How To Have A Sustainable New Year’s Eve Party For 2023

Your New Year’s Eve party is planned, you have your outfit ready, the decorations are all set, and the guests have been invited. The only thing missing is a sustainable New Year’s Eve party that will not leave you with a ton of waste in the end!

Sounds like a very challenging task, but we can make it easy for you and show you how to plan a sustainable New Year’s Eve party that won’t cost you much time or effort after the party.

A sustainable New Year’s Eve party doesn’t happen by accident; it requires careful planning and execution on all fronts to ensure that this special night is one you and your guests will remember for many years to come.

Reduce Waste From The Beginning

This is perhaps the most crucial step in sustainable New Year’s Eve party planning. You can create all the sustainable party elements you want, but if you don’t reduce your guests’ waste from the very first moment, you are setting yourself up for failure. So here are a few things you can do to start reducing waste from the very beginning.

• Communicate with your guests about their waste – You can do this when you send out the invitations to the party. Tell them about the types of waste that you can reduce, like using reusable water bottles, avoiding plastic straws and even bringing their snacks instead of buying packaged ones.

• Provide reusable dishes, cutlery and napkins – When serving food, you can provide reusable plates and cutlery for everyone. You can also have a couple of bigger bowls and platters around the party so people can serve themselves. With napkins, you can either go with paper napkins or reusable cloth ones.
• Creating A Zero Waste Party – If you want to go all the way and create a zero-waste party that will leave you with almost no waste afterward, you can make some changes to the way you plan your party. Here are a few things you can do to make your sustainable New Year’s Eve party more zero waste.

• Keep The Food Simple – Food is usually the biggest source of waste at a party. So if you go all out with fancy dishes and over complicate your menu, you are going to have lots of leftover food that will end up in the trash. Keeping your menu simple and easy to eat with your hands will reduce the waste considerably.

• Serve Finger Food – Another thing you can do is serve finger food instead of having a sit-down dinner. This will keep the waste to a minimum and make it easier for you to clean up after the party.

• Don’t Use Disposable Plates and Utensils – Instead of using disposable plates and cutlery, you can go with reusable ones or just have a few disposable plates and cutlery for messy and sticky foods like tacos and pizza.

• Avoid Additional To-go Containers – Parties often have a lot of leftovers and to-go containers. This is something you can avoid at a zero waste party by not serving the food in disposable containers in the first place. Instead, serve the food in reusable containers like bowls and plates, and have people take seconds by serving the leftovers in the same containers they were in the first time around.

Keep the party local

The guests at your sustainable New Year’s Eve party will use less energy and emit fewer greenhouse gases if you choose to have the party in your neighbourhood or city.

You can organise the party at a local bar or restaurant and avoid long road trips by inviting your guests to your house. If you decide to go with a restaurant, make sure to choose one that uses sustainable practices and buys its ingredients locally where possible.

Use eco-friendly decorations

New Year’s Eve decorations can be very wasteful, but with a little creativity, you can create eco-friendly decorations that will look just as good, if not better than the regular ones. Here are a few eco-friendly decoration ideas you can use at your sustainable New Year’s Eve party.

• Use Natural Materials – You can use natural materials like branches, flowers, and leaves to create decorations for your sustainable New Year’s Eve party. There are plenty of examples online where you can find inspiration for sustainable decorations.

• Use Recycled Decorations – You can use recycled decorations that have been used at other parties before. These decorations are often found at flea markets and thrift stores. You can also look for second-hand decorations online and on social media.

• Get Creative – Another way to make your decorations more sustainable is by getting creative and making them yourself. You can make paper and fabric flowers, paper crafts, and other decorations that don’t require any materials.

• Be mindful of fairy lights – Fairy lights are a popular decoration, but they can be very wasteful. So if you decide to use fairy lights in your sustainable New Year’s Eve party decorations, make sure you use energy-efficient ones that use less electricity.

Go easy on the booze and have refillable cocktails

One of the biggest sources of waste at parties is the empty bottles and cans left behind. Each American party guest leaves an average of 25 cans and bottles behind as waste. You can reduce this amount by having less alcohol and serving refillable cocktails. You can also encourage your guests to bring their alcohol if you want to reduce the amount of alcohol used at your sustainable New Year’s Eve party.

What to wear

Celebrate the New Year by donning a vintage outfit. If you don’t have anything suitable, borrow from a buddy with a wonderful wardrobe, or better yet, rent an outfit. It’s not necessary to rush out and buy a disposable dress from the mall when there are plenty of sustainable alternatives to consider.

While sequins are a must-have for New Year’s Eve, they are typically created from plastic that ends up in landfills or the ocean where it is mistaken for food by marine life. Buying something you will love and wear often instead of anything with sequins would be a reasonable compromise if you need to buy something new.

Activities

Activities are a great way to reduce waste at a party and keep your guests entertained at the same time. You can also use activities to encourage your guests to bring their alcohol and reduce the amount of alcohol served at your sustainable New Year’s Eve party. Here are a few ideas for activities you can use at your sustainable New Year’s Eve party.

• Board Games – Board games are a great way to keep your guests engaged and entertained while reducing the amount of waste created at the same time. You can use board games as a central point of attraction where people can gather and mingle with each other during the party.

• Card Games – Card games are also a great way to keep your guests engaged during the party. You can encourage your guests to play card games that don’t require any materials and can be played with a standard deck of cards.

• Dancing – Dancing is a great way to keep your guests entertained at the party and reduce the amount of waste created. You can turn on some music and ask your guests to get on the dance floor.

• Karaoke – If you want to go all out and create a sustainable New Year’s Eve party that won’t leave you with any waste afterward, you can go karaoke and guests can sing their hearts out without leaving any waste behind.

Don’t forget your guests — give them something to take home

Besides having fun and reducing the amount of waste created at the party, you can give your guests something to take home as a souvenir from your sustainable New Year’s Eve party.

You can give them reusable bags, mugs, and other eco-friendly party favors. This way, your guests can remember your sustainable New Year’s Eve party and how they helped reduce the amount of waste they created while they were there.

Conclusion

If you have the motivation and enthusiasm to take these measures, you can have a New Year’s Eve celebration that is more environmentally friendly. If you put in the effort to follow these principles, you will be able to throw a magnificent party that will make both your guests and the earth happy.

Who knows, by hosting a party that is mindful of its impact on the environment, you could even encourage others to adopt similar practices in the future when they host parties. To keep it sustainable, keep the party local, keep it simple, and keep it eco-friendly.