Catering Can Be Good For The Planet!

Here at Simply Fresh Events, we pride ourselves on being as eco-friendly as we can be every day.  Whether it’s collecting all our food scraps for our owner’s chickens (really, we do!), or looking at using our owner’s honeybees to supply our honey (also a true story!), we do all we can in both small and large ways.  If you want to have a catered event, but are just as worried as we are about waste and being good to Mother Earth, here are some tips!

Whether you simply enjoy being smart when it comes to helping the environment or are a tree hugging activist, holding an eco-friendly event is not only resourceful, but also inspiring and enlightening to your guests!

If you don’t want to put all your recycling and reusing hard work that you do on your own to waste when hosting and planning an event for the masses, here are tips on how to make it green.

With today’s awareness and resources available, there is absolutely no reason all parties aren’t green parties. Two reasons people don’t go green when party planning is either they think it will be too complicated or that they fear the fabulousness won’t translate when trying to spare waste. Eco-friendliness can begin right in the early stages of planning. Learn how with our tips.

INVITATIONS

The majority of modern communication tends to be digital anyway, so an obvious solution to cutting waste from invitations would be nixing the paper all together. If digi-invites have you scared people won’t take you or your event seriously, there are dozens of platforms out there to help you create gorgeous evites. With sites like Paperless Post, Celebrations.com, and Evite to help you create stunning invitations, guests will know you and your party won’t be one to miss.

CATERING

There are two things to keep in mind when it comes to keeping the food environment-friendly for your event—local and organic. Local, meaning from local growers, not your local grocery store, and organic, meaning products grown without pesticides and synthetic fertilizer, a great choice just because it is healthy and delicious, while utilizing less damaging pesticides in the process. Using local farmers not only helps your local economy grow, but lessens your carbon footprint because caterers won’t have to travel far to come to the location of your event.

Another idea is to give a whole new meaning to “local.” Set out planters with basil, thyme, and mint leaves for guests to garnish their foods with. Guests may be weary at first, but they’ll remember the freshness of your party forever. This is a unique and awesome idea especially if the event will primarily be outside.

CONSIDER HOLDING A ZERO WASTE EVENT

A Zero Waste event only uses items that are biodegradable, reusable, and recyclable. Services such as Eco-Cycle provide your event with a Zero Waste party kit. This kit includes things like compostable tableware and compost containers. It’s good to let your guests know ahead of time by including in their invitations an outline of the goals of your Zero Waste Event, and suggestions about what to bring and what not to bring.

BIODEGRADABLE DÉCOR

There’s no need to have to tirelessly search and read dry-as-dirt labels to find products that are recyclable. Online stores like Green Party Goods and Eco Party Time are places that you can find everything from beautiful bamboo plates to recyclable tablecloths, mason jars, and treat boxes and bags.

RECYCLE STATIONS

Clearly label and set up recycling stations. Plenty of times people will get lazy and end up throwing away a lot of sustainable materials. Setting up these stations can save you the hassle of having to sort through garbage later.

TRANSPORTATION

Find out where the majority of your guests are coming from and try to coordinate small groups of carpooling to the party. This will cut back on carbon emissions, valet usage, and use for parking at the event. Hire busses and mass transportation options for you event so guests won’t have to worry at all about designating a driver.

 LIGHTING

Whenever possible, opt for natural light. Photographers call twilight the magic hour. Add a bit of drama and atmosphere with candles. Use 100% soy based candles (instead of wax candles that are made of petroleum byproduct called paraffin) both as a centerpiece and strewn about the room.

LEDs are an energy-efficient alternative to traditional incandescent light bulbs, which waste 90 percent of the energy they consume on heat. Check out unique ways to incorporate LED lighting here.

Don’t shy away from making your party green just because you’re afraid of the hassle.   There are ways to limit waste that are simple and inventive. Not only will guests give you snaps, the earth will throw you a bone or two, too, one way or another.