It is the party season with Christmas and New Year Being the most awaited and most celebrated events. The superstores are decorated with lights, Christmas trees, decorations and gift items. Everything you need for a party is available almost everywhere with speciality stores offering theme based decorations.
This year, let’s do our party differently. Let’s have an eco-friendly party setup that generates minimum waste.
Let’s start with decorations. Avoid the helium balloons that look great. Instead opt for paper lanterns, honeycomb balls, tissue paper balls, paper fans, string lights etc. Create your own decorations from scratch or reuse your old decorations. Buy and sell groups are a big help if you wish to buy used things from someone or sell your stuff post party to someone else. Candles and fresh flowers are a great addition to any party.
Your grandma’s old, hand embroidered table cover will still look fantastic in your party instead of the disposable plastic cover. Or buy a matching one from any store. Runners can add more style, colors and freshness to any table.
The biggest trouble in any house party is the dishes, especially if it is a big party. Afterall, who wants to get their hands dirty after a rocking party that ends after midnight! Everyone wants the convenience of use and throw. And that makes sense too. However, if we could avoid the party supplies like plastic cutlery, plates, cups, table covers etc, we would do environment and ourselves a favour.
Stocking up on some extra regular dishes is not a bad idea at all, especially if you host too many parties. Look for good deals or buy from second-hand stores. Some extra cups, plates, bowls and tea sets are cost-saving and eco-friendly. All you need is an extra cycle of dishwasher. That’s all. Replace the single use plastic straws with stainless steel, silicone or paper straws. Writing names on the cups and reusing them is better than using a new cup each time you need a drink at the party. Use dispensers to serve homemade drinks like lemonade and iced tea instead of buying little bottles and creating waste. If you really need to use disposable cutlery, buy the compostable or recyclable ones; provide a compost bin for food waste in addition to garbage and recycling bins.
If you are having a potluck party, ask your friends to bring the food in real trays instead of the plastic, disposable boxes. You may also ask them to bring their own containers to take home any leftover food rather than packing them in ziplocs and plastic containers.
It is the season of gifting too. If you can gift your friends an eco-friendly gift, you will not only set a trend but also educate them on the importance of staying green. No matter what gifts you want to give to your hosts, make sure you wrap them in paper wrappings or use paper gift bags. Visit the Green Schools Green Future Shop to buy some amazing eco-friendly gifts for your friends.
In our busy lives, the convenience of disposable items is much appreciated but the dirt it creates by choking the landfills is beyond imagination. Plastics are hard to recycle, especially if there is any food on it. Also, single use plastic has health hazards involved, they have chemicals that steep into the food we eat and cause long term health problems like cancer, fertility, obesity etc.
The harsh truth is that we can never be free of plastic, it is everywhere. We need to send a strong message to all the companies manufacturing unnecessary plastic by boycotting it completely. Even though plastic bags, disposable boxes, bottles etc are a convenience but what they are doing to the environment is really really bad.
This season let’s make a promise to ourselves to stay away from plastic and have an eco-friendly party. And remember, when shopping for your party supplies, carry a reusable bag!
Feel strongly for the green cause? Help us reach our goal. Donate Now.
