Mum's warning over disturbing side of gender reveal parties
For Perth mum Cassie Green it’s not an uncommon sight to see her vacuuming on a weekend cleaning up after her four kids.
On Sunday, a stone’s throw from her home, she found herself with the household appliance in hand once again, but instead of causing the mess, her children were helping to get rid of it.
At the park adjacent to her home near South Beach in Fremantle, she says a large group of revellers arrived for a gender reveal.
And while there was jubilant scenes from the party as blue plastic confetti rained down on the ground from a giant balloon revealing a baby boy was on its way, Ms Green was instead reeling as the party swiftly left the area.
“I don’t know if this occurred due to ignorance or lack of education,” Ms Green said online.
She revealed that while the party was there for merely 15 minutes, she spent the following two hours cleaning up the mess with her kids, using a vacuum to help suck up the mass of plastic left behind.
“I imagine it looked odd vacuuming the lawn but it was the only effective way to clean up such a large volume of confetti,” Ms Green told Yahoo News Australia.
“It was definitely a learning moment for my children.”
She said she’d asked her eldest child what he thought of the mess left behind, to which he said he was extremely disappointed.
“It’s inconceivable to [my children] that anyone would do such a thoughtless act,” she said.
“Those little pieces of shiny confetti will be around for longer than they are.”
For local conservationist and campaigner Lisa Jane Hills, the incident is a bitter pill to swallow.
Ms Hills successfully campaigned for a balloon ban in Fremantle, prohibiting the release of helium balloons in the area due to the threat they pose to wildlife, particularly turtles who mistake burst balloons for jellyfish.
Speaking to Yahoo News Australia on Monday, Ms Hills said the gender reveal was a blatant case of littering and would undoubtedly have a damaging effect when it came to marine life which could ingest the plastic.
“Such lightweight (plastic) is guaranteed to blow into the water system and due to its shiny shimmering colour it would look attractive to wildlife,” she said.
Ms Hills said gender reveals were a concern of hers, and while she campaigns against the release of coloured balloons in gender reveals, confetti-filled balloons were becoming an increasing problem.
“I can’t believe people think it’s OK to actually do that,” she said.
“At least with the balloons they aren’t littering in front of [resident’s] eyes.”
Ms Hill urged anyone who witnesses similar littering to contact their local councils.
Anyone found guilty of releasing gas-filled balloons in Fremantle faces a fine of $125.
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