, furniture, food, staff. While big events are still shut down, small gatherings are going ahead in most states and The Party Kit Network is the latest to get on the better home party bandwagon. Children's parties are typically a disposables bonanza and The Party Kit Network is a great way of making party kits of reusable tableware more accessible at a community level.
Disposable plates have become the norm at parties. They um, make tidying up a piece of cake. But for a party of 30 kids or adults, that’s an average of one hundred single-use items going straight to landfill, creating one big piece of trash, that really is completely unnecessary.
The problem of course is that most people don't want to keep piles of party plates around their house and most would also prefer to not have to clean up. Party Kit Network are a cool distributed local community system that hires out a box of reusable tableware and decorations from your local community, making it super easy to significantly reduce waste at parties. And bonus, it’s often cheaper to hire a party kit than to buy the equivalent disposables and another bonus, this party is not only reusable, but everything needed for a party in the box.
Aussie based zero-waste author and speaker Erin Rhoads of Rogue Ginger fame, discovered the Party Kit Network UK directory when she was looking for a way to connect her own reusable party kit with others. Erin reached out to founder Isabel and asked if they would consider creating an Australian based version.
The Party Kit Network was only founded in June 2019 in the UK and Erin has now launched the network in Australia and has a rapidly growing community of people across the country who provide party kits as a practical alternative to disposables. It's a super simple concept, bringing together together party kits from around the country making it easier for party planners to find their local party kit and reduce single-use disposables.
The Party Kit Network is not-for-profit and all the party kits are run independently by individuals, school PTA groups, lending libraries, small party businesses and zero waste stores.
The Party Kit Network have now cautiously restarted with small hires in line with government advice. The network has provided guidance on equipment hygiene and access to relevant health and safety training for people who run party kits.