Eco-Birthdays With a Charitable Twist
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY 
on 03. 5.08
With parents everywhere desperate to make their child’s next birthday party the most meaningful one ever it’s no surprise that there comes a time when gifts just aren’t enough. In fact it’s probably well past that time indeed, and two fed-up moms are aiming to point us all in a new direction with ECHOage; an innovative online party planning tool that provides children and their parents with the opportunity to protect the environment while saving time and money in the process. Perhaps not surprisingly, co-founder Alison Smith declares that “ ECHOage is convenience and conscience wrapped up in a big green ribbon!”
And it’s really quite simple. The birthday child and their parent pick out a pre-screened charitable organization via the ECHOage website, and then ask expected partygoers to make a small donation of $10-$30. Then the folks at ECHOage send half the cash on to the charitable cause, and the other half to the child holding the party for the purchase of one special gift as opposed to a veritable mountain of perhaps less-than-loved items that so often accompany these types of events.
All told, the company’s mantra of ‘One Gift, One Cause’ makes a whole lot of sense environmentally, and it seems to be a pretty sharp way of managing the attendant madness of your child’s next birthday as well.
See also: Birthdays Without Pressure , TreeHugger's Guide to Giving Green
via:: Press Release
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You could just skip this website altogether. Assuming you know of a good charity already.
i think the ECHOage idea is great, after all we kids get so many gifts that we dont use each year and people waste so much money on them i think this way is great for making that chiuld and a charity happy. Who ever made this idea is a genious! It hhas been said that its not that easy being green but this sure makes it a whole lot easier for lot of people!! Good job! By the way i myself am a kid and would rekomend this to my mates, i am 11 yers old and i love this idea!!