Sign in Subscribe
Guides

One Step Leads to Another: The ACTionism Dance of Party Kit Network & No Crap Parties

ACTionism

ACTionism

— 7 min read
One Step Leads to Another: The ACTionism Dance of Party Kit Network & No Crap Parties

In this article, we're applying Gav's "movements of collective action" to see how No Crap Parties and Party Kit Network - have been dancing through them. And more importantly, how you might join the dance.

Tamasine: I love a framework. Ask anyone who works with me - I'm the person who gets excited about toolkits, processes, and clear steps forward. I love having a structure that keeps me focused and working towards an end goal.

So when Gav first started mapping the ACTionism journey towards collective action, I completely understood his instinct to create a framework - clear steps, a logical progression, a destination to reach. But he soon realised something crucial: frameworks suggest finality, an endpoint where the work is done.

Collective action isn't like that at all. It's much more like a dance. We weave in and out of one another, adapting our moves based on those around us, learning as we go, feeling our way forward, and creating together. Sometimes we lead, sometimes we follow. Sometimes we're confident in our steps, sometimes we stumble. We move through these movements not once, but again and again, in different rhythms, with different partners, in response to different music.

That's why this work is joyful, iterative, and there's no barrier to getting started. You don't need permission, perfect knowledge, or a master plan. You just need to hear the beat and start moving.

Let's use the idea of the different dance moves Gav has been working with and see how they apply to the work of our upcoming Spotlight focus: No Crap Parties and Party Kit Network (and how you might join them)

Movement 1: Face the Truth, Together

The awakening moment

The first step in collective action is breaking the silence - admitting what's wrong, naming our feelings, and discovering we're not alone in what we see.

No Crap Parties and The Party Kit Network's experiences:

  • That sinking feeling at yet another party: bin bags full of plastic plates, cheap toys destined for landfill, the waste, the expense, the pressure
  • The isolation of being "that parent" who cares when it feels like no one else does
  • Speaking the truth: "This doesn't feel right. There has to be another way."
  • Finding the courage to admit: I'm frustrated, but I can't do this alone
  • Breaking the silence around party culture - being the first to say "I see this too"

Movement 2: Decide What Matters, Together

Clarity emerges

Once we've faced the truth together, we can move beyond complaint to clarity - identifying our shared values and what we're actually working towards.

What they discovered:

  • Charlotte: Children's parties should be joyful, affordable, and sustainable - not stressful, wasteful, and expensive
  • Isabelle: Reusable party supplies shouldn't be a privilege; they should be accessible to everyone through sharing
  • Both recognised: By setting something up, we're not just fixing parties, we're changing culture. We're helping parents remember what we truly value - connection, celebration, community - not consumption

The action: Creating space to listen, learning from what works, building on what others have started. The Kids Party Pact and Party Kit Networks emerged from this listening and deciding together.

Movement 3: Find Your Role in the Work

Everyone has their part to play

Collective action thrives when everyone finds their own way to contribute - not everyone does everything, but everyone does something that matters.

How roles emerged:

  • Charlotte created a community and a pact - giving parents permission and a common language
  • Isabelle built the infrastructure - making reusables accessible through local networks
  • Parents join as organisers, kit lenders, pact signers, story sharers
  • Some hosted kit libraries, others spread the word, many simply started having different parties
  • Each found their rhythm

The pattern: Some repeat the same essential work (running kits, organising swaps), others move between roles (advocate, organiser, participant). All contributions matter. All actions shape the whole.

Movement 4: Build Local Relationships & Trust

The foundation forms

Real change requires trust, and trust is built through showing up, being there for each other, creating safety through action.

Trust building through action:

  • Charlotte asked another parent to comment with support on her WhatsApp message, the first time she announced gift guidance for her child's party - knowing she wasn't the only one who thought this way gave her the courage to press send
  • Requesting second-hand gifts and having another voice publicly agree: "This is a great idea" - creating permission for others
  • Lending party kits to strangers who become friends
  • Borrowing supplies and returning them clean, building reciprocity
  • The vulnerable conversations: "I can't afford another expensive party" or "I feel so alone in caring about this"
The reality: Trust is the mycelium - the invisible web beneath the surface that holds everything together. Adrienne Maree Brown reminds us that "change moves at the speed of trust." Sometimes trust starts with just one other person saying: "I'm with you" when you're about to do something brave. This foundation, built on joy and mutual support, can weather anything.

