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Are you going to be hosting a party to celebrate Christmas and/or the new year? Read on for tips to host a party in a clean, green, and hassle-free way!
The year is about to end soon. Every year I think ‘Okay, so what’s the big deal? It is just another year coming up!’ but then I somehow end up feeling nostalgic, and the holiday season spirits get to me, and I plan a party to celebrate the milestone. This year too, I plan to host a New Year’s eve party at home. And I was thinking of ways to make it a cleaner, eco-friendly, easy-to-clean- up party.
Here are a few ways I plan to keep it clean and easy. What are you planning to do? Share your ideas too!
Send electronic invitations. Save trees, leave paper invites, and send out e-invites using many of the free websites. You can also send an invite via email.
For a green party, use reusable plates, cups, crockery, and cutlery instead of disposables. You will not only reduce the use of styrofoam and let the earth breathe, but also make it easier for your guests to balance all their food in real plates instead of the flimsy paper plates. Encourage guests to rinse and keep their plates and spoons once they are done eating. This results in using less water when cleaning the dishes.
Put out all the plates, spoons, bowls, and glasses on the table before the guests come in. This way, during the party you will not be needed for every cup, glass, and spoon. You will be free as a host to take care of the million other things (believe me, there will be lots of those).
Instead of plastic, artificial decor, think of using flowers, aromatic candles, and potpourri. Even fruits like lemons, mandarins, and oranges in a glass jar make for beautiful eye-catching decor and center pieces. Use fabrics to drape walls and windows, if it goes with your theme. For a big party, rent furniture and artifacts, instead of buying them for a one-off occasion.
So much food gets wasted in parties where we go overboard with the food. Don’t make 5 or 6 dishes. Instead, choose a smaller number and make them yummylicious. Trust me, your guests are also human, and can eat only so much! If there are extras you can even ask your guests if they would like to take some home. This will help in not wasting food and will help your guests, as they won’t have to cook a meal the next day. Win-win situation for everyone involved!
If you plan to give party favours then think of edible, green, eco-friendly gifts. Food makes for great take-home gifts. So, things like some gourmet cheese, natural honey, organic nuts and seeds make for healthy and tasty favours. Wrap your gifts in newspapers, and add a ribbon to make it look fancy chic. My personal favourite is the comic page from the daily newspaper used as a gift wrap.
You can also reuse brown paper bags to wrap gifts, decorate them yourself or with your little ones. How creative and earth friendly is that! Leftover fabric is also another option to pack your gifts in. Also try and gift experiences instead of things, they make for good, memorable gifts.
If you are big on recycling, then place separate bins, clearly marked, so that guests can throw waste accordingly. Wherever possible, segregate waste and recycle.
If you compost at home then ensure all the food waste goes into your compost bin. If there is a decent amount of food left over then send it to local shelters to donate food.
Parties are so much fun with a game thrown in. Think of games like The White Elephant, where someone’s trash is another person’s treasure. Swap items that you own but no longer use with friends and family.
Or games like the Cup of Gratitude, where every person has to say one good thing about the person on their right till the circle is complete. This one brings about a beautiful feeling of gratitude into our hearts, and isn’t that a lovely way to end one year and begin a new one?
There you go! Hope these tips help you organize and host a green party. If we all manage to do even a few of these things then we will be one step closer to making our homes and our environment more clean and happy! So for your next party, follow the mantra of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Happy Festive season!
Pictures Courtesy – Pixabay, Image of party table via Shutterstock.
Simran Dhaliwal is an engineer, a wannabe traveler and a newbie runner. She has worked in the buy modafinil usa IT industry and as a curator read more...
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