Earth Day is celebrated every year on April 22^nd in more than 175 countries! This year, why not throw a party to inspire awareness and appreciation for Madame Earth?

Here are some suggestions on throwing a fabulous Earth Day party…if you have additional ideas, I’d love to hear them!

1.  Use electronic invitations to save money, and more importantly, a tree or two!  The best sites to use are: Paperless Post, Facebook, Evite, or someecards. Another option would be to create invites from old Christmas Cards that are bound to be lying around.

2.  Set up a recycling bin available to arriving guests and require each person to provide one recycled item as their “admission” fee.  Or, you could set up a bin for the needy and ask each person to bring one canned item to donate to a local food bank.

3. Prepare foods with organic and local ingredients; if possible, offer a strictly vegetarian menu.  After all, eating vegetarian one day each week reduces environmental impact to a greater extent than eating a completely local diet. And make sure to carry everything in a lovely picnic basket.

4. Purchase eco-friendly beverages.  A favorite of mine is eco.love Wine…particularly the Sauvignon Blanc which pairs fabulously with brie (my fave cheese!), cheddar and Humboldt fog.  Eco.love Wine is made in New Zealand at the first carboNZero Cert™ winery in the world. This means a sustainable approach to farming, composting and winemaking, utilizing clean production methods throughout.  They use recycled glass for their bottles, natural inks for labeling and ensure the continual restoration of a natural wetland habitat beside the winery.  I highly recommend checking them out…you can do so by clicking here!  Eco.love Wine also has an initiative called Share the Love, which not only encourages good deeds, but also rewards them!

5.  Use Bamboo plates/utensils, cloth napkins, and reusable (or compostable) cups.  You could even encourage guests to bring their own which would also lessen the stress on the host(s) for post-party clean-ups.

6.  Provide a compost pile for food scraps, compostable plates and/or eating utensils.

7.  Have plenty of outdoor games like bocce, croquet, horseshoes, frisbee etc.  Take this day to bask in the sun and appreciate the beautiful Earth we inhabit. Embrace your stylish self and show up with a Chanel bocce set…:-)

8.  Finally, you can give seeds (check out Nature Favors) or tin cans planted with garden herbs as a party favor.  Make your own, or purchase pre-made ones such as the Wildflower Confetti in a Pot featured here!

Happy Planning!!