How You Can Celebrate the Earth

If you’ve been paying attention at all over the past year, you’ve heard about all the harsh realities of global warming. Maybe you can’t travel to Antarctica to help the polar bears, but there’s a lot you can do right where you are. And you can start by throwing an Earth Day party. Use your get-together as an excuse to spread a little earth-loving inspiration—and enjoy some food and cocktails with friends.

Invite.
An Earth-loving gal like yourself wouldn’t want to waste paper (and energy and trees) by sending out invitations, so you’ll send yours out online. Try a little something like this:

Green is the new pink! You’re invited to an Earth Day party! Please bring one recyclable item as your entrance “fee” to come enjoy cocktails, cupcakes and celebrate our planet. Remind guests to use green forms of transportation when coming to the party: walk, bike or carpool if they have to drive.

Decorate.
Use the Earth as your inspiration—this means greens, blues, browns and, of course, eco-friendly decorations. Whether you’re throwing the party outside or inside, use potted plants as your centerpieces—and try writing one earth-saving tip around the pot of each of these, like “unplug everything when you’re not using it” or “use cold water when you do laundry.” Use a pretty blue cotton tablecloth with green cloth napkins (no wasteful paper products!). Wrap the napkins with little globe key chains available online or at your local party supply store (your guests can take these home later as party favors) and use reusable plates.

Set the mood with one of those relaxing nature music CDs to create an earthy ambience.

Eat.
As you greet your guests, trade them their one recyclable item for an Earth Loving Green-Teani Cocktail. Have a buffet of fresh, organic food ready for them to enjoy: Think vegetarian baked beans, organic potato chips, trays of fresh fruit and vegetables with dips, like Tomato-Cilantro Salsa. Lay out a big bowl of Grilled Mexican Chicken Salad as your main dish. Also, since the Earth is over 70% water, make sure you have some pitchers of ice-cold H2O with fresh lemon and lime available. Then reward your guests for their ecologically-savvy ways and complete the buffet with a platter of Magnolia’s Orange Vanilla Cupcakes, tinted blue and green, of course.

Give.
Send your guests away with new-found inspiration to make the Earth a better place. Let them take home those globe key chains you used on the napkins—as daily reminders to turn off lights, unplug appliances and walk more. Also, send them each away with a fluorescent light bulb—to make their homes a little more environmentally friendly. Feeling real ambitious? Have all your guests sign a petition as they leave, urging your mayor to take local action to reduce your city’s carbon emissions. Whichever you decide to do, guests will leave feeling proud that they partied with someone as ecologically-savvy as you!

Host.
And don’t forget, a great host is what makes a party fun and keeps guests wanting to come back for more. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Most important: Have fun! You set the mood—so don’t stress, plan ahead and kick back once the party begins. But don’t kick back too much. Make sure everyone has what they need to have a good time: drinks, plates, knowledge of where the bathroom is and a safe way home if they’ve been drinking.
Nothing says “I want you to leave now” like a host that starts cleaning before everyone has left. It can wait.

Don’t forget—green really is the new pink (just look at all the Priuses driving around). Show your guests how easy it is to make small changes in their lives to help the environment because it really does make a difference.

Sustainable Living Articles @ http://www.articlegarden.com 

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