10th Birthday Party!
Current KGT student leaders celebrating!
On September 20th 2025, Kids Greening Taupō (KGT) had a 10th birthday party for our student leaders and supporters. It was fantastic to hear from some of the people who started up the original KGT programme, reconnect with past student leaders, and celebrate with present student leaders and their whānau.
We started by unveiling a sign about Kids Greening Taupō, recognising Spa Park as the original site of our student-led plantings. Mayor, David Trewavas removed the ribbon and current student leaders unveiled the sign. Thanks so much Korio Design for designing this fantastic sign for us.
After the unveiling, we moved to the gazebo area for speeches by those involved in setting up the Kids Greening Taupō programme. You can read more about how the programme began and how it has evolved over the past 10 years here. Kathryn, a past student leader talked about how she has just finished a degree in ecology, and Kairi, a present student leader talked about her experiences over the past 8 years
In true KGT fashion, there was native tree planting, and 250 trees went into the ground after we had sung happy birthday and blown out candles. We always talk about planting restoration species to create a canopy, then years later being able to plant species such as rimu, tānekaha, miro, and mātai under the shelter of the nursery crop. A few of our long-term supporters were able to plant some of these species under the canopy of our 2017 planting which was pretty special!
We held a cake competition for our student leaders and even had an adult category. The nature themed cakes looked absolutely amazing and tasted fantastic too. We want to say a big thank you to student leader, Kauri, who designed the competition flyer and certificates, and also a big thanks to our cake judges who didn’t quite realise how many cakes they were going to have to taste when they agreed to the task! The cakes were enjoyed by everyone in attendance, along with delicious platters and catering. Thanks to Contact Energy and Podiatry at Tōtara for sponsorship of the event that paid for the delicious food, as well as the plants and the site preparation.
Our current student leaders ran activities that were enjoyed by everyone in attendance. Thanks to Laura from Little Miss Party Planner for setting up her party tent, activities, and face painting.
Thank you to everyone who came along and joined us for the day, and to those who have been involved with KGT over the past 10 years. We can’t wait to see what the next 10 years brings us!
