Celebrating Earth Hour with the family is a fun time to teach children about the importance of creating a more sustainable planet, while also spending special time together.
This year, Earth Hour falls on Saturday March 28th, from 8:30-9:30pm. Small kids might already be in bed by then, but if you want to keep the kids up a bit later that night, have older kids, or even want to just celebrate with adults only, there are plenty of fun things to fill your time for that one hour when we darken all the lights. You can also celebrate with the kids earlier in the evening so they can enjoy the hour, if you plan to put them to bed before it begins. Here are some ideas for celebrating Earth Hour.
- Play Games by Candlelight – Grab your favourite games and have a family (or adults) game night. We especially love Scrabble and Pictionary.
- Host a Green Get-together – Have some friends over or host a potluck. Ask everyone to bring a healthy dish that doesn’t require heating. Maybe make it a raw foods potluck, or dessert only! Grab some flashlights or lanterns, eat healthy food with non-disposable plates and cutlery and get out a guitar if you’re lucky enough to have a friend who plays. If it’s warm enough outside, you can also sit around a bonfire.
- Have a Family Dinner by Candlelight – Even if you do this before the scheduled Earth Hour time, turn off the lights and enjoy a candlit dinner as a family. It will all make the mealtime more intimate.
- Stargaze – Take your blankets and pillows (and jackets if needed!) out into the yard for a nice star-gazing session. Since there will be many lights off, you can hopefully catch some good views of the stars.
- Go for a Moonlit Walk – Grab a flashlight or homemade lantern and take a nice, long walk around the block or even through a nearby forest or park if you have one. If you’re near a beach, this would also be a perfect setting for a nighttime walk. You can make some eco-friendly lanterns earlier in the day with the kids, to use at night. Grow Creative has a great tutorial on how to make cute ones from tin cans!
- Celebrate with your town – Check out local celebrations on the Earth Hour website. Maybe there is something exciting going on that you can join in.
- Enjoy a Bath – If you’re celebrating sans kids or the little ones are asleep, take the time to indulge in some personal or even couple time. Light some candles, fill up the tub, add some essential oils or natural bath salts and just enjoy yourself.
- Unplug – Turn off all devices and just chill out for the hour.
- Don’t forget to turn off your electronic devices! Even if they aren’t plugged in, items like mobile phones, laptops and iPads are still sucking up energy, not to mention take away from the whole concept of Earth Hour.
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We will try to unplug, though I might do it a few hours early 😉
It can be tough to unplug, but I always feel so great after a break away from electronics!
I love these ideas, especially the green get together! That would be such a fun way of getting your friends involved and spreading the earth hour love to more people.
Me too! It’s such a wonderful reason to get together and unplug and spend time together. Happy Earth Hour:)
I love your ideas!! So great… and thanks for the reminder! It’s not as widespread here in US as it is in Canada–miss it there soooo much! I sort of have challenging memories of Earth Hour though. One year when I was celebrating by myself in my apartment in Canada I thought of a boy I dated for 2 years when I lived on the island of Kauai. The thoughts were so visceral that after the hour was up I felt I had to reach out to him. I was wanting to spend the whole night powered down but I had to find him. I searched for him on facebook, found him, added him as friend and turned off my computer again. The next day I went to look but he hadn’t added me so I went to look at his friend list to see if I could find any of my other old friends. I found one, went to his page and saw his status. It read, “RIP Keoni… I will miss you my brother.” I immediately wrote him a message and later that day he responded by calling me to tell me that he had died in a car crash during Earth Hour. Crazy Huh!? He never added me as friend 🙁
Oh my goodness Nell, I’m so sorry to hear that. That is such a powerful story, that you were thinking of him when it happened. Sending a huge your way and I hope you enjoy Earth Hour tonight.
I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Earth Hour! 🙂 Thanks for the heads up, we’ll make it something special tonight.
Hopefully you get a chance to do something special:)