20 Earth Day ideas for event planners

Earth Day is just around the corner – and this year’s theme is to Invest in our Planet.

As an event planner, one way you can do so is to recognise Earth Day through your events, whether that’s to raise money for a specific charity or simply to get attendees thinking. Raising awareness alone can be an incredibly powerful tool when it comes to encouraging others to take action. So it’s definitely worthwhile taking some time to give one or more of your events an Earth Day theme over the course of the next month or so.

On that note – below are 20 ideas to get you started. We’ve broken them down into ideas for:

• Craft workshop events/classes
• Fitness & wellness events/classes
• Community events
• Music, entertainment & other events

Let’s go 👀👇.

20 Earth Day event ideas

Craft Workshops 

In the business of teaching arts and crafts? If so, there are plenty of ways you can give your next event an Earth Day theme! Why not try:

• Making bird feeders: a great way to connect with nature while giving something back. Win-win.
• Vegan or garden veg cooking class: helping your attendees cut down on meat consumption, eat seasonally, and reduce packaging. That’s a hat-trick! 
• Clothing repairs sewing lesson: raising awareness of the harms of fast fashion while teaching an invaluable skill.
• Furniture upcycling: helping to reduce waste while getting creative through upcycling old furniture – from something old into something brand new and bang on-trend. Nice.

Fitness & wellness events

Whether you’re a yogi, physio or a gym buff, there are plenty of ways to honour Earth Day through your events and classes. Give one of the below ideas a fundraising twist to raise money for an environmental cause. 

• Working out in nature: taking your fitness classes into the great outdoors to connect with nature and appreciate our beautiful Planet Earth.
• Park run fundraiser: swapping the usual gym class for something that relies on less equipment and energy (of the gas & electric variety!) while also connecting you with nature.
• Organised hike: a chance to take in some breathtaking natural views and connect with nature while getting the heart racing. 
• Earth Day meditation: incorporating a nature-themed meditation into your classes to connect attendees with Mother Earth while calming the body and mind. And… breathe.

Community events

You could easily turn any of these community event ideas into a fundraiser, or add an educational element by incorporating an Earth Day themed talk from an expert. 

• Nature walk: Getting the community together for a walk at a nearby beauty spot – add local pub and cafe pitstops to make a day of it.
• Planting a tree day: Getting the community together to plant trees, which they’ll be able to watch grow over the coming years – knowing they’ve actively helped out the planet.
• Community clean-up: Cleaning a local beach, park or beauty spot while raising awareness of the environmental harms of pollution, litter and plastics. Find out about Earth Day’s official clean-up project >
• Clothes swap: Educating the community on the impacts of fast fashion while inspiring them to swap clothes instead of buying new. 
• Community vegetable patch: Getting the community together to create something tangible that represents eating local and growing-your-own.
• Community yard sale: Encouraging the community to sell unwanted goods instead of binning them.

Music, entertainment & other events 

Whether you organise music festivals, gigs, or run an event in another sector – there are lots of ways you can encourage your attendees to do good for the planet:

• Plastic-free events: Raising awareness of the damage caused by single-use plastics, while actively making your event more environmentally friendly.

• Donate an old phone: Providing attendees with a way to get rid of old phones in an environmentally-friendly way, rather than seeing them go to landfill. Got an old Android? Donate it to our charity partner Rainforest Foundation UK, and your phone could soon be helping an indigenous community to defend their lands, report illegal logging and condemn human rights abuses!
• Donate to charity: Adding a donation point at your events or point of ticket sale for a worthy cause. Find out about Ticket Tailor’s handy donation ticketing feature >
• Donate a coat: Encouraging attendees to donate old coats so they can go to people who need them rather than ending up in landfill.
• Earth Day decor theme: Raising awareness of – and celebrating – Earth Day through art and creativity. 
• Inspirational Earth Day talk: Inspiring crowds with a talk from a prominent figure or expert on environmental issues.

Some extra ways you can be greener as an event planner

• Go paperless with online ticketing and event check-in.
• Opt for a ticketing partner that cares about the environment: check out how Ticket Tailor became a certified B Corporation, and all that this means here >
• Read our event greening checklist >

Phew! That’s a wrap. We hope these ideas have got you feeling inspired. Here’s to a creative, productive Earth Day for 2023 🌍💚.