Let your green flag fly over hit holiday parties

November 20, 1:33 PMLA Green Life ExaminerVicki Godal

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Being a fabulous party giver during the holidays while remaining an erstwhile green lifer is all about your purchasing choices. The real green holiday challenge is about how little you can produce, in terms of your carbon footprint, waste generation and energy consumption. This actually makes life easier. To create the greenest parties ever, you just need a few green guidelines.   Making a few changes in your making merry can really make a green difference. Why shouldn’t you carry on as usual and make the big changes after the New Year? Here’s why. Between Thanksgiving and New Years Day, Americans toss an extra million tons of trash weekly. That’s a low ball average. That’s not the kind of Christmas spirit you want to create, is it?

Let’s just track our party planning steps and look for the greenest paths. We’ll start with invitations. During the holidays, about 2.6 billion cards are sent annually. In fact, the paper industry is the third largest generator of greenhouse gases. Practically speaking, an Evite is the most sustainable invitation practice, inviting guests online and forgoing a hard copy invitation altogether. However I do agree that there’s something so old school elegant about sending and receiving lovely invitations and RSVP’s, so lets take the next best step and look for companies that can help us create “green invitations.”  Green invitations will be made from recycled paper, organic cotton paper, kenaf or hemp paper. Kenaf and hemp papers are good because they are both sustainable and easy to grow without pesticides. For recycled and tree-free papers online, check out www.vickeroy.com or www.crane.com. To actually see and touch the paper, Los Angeles has a variety of eco friendly stationary shops for you to peruse including Urbanic Paper Boutique, Invitations by Ferial, Kelly Paper, Soolip Papier and Press or Xpedx Paper and Graphics. Avoid papers and cards with embedded metallic sparkles or that are coated with plastic as they cannot be recycled.

Once you’ve got the invitations out and you know your basic holiday theme, its time to decorate. Decorating green is great fun especially if you discover ways to decorate that are chic and earth friendly. LED lights or mini incandescent lights are the way to go for holiday trees and outdoor lighting. They are more expensive than regular holiday lights but they last forever and they really reduce energy emissions. Let’s compare, a 300 light string of mini incandescent lights uses 30 kilowatt hours of energy and emits 45 pounds of CO2. A string of LED lights use barely any energy and they never get hot which is a plus. A regular holiday light string will use a whopping 450 kilowatts of energy during the holidays and emit up to 700 pounds of CO2.  You see how those tiny little lights can make a huge difference in energy used and emitted, is that not amazing? You can buy LED lights at Target, Costco, Lowe’s or www.christmas-treasures.com.

Now, for the crowning gem of Christmas, the tree, the most sustainable thing you can do is to purchase your tree from tree growers that you want to keep in business. Alternatively, you can decorate houseplants or purchase a potted tree to plant outdoors after the holidays. Visit your farmers' market (www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/map.htm) or check www.localharvest.org for nearby nurseries and organic tree farms. For tree care, see www.forestry.iastate.edu.

For wreaths, Darthia Farms has organic balsam fir wreaths decorated with pine cones, rose hips and a bow, mantelpiece greens of organic balsam fir, pine and cedar or centerpieces with candles (www.meweb.net). For a different look,  McFadden Farm's has organic three-herb wreaths, or bay leaf wreaths which can be used for holiday seasonings for your meals (www.mcfaddenfarm.com). Rogue Harbor Farm's has certified organic Fraser fir wreaths (www.localharvest.org).

Now its time to do some serious decorating. Choose Fair Trade Federation (FTF)-certified options for you’re decorating like Crossroads Trades Cambodian silk stars or stuffed Himalayan snow lions (www.crossroadstrade.com). Lucuma Design's sweet cat and bat lead-free gourd ornaments (www.lucuma.com) are also FTF-certified. FTF-certified, olive wood nativity ornaments are made in the Mosleh Workshop on the West Bank and embroidered sun ornaments from Tara Projects in Delhi, India (www.tenthousandvillages.com). Best of all, get friends and family together to make decorations from old Christmas cards, gingerbread cookies, origami patterns, ribbons or the gold standard of home made decorations, popcorn-and-cranberry garland.

You jammed through your to do list, and now you are on to the most challenging portion of our holidays. Food and drink and everything they involve. Let’s start with our table. For holiday centerpieces, choose recycled glass, sustainable woods or non-toxic dyed ceramics. A small replantable evergreen is beautiful for a larger table.  For dinnerware, Vivaterra.com has  lovely, sustainable, recycled dinnerware and utensils. For organic cloth napkins, try rawganique.com, otherwise look for recycled napkins and tie pretty ribbons around them.
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Regarding food, we Americans are notorious food wasters. More than 25% of the food prepared for human consumption in America gets thrown out each year, that’s 50 million tons of chow. That said, skip the buffet layout, instead offer bite sized appetizers, entrees and desserts. For a pre-dinner affair, allow three to five pieces per person, for a dinner event, 10 – 12 pieces per person. For an after dinner party, allow six to eight pieces per person. If you are working with a caterer, make sure they are organic and sustainable. If you are preparing the food, find out if your local shelters accept leftovers and how should it be given to them.

Now after all this work, we deserve a drink. And this is where you can use a little of the money you’ve saved on energy. Uncommongoods.com has gorgeous glasses and vases made from recycled bottles. You can toast the fact that you're using a thing of beauty made from something originally headed for a landfill. Greenwithglamour.com offers a beautiful table more elegant with this pearlescent hand-blown Italian wine carafe and uniquely shaped glasses made in a wind-powered studio. Biodynamic wines made with love and organic cocktails will make spirits soar. Frey Vineyards are a definite eco choice. Frey Vineyards is the oldest and largest organic winery in the United States. They were also the first in the country to produce Biodynamic® wines. Take some time and look over their wine list. (www.freywine.com) For all things mixer, my hands down favorite is ModMix. (www.modmixbeverages.com) These mixers are made with the finest organic ingredients and each flavor tells its own story. From French Martinis to Mojitos to Wasabi Bloody Mary, these organic mixers add the crowning touch to a holiday soiree. So what are you going to do? Slink into your little green dress and enjoy the compliments you’re going to get on your most excellent green holiday party.

For more info:  www.Invitationsbyferial.com, www.Kellypaper.com, www.Soolip.com,www.Urbanicdesigns.com , www.Xpedxstores.com, www.Target.com, www.Costco.com, www.Lowes.com, www.christmas-treasures.com, www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/map.htm, www.localharvest.org, www.forestry.iastate.edu, www.meweb.net, www.mcfaddenfarm.com), www.localharvest.org, www.crossroadstrade.com, www.lucuma.com, www.tenthousandvillages.com, www.Uncommongoods.com, www.greenwithglamour.com