{"id":15450,"date":"2021-12-21T07:53:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-21T15:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/green-mom.com\/?p=15450"},"modified":"2022-01-19T07:06:23","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T15:06:23","slug":"holiday-party-the-zero-waste-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zerowastefamily.com\/holiday-party-the-zero-waste-style","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Party the Zero Waste Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t know about you, but I love Christmas and I particularly love hosting Christmas parties and maybe this year consider hosting a holiday party the zero waste style.\"holiday-party\"
\nHere are my tips:
\nSend paperless invitations<\/a> \u2014 Paper invitations waste trees and natural resources. The best option is to send electronic invitations by using email or Evite.com. This eliminates tons of paper and saves the trees. Forget old impersonal evites, and add pictures and art to make them more fun and personal
\n\"pinecone-decoratopns\"Incorporate reusable or natural decorations \u2014 Forget disposable decorations that will just fill up your trash can, and instead say hello to anything you can use again. Why not use materials from nature like fallen branches, leaves, pinecones, etc.? Once you\u2019re finished with these, you can add them to the compost \u2014 or why not use them to decorate the garden?<\/p>\n

Skip the paper plates, plastic cups, bowls, napkins, etc. \u2014 I know that no one likes to do dishes all night after a party; but while plastic or Styrofoam cups and disposable dishware and utensils may be more convenient, they\u2019re incredibly wasteful and they do end up in a landfill after the party. We use our regular plates and glasses, and \u2014 oh, yeah \u2014 it means more dishes for us to clean afterward. But nothing is more wasteful than disposable products. If you do want to utilize something disposable, choose items made from natural materials like cornstarch or bamboo that can be recycled or composted.
\n\"cloth-napkins\"Use cloth tablecloths and napkins \u2014 Again, I know this does require more work with laundry afterward, too, but it\u2019s a great way to reduce trash. Besides, it\u2019s cheaper and looks way better.\u00a0If you do not\u00a0 have enough plates, silverware and glasses, then consider borrow from someone who is not using theirs. If you must get new, go shopping at a thrift store for that perfect shabby chic look.<\/p>\n

Use a cloth table covering and napkins and skip disposable napkins and table clothes and use a reusable ones.<\/p>\n

\"xmas-treats\"<\/p>\n

Shop local and zero waste. like to shop for my holiday food at the local farmers\u2019 market because I can find the freshest, local organic food with little or no wrapping at a low price. I plan my menu according to what is available locally. I buy everything else in bulk at my co-op.<\/p>\n

Make fun organic and healthy treats \u2014 One major way to cut down on waste is to buy organic food from a local farmers\u2019 market. Buy loose food rather than pre-packaged (even vegetables). I know it means more slicing and cutting, but it\u2019s the best green way. While you\u2019re shopping for the food for your party, use reusable produce bags<\/a>. Google some fun, inspiring holiday treats to serve like this one from Martha Stewart<\/a> or some vegan ones, perhaps.<\/a><\/p>\n

Skip water bottles and serve\u00a0tap water infused with herbs and fruits<\/a>. It looks very nice. Buy beer and wine in bulk.<\/p>\n

Save leftovers and let your imagination turn them into to new fun dishes. (Or search Pinterest.) Give guests the leftovers in mason jars. If you\u2019re serving a turkey,\u00a0save the carcass of the turkey breast and use as a base for making broth<\/a>\u00a0the next day, either on the stove or by slow cooker. As your guests to bring their own tupperware for those leftovers that might want to bring home.<\/p>\n

Compost what you can\u2019t eat\u2014Food waste costs money, but more importantly, it is a huge environmental problem, so compost any food that simply cannot be eaten as leftovers.<\/p>\n

Most important, have a fun and take good care of yourself. The best gift you can give yourself and your family is to overdo it and get wiped out.<\/p>\n

Happy Holiday!<\/p>\n

How to plan a sustainable party\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t know about you, but I love Christmas and I particularly love hosting Christmas parties and maybe this year consider hosting a holiday party the zero waste style. Here…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":15453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1151,1156],"tags":[107,291,652,358,111,112,131],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerowastefamily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerowastefamily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerowastefamily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerowastefamily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerowastefamily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15450"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zerowastefamily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32705,"href":"https:\/\/zerowastefamily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15450\/revisions\/32705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerowastefamily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerowastefamily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerowastefamily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerowastefamily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}