Movement 5: Take Collective Action

The demonstration begins

This is where ideas become reality - we move together from talking about change to actually creating it, building alternatives

Collective action in practice:

  • Party Kit Networks: A  network of party kits makes it easy to switch to reusable tableware. Borrow what you need, reducing waste and saving money!
  • No Crap Parties & The Kids Party Pact: A parent-led, collective movement to reduce wasteful party culture AND a collective building of something better
  • Parents hosting waste-free parties, proving it works, showing others it's possible
  • Communities creating reuse networks, tool libraries for celebrations
  • Not just resisting plastic plates and cheap toys, but reimagining what celebration looks like

The movement: Two clear actions working together :

We resist AND we build.
We don’t JUST object, we demonstrate possibility. 

Movement 6: Reimagine the Future, Together

The vision becomes real

The final movement is about imagination becoming concrete - using shared dreaming to make the future we want so vivid and compelling that it pulls us forward.

Where they're heading:

  • A future where waste-free, affordable, joyful parties are the norm, not the exception
  • Where children grow up understanding that celebration doesn't equal consumption
  • Where communities have the infrastructure to share, not just for parties, but for everything
  • Where being "that parent" becomes "our community" - connection replacing isolation
  • Where collective agency around parties ripples outward: if we can change this, what else can we reimagine?

The transformation: They're not just changing parties - they're changing who we are as communities, as citizens, as people who create the future together through shared action.

Join the Dance

Party Kit Network and No Crap Parties embody the entire movement:

  1. They faced the truth about wasteful party culture
  2. They decided what mattered - joy, affordability, sustainability, community
  3. They found their roles - building infrastructure and creating cultural change
  4. They built local trust through repeated, reliable action
  5. They took collective action - networks, pacts, demonstrations of possibility
  6. They're reimagining the future - where celebration strengthens community rather than filling landfills

Having met both these wonderful women, we can honestly say they've created wonderful examples of ACTionism: finding the others, building in the cracks, proving another way exists, and inviting everyone to join the movement.

So what now?

Here's the beautiful truth: you don't need to start your own movement like Charlotte and Isabelle did. We can take collective action by joining with them and adding our voices to the movements they've already established. This is how a joyful dance works. We're not all first on the dance floor. Some people step out first, creating the rhythm. Others join in when they hear the beat, feel it in their bones, and can't resist tapping their toe. Before you know it, you're moving alongside each other, on the table even, wondering how you ever resisted the rhythm before this moment. When we're all moving together to the music, the energy and impact of our bodies in space become powerful and infectious. That's how change spreads - like a ripple through the crowd.

Charlotte and Isabelle have created the rhythm - now it's about joining the dance, adding your energy to theirs. That's collective action. That's how the ripple spreads. That's how we dance a new world into being.

If you have 5 minutes:

No Crap Parties:

  • Sign The Kids Party Pact - choose which parts resonate with you:
    • Agreeing not to give plastic-filled party bags
    • Giving second-hand, homemade or experience gifts (or none at all)
    • Issuing guidance on no gifts or sustainable/reused gifts for your own children's parties
  • Join the No Crap Parties Instagram community
  • Get three friends to sign The Kids Party Pact - if everyone does this, the movement quadruples in size

Party Kit Network:

If you have an hour:

No Crap Parties:

  • Have a conversation with a few parents about what's bothering you about current party culture and see where it goes
  • Draft gift guidance wording for your next party invitation using No Crap Parties templates

Party Kit Network

  • Set up your own Kit and rent it out. Download the free Party Kit Network "Get Started" guide - packed with everything you need to know about setting up your own party kit to rent out
  • Research what reusable party supplies you and friends already have that you could share
  • Explore and attend other local collective action initiatives in your area (repair cafés, tool libraries, community gardens)

If you have ongoing time:

No Crap Parties

  • Start a WhatsApp/Signal group for parents interested in alternative party approaches in your area or school
  • Document your experience of implementing gift guidance and share it with the No Crap Parties community to inspire others

Party Kit Network

If you have more time:

No Crap Parties:

Party Kit Network:

  • Apply for Party Kits for Schools funding if you're connected to a UK primary school PTA
  • Build connections between party waste initiatives and other reuse/sharing movements

The invitation is open to all. 

The music is playing. 

What's your first move?

Read more