Every year, Yellow Scene Magazine rounds up the best of our local community with our Annual Locavore Holiday Guide. This year, we give an extra focus on eco-giving, including how to host an eco-friendly party.

Hosting an eco-friendly party

Parties are notoriously wasteful, often resulting in piles of trash and excessive food waste. They’re a marker of overconsumption and consumerism across the country. While an essential part of supporting planet health is to reduce overconsumption and reuse materials that are available to us, there are still lots of approaches that contribute to better spending habits. Here are a few ways to become a more eco-conscious party host and a list of local eco-friendly gifts you can bring to support a green future.

Hosting an eco-friendly party is not only better for the environment, but it’s also likely to be more cost-effective since it commonly involves recycled or renewable strategies. Common tactics that eco-conscious hosts might implement could include repurposing items like bed sheets and turning them into table cloths or napkins and prioritizing seasonal food ingredients. Additional ways to host an eco-friendly party include:

1. Sending digital invitations instead of paper invitations

Snail mail is cute, but delivering it isn’t exactly carbon effective. One way that eco-conscious hosts can cut down on energy expenditure is by sending digital invitations on platforms like Paperless Post or Evite. The other perk of using this method is that your friends and loved ones don’t have to wait to get a notice in the mail.

2. Use sustainable decorations to reduce waste

Everyone loves balloons and paper garlands, but the reality is that those types of decorations quickly end up caught in a tree or nestled in a landfill, wearing out their welcome long after the celebration concludes. Fortunately, you don’t have to entirely give up on decorations to host an eco-friendly party. Instead you might use eco-friendly lights to brighten the space, natural decorations like evergreen needles, and renewable textiles to bring joy to the event. This is a great way to hone your creativity while supporting positive outcomes for the planet.

Over the years, balloons have been used as a symbol of celebration, contributing to a festive feel. Yet the reality is that balloons are simply not eco-friendly. In fact, balloons frequently contribute to pollution since they often escape from the hands of the person that carries them, floating into a nearby tree. The materials out of which they are constructed are also not biodegradable, which means that once they end up in that tree (or a landfill), they generally stay for a long, long time. Balloons also use helium, which is not a renewable resource. Instead of using balloons as a decoration, celebrations could be marked with items like lanterns or paper balloons.

3. Use reusable or compostable dishes and cutlery

We know. Using reusable dishes and cutlery increases the amount of work that the party host has to do once the event is finished. But the environment will thank you for keeping those paper plates out of landfills. If reusable dishes and silverware are simply not an option, an alternative could involve the use of compostable plates and forks.

4. Avoid single-use drinks

One of the biggest and most obvious contributors to party waste comes from single-use drinks. While soda cans and water bottles provide convenience, the grab-and-go style comes at a cost to the environment. One way to avoid this reality is by opting to use reusable cups and bulk drinks such as those that come in 2-liter or gallon-sized containers. You might even encourage your guests to bring their own cups — they’ll be able to keep track of which drink is theirs, and you’ll have fewer items to wash.

5. Serve local food

The more local the food, the better it is for the environment. This could mean working with a local catering company, encouraging guests to bring their favorite homemade dish, or buying from farmers markets and local grocers to reduce the amount of travel your food does before it gets to you.

6. Go meatless

Let’s face it: Meat is delicious, but it comes with a pretty significant impact. Not only does the production of it come with substantial greenhouse gasses, but it also contributes to deforestation. In fact, meat alone contributes to 14.5% of the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions. While we recognize that not everyone has the ability or desire to go completely meatless, reducing meat and dairy consumption can help to reduce the global carbon emissions footprint. Instead, party people might prioritize a vegetarian or vegan spread using local ingredients for the greenest approach.

7. Encourage carpooling

While carpooling isn’t always an option, sometimes it is! Cutting down on the energy consumption it takes to make it to a specific destination is a great way to keep in alignment with the environment. This could mean renting a bus for a day or simply pairing friends and family together for more effective travel. Two or more passengers qualifies for high-occupancy vehicle lanes, getting to your destination more quickly, and fewer cars mean less parking hassle.

Eco-Friendly Gifts

In the pursuit of a greener planet, another great way to support sustainable parties is by bringing conscious gifts. Items that work to reduce long-term carbon footprints like travel mugs or glassware are a great option. Those who are looking for local gifts might also consider:

Kantha Napkins – Fair Trade Winds sells napkins that are upcycled from saris. The patterns and cotton construction make for a durable, long-lasting gift with a bit of flair and color. Plus they can be purchased as singular napkins or in packages of four, making it easy to customize each gift. They are even machine washable, which makes the clean up process simple, as well. fairwindstrade.net • 1219 Pearl St, Boulder

Gift Card to a Local Bulk Food Store – The Nude Foods Market is best known for its bulk foods. With over 1800 items for sale, the store allows shoppers to grab essential items in large quantities, cutting down on packaging and allowing you to use your reusable bags and containers. An eco-friendly gift could involve the purchase of a gift card to this store, contributing to a reduction in carbon emissions.

nudefoodsmarket.com • 3233 Walnut St, Boulder

Boulder, Colorado Tote Bag – Reusable bags are all the rage. With the elimination of single-use plastic bags in Colorado, more people are switching to well-made reusable bags. For this reason, the Hey Mountains Boulder, Colorado Tote Bag makes a nice, sustainable gift option for the eco-conscious giver. heymountains.com

