Category — entertaining

As you may know by now, we are big fans of Corey and Lynn from Celebrate Green. These women have amazing ideas on how we can “green” all our holiday celebrations. This month, Corey and Lynn share with us some simple ideas to implement today that will send you on your way to creating celebrations that are better for the planet and people. An added bonus? You’re likely to save a bunch of cash as well.

1. Plan.

• Take advantage of the new year to get a calendar and fill in the dates for every event you think you’ll celebrate this year. Include birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers, weddings, graduations, family reunions, even office parties, then add every holiday you celebrate in any way big or small.
• Now make a list of items you’ll need, i.e. tableware, decor, gifts, food etc.
• Check off what you already own. Then list what you need to beg, borrow, exchange or purchase.
• Print out the list (on recycled paper of course) or put it in your phone, PDA or calendar you carry with you.
• When you’re at the thrift store or a garage sale, or see a great local sale, check the item off your list. Or, if you’re into setting up an exchange, one month before the event on your calendar, add in a date for a neighborhood get together to trade costumes, decor, plates or anything else you come up with.

2. Throw no-waste celebrations. No waste doesn’t mean no trash (unfortunately). It means that everything purchased around a celebration can be recycled, composted or reused. Planning ahead (see tip #1) helps a lot.

Here are a few ideas to make it easier still:

• Be sure to have labeled bins available.
• Ask guests to bring unwrapped gifts, then hide them (the gifts, not the guests) and have the recipient hunt for them
• Collect glass jars, decorate them if you like and have them available for guests to take home leftovers
• Resist purchasing throw away decor–plates, cups, tablecloths etc.–no matter how cute or how well they match your theme

3. Make gifts and decor from items you already own, can collect, trade with friends or re-purpose. Before throwing anything away, ask yourself whether it can be turned into a gift or decor item. Once you start looking at “trash” this way, you’ll be amazed how often the answer will be, “Yes!”

We have sorted through 100′s of web sites and blogs to find the best information on living an eco-friendly lifestyle.  Here are our picks for ways to have an eco-friendly Thanksgiving.

Go Green: Thanksgiving Day – If you are looking for a good and simple starting point for ways to green your Thanksgiving, this guide by  Treehugger, a online magazine by the Discovery company, will be handy.

5 “100 Mile Thanksgiving” Menus for 5 U.S. Regions – The Daily Green has put together these menus to help you prepare a Thanksgiving dinner using foods from within 100 miles of where you live. Unsure of your 100 mile circle, visit 100 Mile where you can punch in your zip code to map out your local 100-mile circle.

Don’t eat turkey, try some of these scrumptious meatless Thanksgiving menus: Food Network, Gourmet Magazine (R.I.P.), Food & Style -A vegetarian Thanksgiving feast: 5-course seasonal menu with wine pairing and game plan!

Decorate an eco-friendly Thanksgiving dinner table – This Thanksgiving, The Green Your Guide shows us how to ditch the petroleum-based plastic and synthetic decorations and adorn your table with natural and homemade festive decor.

Eco-Friendly Thanksgiving flowers and treats – We suggest trying your local farmer’s market for flowers and other decorations.  If you do’t have accessibility to local markets, this article highlights some amazing organic flowers that can be delivered to your house.

Halloween should be fun, but every year it gets scarier–for parents and the planet. From the discovery of lead in fake teeth and candy, to chemicals in costumes, to the garbage left in the holiday’s wake, it’s a wonder more of us haven’t given up the festivities and spent October 31 watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

The good news is, there are loads of child- and earth-friendly alternatives to the usual Halloween fare.

The most important point when planning to green up any holiday or celebration, especially those involving children, is to get their “buy-in.” And of course, your approach makes all the difference. Telling kids, “We’re going green this Halloween–that means, no candy,” isn’t helpful. What can be is a discussion about the challenges that Halloween brings. Obviously, what you say (or don’t), depends on the age of your children. But helping them to see the wider ramifications of their actions can help make transitioning to healthier choices more appealing or at least understandable.

Many kids are learning about eco-issues in school. They often want to do something about them, but need guidance on where to begin. Talking to them about the excess and waste associated with Halloween (and all holidays and celebrations) and discussing how they can make a difference, may spark their altruism and inspire them to act in positive ways.

A great way to start a discussion is to list each aspect of Halloween (costumes, treats, decor and activities), and brainstorm child- and earth-friendly choices to what you’ve done in the past. Then, encourage your kids to choose one or two of the ideas to implement this year. After Halloween, talk about what worked, what didn’t and what you’ll do next year.

