Green Daily

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I have a "big" birthday coming up soon, so lately I've been thinking about parties. Gone are the days of buying loads of paper plates and matching plastic forks. No more throw away decorations, or gag gifts, and don't even think about mylar balloons!

All that doesn't mean we can't have fun festivities. We just have to be more thoughtful ...

Invitations
I love paper, but electronic invitations are the way to go. It's faster, easier for people to reply and you know it's less wasteful. Email or Evites!

Themes and Gifts
From kids to adults, more people are having a theme party to raise money for a beloved cause. Guests are asked to donate to a specific organization rather than bring a gift. It might raise traditional etiquette eyebrows, but imagine how good you'll feel saving the rainforests while dancing the Samba and drinking celebratory caipirnhas, or funding cancer research while enjoying pink grapefruit sorbet and rocking out to Pink?

Check out Echoage, an online service for kids parties that lets you organize the entire thing -- from invitations to donation -- online.

Cakes and Party Food
Food can be a great way to bring your theme to life. As always, pick food that is in season, grown locally and of course organic. Rather than buying a lot of packaged "party" foods, like chips and candies, roast up some spiced nuts (bought in bulk), or make your own sweet potato chips. How about a cake with edible flowers?

And remember, you can reuse those beeswax birthday candles!

Servingware
No, you can't buy that jumbo pack of plastic sporks at Costco. But that doesn't mean you'll have to do dishes for two days after your event.

Stalk Market plates are made of sugar cane, and are surprisingly sturdy. Even better, you can recycle or compost them. Pair them up with utensils made of corn or other vegetable starch, which are also compostable. Also compostable are cold cups made from corn -- especially good if your tipsy guests can't be trusted with the good crystal!

This way you can sweep leftovers, plates and utensils into a paper bag, and dump it all in your composting bin. When you clean up, you'll be helping your garden grow!

Decorations
What's a party without decorations? Before you hit the party superstore, check out Green Party Goods, an online party store with neat eco-friendly decorating options like garlands made of muslin flowers or biodegradeable paper butterflies.

Before you set up vases of cut flowers, consider festive potted plants, or arrangements of fruit. A bright bowl of oranges and limes smells as great as it looks, and you can always use them to garnish drinks!

And believe it or not, latex balloons are actually biodegradable and fairly earth-friendly. So you can have your balloon bouquet and still be green!