ECHOage in the News

What if kids actually gave instead of received at their own birthday? ECHOage is taking the everyday kid’s birthday party and cranking it up one big enlightened notch...

I derived my big idea from a Web-based company called ECHOage, which two mothers started late last year to stop the madness around children’s birthday parties.

Children's birthday celebrations can be an opportune way to help kids learn about gratitude and giving back. "It was truly borne out of a need that we witnessed as mothers," says co-founder Alison Smith, a mom of two. "There is a way to make this (birthday parties) a meaningful experience and a way we can impart our values to our kids and make the world a better place," she explains.

The online party planning service shows youngsters how to value social responsibility and environmental awareness while still having a blast.

To its credit, Canadian company ECHOage wants to tweak tradition by ushering in a new era of scaled back, environmentally-conscious celebrations.

With their new venture, ECHOage, they're hoping a child's birthday party will be less an excuse for family and friends to show their love by buying gifts, and more an opportunity to celebrate giving and saving the world...

Money is something children are not exposed to until they're older - how it's earned, raised, managed, given away. But with ECHOage the child can go online and see what it's like to collect money, watch it grow...

Modern birthday parties are all about the experience, which often means a more conscientious event: fewer gifts, less waste, more memories...

A company called ECHOage offers to organize a party where guests can limit carbon footprints usually left by buying or wrapping gifts...

All told, the company’s mantra of ‘One Gift, One Cause’ makes a whole lot of sense environmentally, and it seems to be a pretty sharp way of managing the attendant madness of your child’s next birthday as well...

 Hyped up on sugar and good times, the last thing the birthday boy or girl needs is a pile of twenty or more gifts to tear into and get overwhelmed by. To deal with the presents that can get out of control for both the giver and receiver at kids' parties, Alison Smith (right) and Debbie Zinman (left) started ECHOage.com, a new Toronto-based party company with a fresh take on giving.—Kate Foster...

Once upon a time, children's birthday parties were simple affairs with a few friends and a cake. But lately they've morphed into extravagant events featuring mile-long guest lists, professional performers and a mountain of gifts. That's why the recently launched ECHOage makes so much sense. The brainchild of two Toronto-based moms looking to inject more meaning into their kids' birthday celebrations, the party planning/charitable giving site helps parents organize environmentally and socially responsible fêtes...