Celebrating the joining of two people is a beautiful thing. If you’re hosting a bridal shower, you can make it even more beautiful by giving your favorite bride a shower that’s both good for her and the planet.
There’s no need to think you have to do everything here. Choose the tips that work best for you as the planner and your guest of honor. The goal is to keep it eco-friendly, but also fun. Here’s how…
Create an eco-friendly atmosphere for your bridal shower
There are many ways to decorate a space in an eco-friendly fashion to create a beautiful, celebratory atmosphere for your green bridal shower. Doing so will set an earth-friendly mood that’s festive and worth talking about.
- Choose eco-friendly table centerpieces. This can include things like soy-based candles, potted plants, or recycled glass vases filled with organic flowers. Better yet, grow your own plants and flowers and use them to decorate your bridal shower.
- Skip disposables. Instead of things like streamers, balloons, and confetti that will just be thrown away when the party is over, work with decoration items that are repurposed and can be reused once the party is over. Things like pretty fabrics, strings of home grown flowers, or kitchen towels that double as gifts.
- Table linens and dishes. Don’t decorate with paper tablecloths and disposable plates. Let’s face it – they can be a bit on the tacky side. They’re also wasteful and resource-consuming. Use cloth linens, real serving dishes and utensils, and washable dishes and glasses. And if you don’t have enough, ask the other guests to bring some with them when they come.
Select green bridal shower menu and skip party favors
The next thing to tackle is what to serve your green bridal shower guests. Good food helps people feel comfortable and gets them talking, and all the more with eco-friendly choices. Here are some tips for planning a sustainable menu for your bridal shower crew:
- Serve organic, fair trade items: You’ll find that you can buy organic fruits and vegetables, Fair Trade coffees and teas, as well as flowers!
- Bake a green bridal cake: You will also be able to find things like organic flour, sugar, dairy, nuts, fruits, and seeds for a festive and tasty bridal shower cake. Drizzle it with Fair Trade, organic chocolate and you’ll be all set!
- Green favors: Don’t send your guests home with something that’ll just be trashed when the walk in their front door. Make your bridal shower favors (if any) ones that are practical and eco-friendly. Choose items made from biodegradable, recycled, recyclable, and natural ingredients, and ensure that they’re high quality. Better yet, send guests home with the plants or floral centerpieces!
Help the bride select greener bridal shower gifts
In addition to working with your bride to select green gifts for her registry (she may do it on her own if she’s a green bride), make it easier for your guests to help with these tips:
- Display showers: These are really fun and much simpler than conventional bridal shower gift giving. Instead of everyone bringing wrapped gifts, have them bring unwrapped gifts and skip the gift opening. It’ll cut down on paper consumption and make for a wonderful talking piece!
- Reusable wrappings: Encourage guests to wrap their gifts in reusable “wrappings” like tea towels, linens, fabric gift bags, or fabric wrapping scarves.
- Assist the bride with wedding planning: Instead of another “thing,” give the bride something that helps make the wedding planning process easier. Think along the lines of giving them a couple’s massage gift certificate or pitch in to help with the expense of a green wedding planner.
- Give back: Ask your guests to bring a little something extra for the planet, such as financial donations for the bride’s favorite eco-charity or items for the local animal shelter.
The post How To Host a Green Bridal Shower appeared first on Green Child Magazine.