The water town of Wuzhen in Tongxiang, Zhejiang province, holds a series of activities full of local elements during the Spring Festival from January to February.

The most interesting part includes a water market on boats     1     people sell local delicious food such as spicy salted ducks, smoked sausage, local wine, fruits and lanterns, It leaves a good     2     (impress) on visitors. About 1, 300 years ago, people in the town began building houses along rivers across the town, and boats     3     (obvious) became the main vehicles in their daily life.

The ancient town has also kept     4     (it) tradition of putting many dining tables together to form a long table on holidays and people of the town eat together     5     (celebrate) a reunion. Tourists are warmly invited to take part     6     such kind of long table dining activities featuring hotpot and local liquor during the festival.

The water town holds a large drama festival and     7     (organize) art shows every year. Spring Festival galas, theater plays and art shows     8     (present) during this holiday. The town is about a two-hour drive from Shanghai and     9     (tourist) from across the nation are     10     (amaze) at the local celebration.

9 . My son’s seventh birthday is approaching, so conversation at my house has naturally turned to organizing his party.

For his sixth birthday, we booked the local trampoline(蹦床) park. This worked out well. But the whole event cost us hundreds of pounds. This year, I’m trying to convince him that the dinosaur-themed park down the road offers just as much fun—and you don’t even need to wear special socks! This will be cheaper, because we aren’t required to hire a space—we can simply buy tickets for his mates.

But I still keep pondering over one thing—party bags. Why should a bunch of seven-year-olds, who have already been treated to a day out and a mountain of sugar, also be handed a bag full of pound-shop gifts for simply bothering to show up?

Party bags are an environmental disaster. I reckon my son attends 20 parties per year, and at each party there are 20 kids in attendance, which means 400 plastic bags in total. Within these 400 bags are perhaps 800 plastic toys, almost all of which fall apart on the journey home and then get binned instantly. The waste is shocking, and I don’t want to be part of it.

I know there are some party bag alternatives: one couple I know covered a table with Mr. Men books and got the kids to choose one each. At another party, I saw the hosts fill a bucket with soft toys and crumpled newspaper, and do a lucky dip (抽奖). Admirable efforts.

Even if that is a nice try, and even if the contents in the party bags don’t fall apart, so what? Will our guests think more highly of our child because of the party bags from our party? Will my child’s ability to make and keep friends be improved?

Well, the tradition for kid’s party bags ends with me, and it ends here, and it ends now. Who’s with me?