Green week 3

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!

Quite a bit has been going on this week.  I had a BBQ on Sunday celebrating my birthday and my new business.  I tried to make it a green event and found a few tips I'll share.  I also went to an Earth Day event where I got to talk to people about toxic chemicals in their cleaners.  It was a great week.  I love how many kids came out to the event it really shows that there is hope for a brighter future.

 Here is a photo of Lisa Alexander and I at our booth: 

Tips:  Small changes for a party that everyone is sure to enjoy and the planet will like more as well.

I know that we always try to do things the easy way when it comes to hosting a party or event at our house.  We want less dishes so we use paper and plastic everything, we buy soda, bottled water, and make burgers and hot dogs.

What I planned on doing was having everyone use our plates and dishes but once we counted out how many people were going to come out we found we had to use something else, but I wanted to try to be more green so we found recycled paper plates and used them.  We also instead of getting plastic forks, knives, and spoons we sent out our real forks for people to use.

I made homemade sweet tea and filled an already empty plastic jug with my tea and a glass pitcher (which is what I used to serve it in. (pictured below)

The great benefit to this was that there was less sugar than store bough ice tea, and it was much cheaper!  And everyone commented on how great it was (score!)

I asked guest to BYOB so we didn't have the added cost of supplying beer for everyone.

I did not find a way around buying plastic cups.  

We helped minimize clean up by setting out a bin for everyone to put their cans in.

For food everyone asked what they could bring and told us what they were bringing so we didn't have to cook a whole lot and made some kabobs, fruit salad, and homemade dip.  Everything turned out great!  To our surprise we only had a few meat dishes and lots of choices for everyone!

A BBQ almost always requires a fire.  I love sitting or standing around a campfire with friends.  This year a friend of ours found a great way to reduce the amount of wood you use when having a fire, contain the fire well, and it makes the perfect way to cook when camping.  Check out the photos below and if you're interested in one for your next camping trip please send an email asking for more info.

I also sent out the invite over Facebook instead of sending out written invites to everyone.  I did snail mails some to people who aren't on facebook.  So I saved myself an added cost of prints, cards, and postage. And reduced the amount of paper we used.

Website: Earth Day Organizer's Guide 

Here's a great site for ways to celebrate Earth Day today and everyday by yourself and as an event.

People: The volunteers at Lacawac Sanctuary

Lacawac Sanctuary is a great place to learn about our ecosystem and enjoy the outdoors.  They offer many educational programs.  If you're in their area check out what they have going on or just stop in for a visit.