So, you may not have a yard or even a deck, but a heck of a lot of us are going to be getting outdoors to celebrate with our friends soon. We’re planning a block party for next weekend (in the alley behind our place) and (shockingly) MamaBird’s in charge of the eco angle. I’ve been trying to think of ways to minimize the impact of our celebration despite the large numbers of guests. Seems like as good an opportunity as any to celebrate Green Your Apartment’s new baby so here goes my guest post in her super-readable format.

Newbie:

Plates, Cups and Forks: If your numbers are big, just think about minimizing your impact on the landfill: go with paper cups and plates. Either use up the plastic forks you know you already have in droves in your utensil drawer (wash them and use ‘em again, too!) or buy recycled plastic silverware.

Beverages: Go for size; the biggest containers of juice you can find. Skip individual servings of juice for the kids. Bring coolers of water and skip the bottled h20.

Grilling: If you’re still using charcoal, use a chimney starter to get your coals going and skip the lighter fluid. Get local and sustainable meat (poultry and fish have a much smaller carbon footprint than red meat) and veggies to grill.

Balloons: buy latex balloons (all of them are biodegradable) instead of Mylar.

Dessert: Ice cream cones are supremely eco-conscious! No individual packaging, you eat the container…

Invites: Use electronic invitation format or phone calls – no paper invites. This goes for all levels of consciousness, since it’s just too darn easy.

Amateur Environmentalist:

Plates, Cups and Forks: Stick to reusable plates, utensils, and cups (and cloth napkins) if you’re having a small party –classy *and* avoids the landfill. Depending on party size, you might want to consider a party supply rental place. If you’re looking to invest in reusable plates, Recycline has a line made from postconsumer plastic. If you’re avoiding plastic (Beth! Fake Plastic Fiiiiiish!) then go for metal plates.

Beverages: Make your own juice from frozen concentrate. Get a keg instead of bottles or cans.

Grilling: Use propane or gas instead of a charcoal grill; be sure to have vegan alternatives to grill (hello veggie dogs and seitan!).

Balloons: tie your balloons with bakery string or twine instead of plastic-coated ribbons

Dessert: Local watermelon, unless you’ve made your own cones and gotten your ice cream from a local dairy. Which means your BBQ must be happening in September, since it’ll take until then for those melons to be ripe. Realistically, about now you’re having strawberry shortcake. Mmmmm.

Certified Tree-Hugger

Plates, Cups and Forks: Ask everyone to bring their own cloth napkins, plates, utensils, and cups (reusable of course) and their favorite washable bag to stow them in afterwards. Then it won’t matter *how* many are coming!

Beverages: Make sure your beer is local brew by making it yourself. While you’re at it, brew some dandelion wine and make some lemonade from local lemons and honey, and iced tea from loose tea that doesn’t even come in teabags…

Grilling: Don’t grill! Eat raw food and skip the meat already.

Balloons: point to beautiful cloud formations in the sky and skip ‘em altogether.

Dessert: Homemade sorbet (vegan! can use local fruit! can use cones!).

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Thank you MamaBird for giving this new Mama a day off!

Hope you and yours are having a fabulous Mother’s Day and you know the drill… If you liked the suggestions in this post or perhaps have some of your own, leave a comment!

And if you’d like to write a guest post for Green Your Apartment, then email Marie at greenyourapartment@gmail.com.