Thanksgiving

Celebrate Green with Thanksgiving ideas from our readers

(For our Thanksgiving tips, click here.)

Courtney Carlisle
Los Angeles, CA

This past Thanksgiving, our family went "green" for the holiday and have been trying to implement the same principles for each event that we have had since. With Thanksgiving being a little rustic and family-oriented, below are some of the following steps we took to "green" our holiday:

No paper invites - this was hard for me to give up, but we used email/evite instead. They have some really cute graphics that are very simple and obviously don't cause the waste. A good way to save money too. We also had an accurate head count.

Atmosphere - Before everyone came, we bought Method and Seventh Generation cleaning supplies as well as recycled paper towels (just in case) - I love the way the lavender Method floor cleaner and candles smell. We made sure that each bathroom had organic & paraben-free handwash - such as Kiss My Face and Avalon Organics. And, we lit soy candles - love the single scent candles from Essential-Stuff in LA.

Although it may have been better to use re-usable plates, we used Bambu plates and corn based cups and plasticware that we picked up at WholeFoods. They were great and very in line with the rustic theme. This was definitely a "kids" Thanksgiving - not super formal but very lovely and fun. (A good tip that we used before was putting hay bales out in the yard for extra seating - you can actually rent them, and of course, they are sustainable. Granted we are in California; so, it's a bit warmer here.)

We also set two trashcans - one for anything that may need to be recycled from what other brought to share, and used our compost system for appropriate leftovers - this was huge for reducing waste after we ate, and the flowers look fabulous six months later.

Food & Drink - where we could, we bought organic/free range and local. We bought biodynamic and organic wines to try and really liked a few that we tried.

Laura Turner Seydel
Atlanta, GA

For Thanksgiving instead of having a fresh floral centerpiece, I created an "edible" centerpiece made out of edible flowers, fruits, vegetables and lettuce. After finishing the meal, we can reuse the centerpiece and even make another meal from the ingredients.

After the Thanksgiving meal in addition to recycling, we compost in the backyard.

Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in a sustainable way? Tell us about it.

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