Costumes

In the “olden days,” (the eighties?), many kids made their costumes, often with help from parents. Making the costume was actually an enjoyable, bonding activity. Today, millions of people spend millions of dollars on costumes that are made from non-sustainable materials (like petroleum), that are worn once, then discarded.

But there are earth-friendlier alternatives. If you usually buy costumes, consider:

• Making them. Kids are incredibly gifted and creative when we encourage them. There are almost no costumes that cannot be handmade. If your children are stuck on turning a popular TV or movie character into a costume, brainstorm how you can make it happen with items you already own or can get at no cost by borrowing or making. Be sure to check online for ideas.
• Purchasing costumes made from more eco-friendly materials or at least not from plastics. Choose cotton, organic cotton, silk or hemp, for instance. Unfortunately, these alternatives are not yet widely available, but if you’re interested in them, ask local stores to consider carrying them next year. And check at the end of this post for some great online sources.
• Trading them. Arrange a costume swap with neighbors, check online at swap sites like Green Halloween, or see if you can interest a local child-focused organization in sponsoring a swap.

When Halloween is over, don’t throw costumes away. Save them, dismantle and hold on to the “parts,” trade or take them to a thrift store.

Treats and treasures

Halloween may be all about the treats, but happily, there are great alternatives that kids, when given the option, will happily embrace. You can’t do much about the sweets your children receive on their foray around the neighborhood (although you can have the “Halloween Fairy” replace the confections with a wonderful gift when the children are brushing their teeth…shhhh…), but when it comes to what your family hands out, planning ahead so that you are not making a last-minute dash to the grocery store, will help you avoid limiting choices to what’s on the shelves at the moment.

If you have a local natural foods store, check out their offerings. Take your kids along and choose a few items to sample if you don’t normally shop there. Honey sticks are a favorite and are very inexpensive (never give honey to children under age 2). Many natural food companies make small “bars” in flavors kids love like peanut butter and chocolate. Assuming you have the time to order online, check out www.GreenHalloween.org for dozens of alternatives.

One issue that often comes up when discussing organic or green choices is cost. While it is true that many healthier items cost more, there is a simple solution. Instead of handing out fistfuls (or allowing kids to take as much as they want, which has become the norm), try this: Fill a bowl with a variety of great choices, whether sweets or “treasures” like sparkly stones, feathers (yes, kids love these), hair decorations, temporary tatoos, stickers etc. Cover the bowl with a cloth. When children come to the door, get down to their level and whisper, “At our house, we have some very, very special treats and treasures. You may now choose your favorite.” Then with a flourish, whip off the cloth and let them sift. Compliment them on their choice afterwards.

If you’re not yet ready to totally embrace greener treats and treasures you can still help cut down on expense and waste by choosing one of these options:

• Put out two bowls, one with conventional candy, the other with “treasures.” Let kids choose one item from either bowl.
• Hand children whatever you are giving them. Do not allow them to take as much as they want.
• Let older children know that unwrapped candy can be composted.

Whatever you do this Halloween, taking time to plan and implement will make the holiday a lot less spooky!

Photos Copyright Holli Dunn, www.HolliDunn.com

Thanks Lynn and Corey for sharing with us! Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson are mother and daughter and co-authors of Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, available at www.CelebrateGreen.net

This week we’ve turn to Green Celebration experts Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson from Celebrate Green to guide us in making greener choices for our upcoming summer and 4th of July celebrations. Lynn and Corey are mother and daughter team and co-authors of Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, available at www.CelebrateGreen.net .  Take it away ladies!

For most Americans, July 4th marks the official start of summer and that means family and friends gathering together enjoying each other at picnics and barbecues. But all this celebrating can take a toll on the Earth (and cost a lot of green as well), so why not consider some alternatives to the ways we’ve traditionally celebrated summer. Here are just a few ideas:

Serve filtered tap water. It’s so easy to hit one of the big box stores and pick up cartons of water if you’re hosting a picnic or barbecue, but you can save money and the planet when you choose to drink and serve filtered tap water instead.

Knowing that bottled water (even by the case), is 240 to 10,000 times more expensive than tap water and that 40% of bottled water should be labeled tap water because that’s what it is, you may decide that the “convenience” is simply not worth the cost. Instead, set out pitchers of iced tap water (print out this tongue-in-cheek label if you like). Ask a willing helper to keep the pitchers full.

Substitute reusables for disposables when possible. Picnics and barbecues have become synonymous with throw aways–plates, cups, napkins, tablecloths and decor. While there are more choices for disposables made from recycled and biodegradable materials, using what you already own and remains a more earth-friendly (and budget-conscions) choice.

