It’s every girl’s dream — to walk down the aisle on her wedding day in the most luxurious gown ever designed. The entire experience entails not only the wedding day but trying on designer dresses from high-end bridal couture shops. Even if she cannot afford a $10,000 hand-beaded Italian silk gown, she tries it on anyway and loves every minute of spinning on the pedestal in front of the three-way mirror.

It might be her dream dress, but she knows it will give her nightmares, because she knows how she will feel not wearing an eco friendly dress on her wedding day.

By using as many eco friendly options as possible, she had worked to make sure every detail of both the ceremony and reception reflected her commitment to preserving the environment. It wasn’t the money as much as the potential damage a new pearl-studded dress could do to the environment.

The bride-to-be began scouring the local thrift stores as well as the online auctions and bargain column in her local newspaper. Of course, the dress would not be listed under the eco friendly wedding dresses category.

Nonetheless, by virtue of being a previously worn item, the gown qualifies as eco friendly. The dress need not be a brand new item made from a sustainable fabric like peace silk or bamboo. Vintage clothing is by its very secondhand quality considered eco friendly clothing.

Therefore, if you want to walk down the aisle in your mother’s or grandmother’s or any favorite aunt’s or female relative’s wedding dress, you would be wearing an eco friendly dress. Think of the special memories you will make because you wore an heirloom or borrowed gown.

Plus, you will not be harming the environment, since the production processes that many clothing manufacturers employ are not environmentally safe. When dying fabrics, they often use chemicals, which produce waste and contribute to air or water pollution.

It is seldom that a mother or grandmother has preserved her wedding dress for use by the next generation. Therefore, if you do not have an heirloom dress available to you, beautiful eco friendly wedding dresses can be found at consignment shops.

The dress you find may be perfect in every way except it does not have the glitz and glamour you had always imagined. However, sacrificing this detail out of your respect for the earth demonstrates to others that you are committed to protecting the environment.

If your dress was passed down from another generation, be sure to let your guests know it is an eco friendly wedding dress. Maybe tastefully print the information in the program.

Whether a vintage wedding gown handed down from grandmother to granddaughter or a second generation dress passed from mother to daughter, eco friendly wedding dresses are a wonderful way to save money and the environment while making special wedding day memories.

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Decorating paper bags is fun and simple.

1. Paper Bag Decor

Plain grocery bags are fun to decorate. You can use apples or potatos and stamp them.

To make stamps, you’ll need:
- an apple or potato
- a permanent marker
- sharp knife
- paint

Cut the apple or potato in half. Draw a design on it. Keep this simple. Then with a share knife cut around the design removing the extra potato or apple, so that only the design is left.

Take the “stamp” and dip the design in paint and stamp away on the brown paper. You can add glitter and more to spice up the wrapping paper.

2. Newspaper and catalogs

Wrapping a gift in the colorful Sunday comics is old-fashioned and economical. You can also contact your local newspaper and ask if they will give you the end of the paper rolls. These are blank ends of the newspaper rolls that are thrown away after each printing. You can decorate this as you would the paper bags.

Use the pages of catalogs. You can tape together pages from a fishing magazine and give that to a fishing enthusiast for example.

3. Old maps

Gather your old maps and use these to wrap packages. These are fun and especially great for the traveler.

4. Recycle bows

Be sure to use bows from one year to the next. They last a long time. Also think about other things you can decorate packages with like seashells, twigs, dried flowers and more.

Making your own gift wrap says you care and is a great way to go green.

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As green awareness spreads over middle America, more and more people want to have a fun, environmentally responsible holiday. This book shows how to enjoy the Christmas season while leaving a smaller carbon footprint. Readers will learn how to do the following: choose between a real tree and an artificial one; find alternatives to holiday cards; avoid the holiday catalog crunch; find or make gifts that are green or teach green; have warm, cozy green fires; create eco-responsible (more…)

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This holiday season, Anna Getty environmental advocate, writer, television personality, chef, mother, and organic living expert helps families reduce their carbon footprint and save money without sacrificing style or tradition. Anna advises how to best choose a tree (real or fake?), mitigate the negative effects of necessary travel, recycle post-holiday, and more. She shares favorite holiday recipes for organic appetizers and homemade craft ideas such as pinecone wreaths and rec (more…)

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Planning an Eco Friendly Party

Yesterday I talked about how this year’s inauguration will be eco friendly for the first time ever. You must have known that a post about hosting your very own eco friendly party was going to follow, didn’t you?

Unless you have millions of friends (and millions of dollars), chances are that you won’t be hosting a party like the Obama’s are. No matter how many people will be coming to your party, there are lots of things you can to go make your next party greener.

Here’s a list of things you can do:

~ Going green starts with the planning portion of your party. When you send invitations, do so via email or phone calls instead of using paper invitations. Doing so starts your party off on the right foot.

~ When you invite people, encourage them to carpool to your party. Less people driving means less carbon dioxide entering the air. How

~ As you plan the food and decorations, think about how you’ll be able to recycle or compost the items that you’ll be using. For example, fresh flowers can be composted when you are done with them. If you don’t want to use plates that will need to be washed, consider using compostable plates instead of items that will end up in a landfill. Compostable plates can be hard to find locally, but they can be ordered online from places like Amazon;

~ Know how many people are going to come to your party and plan your cooking needs accordingly. Don’t prepare more food than what you’ll need and have a plan to use your leftovers. If you have lots of leftovers, send guests home with some so they don’t have to be thrown away.

~ As you plan your menu, consider using organic and locally-grown food as much as possible. If you have a garden, use vegetables from your own garden in your cooking.

~ While you prepare food for your party, compost the waste that you create.

~ Set up a “recycling center” at your party. This ensures that your guests know where to dispose of different items. For example, you can have one spot for cans and bottles, one for your compostable plates, and one for regular garbage. Your goal is to have as few items in the regular garbage container as possible.

~ After the party, make sure that you recycle and compost everything that you possibly can.

~ If you need to send thank-you notes, consider doing so via email. Let your guests know why you are sending emails instead of traditional thank-you cards. If email isn’t your style, make sure that you purchase thank-you cards made from recycled material.

Have a great eco friendly party and know that you are doing something good for the environment.

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