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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The plans to make the inauguration eco friendly have been well thought out and even include someone who will follow horses through D.C., picking up their waste and then bringing it out to farms to be used for fertilizer. We’re not sure who they hired to do that job, but we think it’s great!

They are planning a 100% organic menu that’s going to include both vegetarian and vegan selections for guests. The bar will even be serving local and organic beverages. How cool is that?

The eco friendliness will extend to lighting, decorations, and audio-visual equipment. The event will utilize LED lighting and says that they’ll be monitoring energy usage throughout the event.

They are also planning to compost flowers that are used during the event and leftover food. I was anxiously looking for information about how much waste they plan to generate, but have been unable to find anything. I think it’s be incredibly cool if they could plan a zero-waste party…but that’s pretty doubtful. I’m impressed with what they are doing, but I have a feeling they’ll still be LOTS of waste produced – which is to be expected from an event like this.

While I’m all for the concept of an eco-friendly inauguration, and eco-friendly parties in general, I think there are to major things that need to be considered.

First, I’d like to hear how much waste was produced as a result of this party vs. say, the inauguration of George W. Bush eight years ago. Getting solid numbers after the event would show how far we’ve come and how far we need to go.

Second, the transportation associated with getting all of the people who are attending an event like this is huge. With an estimated 3 – 5 million people showing up in Washington D.C., one could assume that a lot of carbon dioxide is going to be put in the air as a result of the inauguration. The event coordinators are encouraging those who are traveling to the event to purchase carbon credits to offset their carbon footprint; I’d like to see people take it once step further. I think it’d be great if celebrities attending the event got on commercial flights instead of taking private jets. I’m also hopeful that once in Washington D.C., people will choose to walk or take public transportation while getting around the city.

Overall, this is a step in the right direction. I’m glad to see the new administration taking a step in the right direction and hope that it encourages others to host eco friendly parties of their own. Come back soon to learn how you can make your own next party a bit more eco friendly.

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