Sustainable Slow Fashion – Fast fashion is all the rage, but Glenn + Glenn slows it down with tailored, classic apparel pieces for women. So, instead of ending up in the landfill, this style of clothing is quick to become a staple garment. Glenn + Glenn clothing sources materials from iconic textile locations like Italy and Japan. The fabric is then processed in women-owned locations in both New York City and Colorado. The result: conscious, kind, and classic products that bring a smile to anyone’s face. glennglennapparel.com • 1035 Pearl St, Boulder

Local Tea & a Tour – Remember what we said about local food? The same theory should be applied to beverages. But Colorado locals are in luck, because Celestial Seasonings is right here in Boulder. As a matter of fact, Celestial Seasonings has been around for more than 50 years, and is rooted in herbal tea. From the start, the company aimed to provide healthier tea options – a tradition that continues even today. celestialseasonings.com • 600 Sleepytime Dr, Boulder

Alpaca Connection is a Boulder-based company that operates with a conscious ethos. An inherently sustainable material, alpaca wool has a much lower carbon footprint than synthetic or even merino wool materials. The materials are also often biodegradable and durable, and Alpaca Connection sells high-quality clothing, home goods, toys, and gifts. These are the type of clothing items that remain life-long staples in any woman’s closet. alpacaconnection.us • 1334 Pearl St, Boulder

Knowledge is power. This is a concept that’s generally attributed to Francis Bacon, but the idea highlights the importance of education. Longmont’s Barbed Wire Books is a great place to get your literary fix, and the sustainably-conscious buyer can prioritize the purchase of used books over new ones. This new and used bookstore also has a trade process that allows bookworms to bring their own books to the shop for store credit. Trade credit can only be applied to used book purchases, further prioritizing sustainable efforts. barbedwirebooks.org • 504 Main St, Longmont

Flea markets often feature some of the world’s greatest treasures as well as oddities. Since these markets help reduce waste by reusing and repurposing already manufactured materials, they offer a great shopping option for those who love stumbling upon a surprise and those who want to reduce production across the planet. The Lafayette Flea Market is a great local option for flea market lovers. thelafayetteflea.com • 130 E Spaulding St, Lafayette

Old Friends in Louisville was born out of the idea of bringing joy and laughter to the area with clever gifts and gift cards. Today, the shop features a majority of local products with an emphasis on laughter and quirkiness. Some popular gifts that the store offers include Colorado socks and mountain jewelry. oldfriendslouisville.com • 706 Front St, Louisville

Erie’s Bridge Refill Market works diligently to reduce the use of plastic by providing shoppers with bulk refill options. Customers weigh their own containers that they bring before filling it with the product of their choice, purchasing just the contents of the jar. Like Nude Foods Market in Boulder and Simply Bulk Market in Longmont, Bridge Refill Market also provides bulk foods and other items like tea, spices, and cleaning supplies. The store also offers gift cards that make a great option for the eco-conscious gifter. bridgerefill.com • 285 Cheesman St, Erie

Boulder’s Classic Facets is an iconic vintage and estate store that provides unique rarities, ranging from the Georgian era to the Art Deco and modern periods. While the store isn’t the best option for those on a budget, it does provide an eco-conscious option since its emphasis is on vintage products. classicfacets.com • 942 Pearl St, Boulder

Longmont’s Absolute Vinyl is a local treasure that features a wide array of records and stereo equipment for the music lover. Open since 2009, this shop is both quaint and classic. While the vinyl market is a niche, it is eco-friendly, and it brings a warm, analog sound and vibe to the party. Instagram • 319 Main St, Longmont

Bricks on Main Street features souvenirs and gifts from dozens of Colorado-based companies, including t-shirts and specialty foods. The business often brings local musicians in to entertain visitors, and it hosts open mic and karaoke nights as well, making it a must-see stop in the area. bricksretail.com • 471 Main St, Longmont

Finally, Maker General is a Longmont-based store that features an array of hand-picked goods from local providers. The result is an eclectic store with unique items that range from homemade soap to embroidery kits. We also love that this store offers classes to those who want to learn how to sew and make their own products. A lost skill in most households, sewing better allows the eco-conscious person to repair and reuse clothing and items that they already have. What better way to support a sustainable and green planet? makergeneral.com • 381 Main St, Longmont

Yellow Scene Magazine maintains very strict editorial standards. We do not accept payment for our stories. The writer chose the businesses featured here, and we paid our writer to create this story. YS receives no monetary compensation for featuring local businesses that fit our storyline. It’s really sad we have to explain that. Concerned about maintaining local journalistic integrity? Support your local indie, $8/mo or more gets the printed copy delivered to your home and helps to keep communities informed.

Looking for additional ways to shop local? Check out our past Locavore Gift Guides.

Locavore Gift Guide: Sustainable, Local & Meaningful

This one is HUUGE!

Community over CEOs: Local Retail Guide 2022

Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter (and get our printed copy monthly at home.)

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. We’ve been telling the truth for 24 years. Your support helps us keep telling it for at least the next four years.