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PRESS RELEASE
July 2009
Saving the planet with jelly and ice cream – revolutionary new ethical children’s party venture launched

A new website has been launched that offers an ethical alternative for busy parents fed up of the throwaway consumerism perpetuated by children’s birthday parties.

PartiesAroundTheWorld.co.uk (PAW) is a cross between Just Giving and Oxfam Unwrapped, and allows conscientious parents to make donations towards a charity or cause chosen by the birthday child themselves instead of buying material gifts.

The PAW™ process is simple: once a parent and child have chosen a charitable theme for their party they set up a party page and issue electronic or printed invites. Guests are invited to RSVP online and select a ‘gift’ worth £5, £7.50 and £10, or they can donate a larger amount at their discretion. The online-based nature of PAW™ means donations can be made quickly, easily and in an environmentally friendly way, while automated invitations, RSVP’s and thank-you cards make life easier for busy parents.

A total of 12 ‘child-friendly’ charities are represented on PAW™ ranging from the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust to Born Free, the foundation that aims to protect threatened species and keep wildlife in the wild.

Once the party has taken place the nominated charity receives up to 115% of the gift total from all the guests, when Gift AID has been included. The birthday child also receives a certificate showing how much he or she has raised.

The brainchild of successful ‘mumpreneur’ Deirdre Bounds who in 2007 sold her ethical travel company i-to-i.com for millions, PAW™ hopes to revolutionise children’s birthday parties and become the alternative gift-giving choice for busy but conscientious parents.

Deirdre was inspired to launch PAW™ after holding a birthday party for her own young son and seeing the dozens of unnecessary gifts he received that would probably never be played with.

She says: “The birthday party industry is huge as most parents will agree; once your child reaches school age they will inevitably get invited to dozens of parties a year. That’s a lot of presents to buy – usually a piece of plastic tat bought from the supermarket at the last minute for a child we don’t know.

“PAW helps out mums and dads on both sides of the party – those hosting the party don’t end up with a mountain of well-meaning but unwanted gifts and those attending don’t have to rush around at the last minute trying to find a suitable gift for yet another birthday party. Plus it’s a chance to teach our children about world issues and ethics and educate them about worthwhile causes in a fun and engaging way.”
The PAW™ concept has already found favour with busy mum and coach Allison Mitchell, author of Time management for manic mums and The manic Mum's Guide to Magnificent Parenting. She says: “I love anything that saves mums time and PAW™ does. The online facility makes the whole process of attending or throwing a party child's play. The ethical angle ticks my boxes too! A big thumbs up for Parties Around the World.”
As well as providing the facilities to host a ‘party around the world’, the website offers a forum for parents to exchange ideas as well as tips on how parents can convince their child to receive donations from their school friends instead of gifts. A directory of party suppliers relevant to the themes will also be available to facilitate the party organization process.

Press release
July 2009
Gateways pupils help launch revolutionary new ethical venture with charity balloon race

Over 150 primary pupils aged between four and 10 from Gateways School, Harewood, today (July 1) helped launch a revolutionary new ethical gift-giving venture with a charity balloon race.

The children released 150 balloons to help launch Parties Around the World.co.uk (PAW), a new online business by Leeds entrepreneur Deirdre Bounds, founder of ethical travel company i-to-i.com, while raising money for a number of different child friendly charities.

Deirdre, who has launched PAW™ together with fellow entrepreneur Carl Hopkins, hopes to revolutionise children’s birthday parties with PAW™ which offers an alternative gift-giving choice for conscientious parents.

Best described as a cross between Just Giving and Oxfam Unwrapped, PAW™ allows guests at children’s birthday parties to make donations towards a charity or cause which becomes the party theme instead of buying material gifts.

A total of 12 ‘child-friendly’ charitable themes are represented on PAW™ ranging from the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust to protecting monkeys for the Born Free Foundation.

Gateway School Pupils today selected one of the PAW™ charitable causes for their balloon; the balloon which travels the furthest will win with PAW™ donating £250 to the named charity. The child whose balloon wins will also receive the very first PAW™ certificate.

The original idea for PAW™ was conceived by Deirdre after she held a birthday party for her own young son and saw the dozens of unnecessary gifts he received that would probably never be played with.

She says: “The birthday party industry is huge as most parents will agree; once your child reaches school age they will inevitably get invited to dozens of parties a year. That’s a lot of presents to buy – usually a piece of plastic tat bought from the supermarket at the last minute for a child we don’t know.
“PAW helps out mums and dads on both sides of the party – those hosting the party don’t end up with a mountain of well-meaning but unwanted gifts and those attending don’t have to rush around at the last minute trying to find a suitable gift for yet another birthday party. Plus it’s a chance to teach our children about world issues and ethics and educate them about worthwhile causes in a fun and engaging way.”
Alison Cooper, director of External Relations at Gateways School added: “Gateways is happy to be involved in the launch which promotes environmental and community awareness.

“These are two issues that the school is committed to and underpins many of our extracurricular activities in school, preparing our pupils to be responsible citizens in a global society”.