If you don’t own enough plates and glasses,why not:

• Borrow. Friends and neighbors are usually happy to contribute
• Ask everyone to bring their own place settings. That’s what people used to do B.P.P. (before paper plates).
• Hit your local thrift store. You’ll likely be able to pick up dozens of plates very inexpensively and when you’re done, you can donate them back.

When it comes to napkins, tablecloths and decor, think outside the paper box by decorating with items you already own, like sheets. Supply guests with red, white and blue fabric markers and set them loose. You’ll end up with a unique tablecovering that you can use over and over again.

Washcloths make great napkins and if they’re stained with barbecue sauce, use them for rags.

No need to buy paper or plastic decor items when you scour your home (and ask your guests to if you like), for objects in your preferred color scheme and integrate them into the decor. If you’ve got scrap paper your colors, wrap it around empty cans and fill them with flowers (cans pictured, while made for the 4th, could be used all summer). Tie napkins with bits of ribbon and stick a flower, feather or leaves under the bow.

Clean up. You’re probably shaking your head, “Well, of course we’ll clean up, duh!” If you’re partying at your home, this is no doubt true, but be sure to provide bins for trash and recyclables as well as for items that can be composted, assuming these services are available in your community. Place signs on each container indicating what should be tossed in which bin and encourage everyone to use them.

And if you’re watching the town parade or or enjoying an outdoor movie at a local park where recycling bins are not provided, why not carry a bag so you can bring your trash home and dispose of it properly. This includes packaging from food items, cans and paper goods. While you’re at it, how about taking a bag to pick up a bit of trash left by thoughtless individuals? After all, not everyone is as conscientious as you!

Cook it green. When it comes to the environment, barbecues of all kinds are problematic. The best way to cook outside in an eco-friendly way? A solar oven. You can purchase one, but to save money, gather a bunch of kids and make your own. Choose from among dozens of configurations using everything from tires to pizza boxes to a windshielf shade. Yes, cooking with solar takes more time, but hey, it’s summer! And if you’re only ready for baby steps, start by cooking part of the meal via solar. Pick up some veggies at the local farmer’s market and grill them up. Once you see how easy it is and how yummy and fresh everything tastes, you may wave good bye to charcoal altogether.

*Thanks Lynn and Corey for the great advice. For more ideas on how to green you next celebration, check out www.CelebrateGreen.net .

Being a mother of 2 boys, I look forward to those nights where I can hang out with my gals, put back a few drinks, and forget about all my responsibilities.  Whenever I receive an invite to go to the Spa, watch chick flicks, play cards, or crafts with the gals, I am there.  Perhaps my favorite of all is the clothing swap.  There is nothing new about this concept – a group of women gather together and swap out their clothes with one another.  It is a great marriage between entertaining and recycling.  Plus it saves everyone money by trading their unused clothes rather than buying new ones. Here are some tips to get you started on hosting your own eco-chic clothing swap.

1. Set Guidelines – Invite your friends to bring 10 or more quality clothing items and accessories.  These items should be stain-free, well-made, and still in style.  I think the overall goal of the swap is for people to clean out their homes and recycle clothing items.  If you happen to find a few fantastic items along the way, it makes the swap that much better!
2. Atmosphere – Turn your living room into a clothing boutique. Set up a clothing rack with hangers and tables to place accessories and shoes.  This will create an inviting place to browse.  Not everyone is comfortable with just stripping down and trying on clothes, so you may want to set aside a place in your house for a private changing area.  Consider having your clothing swap in a room with lots of natural light.  Not only do things look better in natural light but you will also save energy by not using as many lights.
3. Food and Drink – Keep it simple and light.  Plan for some appetizers and one signature drink and/or wine.  To form your menu, go to the local farmer’s market and see what items are in season.  Planning a menu that is made with items that are local and in season is easier on the wallet, saves gas, and frankly taste better. To learn more about sustainable cooking and find some delicious recipes for your clothing swap, visit Sustainable Table – http://www.sustainabletable.org/home.php
4. Giving Back – Donate any items left over from the clothing swap to Goodwill, Dress for Success or another local charity of your choice.  You will aid these organizations in raising much needed funds for their programs.  Another idea is to plan your Clothing Swap as a fundraiser for an environmental organization.  Ask your guests for a small donation ($20 or so) to attend your Clothing Swap.  Solicit grocery stores and local markets to donate food for your recipes.  For a little more effort, you can turn your fabulously fun clothing swap into an event that will leave a positive footprint on this earth!