{"id":462395,"date":"2010-03-23T13:55:38","date_gmt":"2010-03-23T17:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/green.yahoo.com\/blog\/greenpicks\/275\/five-tips-to-green-your-next-party.html"},"modified":"2010-03-23T13:55:38","modified_gmt":"2010-03-23T17:55:38","slug":"five-tips-to-green-your-next-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/462395","title":{"rendered":"Five tips to green your next party"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\"cupcake\"
\n
(Photo: Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Last year, I \u00a0threw a
\nbirthday party for my father, and while the event made him all smiles, I could
\nsee how a traditional party can put a big sad face on the planet with all the
\ngift wrapping, decorations, and food ordering,. I got to thinking about how
\nmany birthday parties must be thrown for kids and adults every year and how
\nmuch waste we create celebrating the people we love. So I created this list of
\neasy tips for a more eco-friendly event.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Invitations<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paying for paper invites and postage is so 2001! Online and
\nemail is the way to go these days. Evite<\/a> is
\na great way to invite people to an event — it’s free and easy to set up.
\nFacebook also has an event invite feature. <\/p>\n

If you use Outlook, Microsoft
\nOffice Online<\/a> offers lots of free email party invite templates, and Yahoo! Mail<\/a> has a nifty Pingg
\ninvitation app<\/a> to design professional-looking invitations right in your
\nmail program. Yahoo! Mail also has a variety of fun backgrounds and font
\nchoices to spice up a regular email.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gift wrap<\/strong><\/p>\n

Challenge yourself not to buy any new gift wrap paper and
\nrethink ways to wrap. Look around your house and see what can be repurposed —
\nthose stacks of newspapers and magazines can make excellent, creative wrap.
\nSave the fronts of birthday and holiday cards and make a collage. A lone pillowcase
\nthat no longer matches your sheets can be repurposed into a gift bag with the
\nhelp of a ribbon. A paper grocery bag can be cut to fit and decorated on the
\nblank side with glitter pens. <\/p>\n

If you feel your creative skills really don’t cut it, look
\nfor gift wrap made from recycled paper that is also recyclable when you’re
\ndone. Be sure to save the ribbon, bows, and paper that doesn’t get too torn or
\ncrumpled for reuse. Gift bags are also great reusable options.<\/p>\n

Search
\nfor gift wrap made from recycled paper<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gifts <\/strong><\/p>\n

Choose something the recipient can use, instead of giving
\nuseless clutter. How many cutesy trinkets or silly gag gifts does a person
\nneed? Most of those end up sitting on someone’s shelf collecting dust until
\nthey are tossed in a landfill. <\/p>\n

For adults, try giving gadgets that do something useful or
\nsave them money, or give gift cards\/certificates that can used on practical
\nitems or a wonderful experience such as movies, gas, maid service, a massage, a
\nclass, or a dinner at a favorite restaurant. You could also consider a donation
\nin a person’s name to a charity you know the recipient is passionate about. <\/p>\n

For kids, party stores would love you to fill up your goodie
\nbags with plastic do-dads and noise makers. Instead, opt for something the
\nlittle ones can use to get their minds and bodies working such as art supplies,
\neducational games, or sports gear.<\/p>\n

Look for gift ideas
\non the Yahoo! Green Gift Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Food<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the party may be focused on fun and socializing,
\neveryone will appreciate a little something to nosh on, so plan to serve a few
\nlight and healthy snacks. Fruit, nuts, and appetizers should suffice. <\/p>\n

Shop local by purchasing ingredients from your nearby farmer’s market<\/a>. If the neighborhood
\nnatural food market is more convenient, check out the books filled with recipes
\nusing the unique foods found in both Whole
\nFoods<\/a> and Trader
\nJoe’s<\/a>. <\/p>\n

If you don’t have time to pull this off, consider catering
\nbecause organic options are now widely available. Or try the organic pizza menu
\nfrom the Z Pizza<\/a> chain. And don’t forget
\nthe cake!<\/p>\n

Search
\nfor healthy party appetizer recipes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Search
\nfor organic cake recipes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Search
\nfor organic catering<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Set up and decor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Use real plates and utensils instead of paper and plastic
\ndisposables. If you have kids and know you’ll be having birthday parties every
\nyear until they hit their teens, invest in a stack of colorful plates that
\nyou’ll be able to reuse for every party. They’ll know that special set is just
\nfor them on their special day. <\/p>\n

The same goes for decorations. It may be worth making one
\ntrip to the party store for some streamers and cardboard cutouts if you plan to
\nkeep them and reuse them (go for generic themes such as stars or color schemes).
\nBut skip the balloons — the material is treated with toxins, and once
\ndeflated, they are dangerous if ingested by wildlife.<\/p>\n

So party on, with an event that leaves everyone happy,
\nespecially the planet.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Photo: Getty Images) Last year, I \u00a0threw a birthday party for my father, and while the event made him all smiles, I could see how a traditional party can put a big sad face on the planet with all the gift wrapping, decorations, and food ordering,. I got to thinking about how many birthday parties […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6447,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-462395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6447"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462395\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}