In the dawn of the eco-friendly movement, everything we do is now an attempt to help save the environment, little by little. We ride our bikes to work, bring our own reusable bags to the grocery store, recycle, compost, save water and energy, and ultimately attempt to reduce our carbon footprint. We are constantly seeing more businesses “going green” and doing their part to help clean up this planet.
But there are times when being eco-friendly is more difficult. It may not be as simple as using reusable bags, or not using the AC on a cool summer night. Throwing a party or hosting an event is one of those times when “going green” is not as simple. Every little detail of a party can be harmful to the environment, from the invitations to the food you choose.
Rouge Fine Catering can make it easier for you to go green when hosting your annual summer event. We are a certified Green Caterer with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Cylburn Arboretum, and Irvine Nature Center. Our catering company is committed to being socially responsible and environmentally friendly. If you need a catering company for your event, Rouge can help you get fantastic gourmet food as well as help keep your party green. Our eco-friendly options help make us the caterer of choice for the Organic Trade Association’s annual gala.
What do we do to help keep our company green? A lot more than you may think. At our facility in Hunt Valley, we compost our food waste and use single stream recycling. Our trash is sent to the World Recycling recovery facility and sorted out for reuse. And we also use a state-of-the-art solar powered trash compactor, which we are proud to say is the only one of its kind in the state of Maryland.
When it comes to our catering, we encourage our clients to use the “Green Program” that we developed, allowing them to choose the eco-friendly option wherever possible. We offer compostable plates and flatware for all of your clients—these plates and flatware require less energy during production and are made with a biodegradable material that is filled with nutrients and helps enrich the soil. We also work with local farms, cooperatives, and dairies, allowing us to offer our clients a delicious menu that uses local and sustainable ingredients.
Along with everything listed above, we also removed all high gas and oil consumption vehicles from our delivery fleet and are now using energy efficient vehicles. We recycle our used cooking oil, print on 100% post-consumer recycled paper, and help educate our clients and employees on different ways to make events eco-friendly.
Now that we have gone over what we do to be eco-friendly and reduce our carbon footprint, we will help give your tips on how to make the rest of your party or event green. Use Rouge Fine Catering at your next event and follow these tips to create a eco-friendly party.
Invitations
Let’s start by covering ways to be eco-friendly before the party even starts. Sending out paper invitations is obviously a waste of paper and can easily be swapped out with evites. Whether you just send an email out, create an event on Facebook and invite your friends that ways, or create a fancy online invitation, this is a great way to start you eco-friendly party. If you want every detail of this party to have a theme and expect your invitations to have a unique and creative design, you can use different services that can help you design the perfect invitation for your party. One of these is Paperless Post.
Decorations
From lighting to centerpieces, decorations can be harmful to the environment and cause a lot of waste. When planning on ways to decorate for your event, think about how to decorate in the most eco-friendly way possible.
Lighting
You may assume that lighting is a tricky aspect to go green with, but really it is easy to find ways to save energy and make your venue look beautiful. If your event is in the evening, utilize as much natural light as possible. But if you know it will begin to get dark before your guests head home, then have a second option. Create a calming and unique atmosphere for your guests by lighting your event area with a bunch of 100% soy based candles. Scatter them around the room and place a few on each table, allowing for guests to be able to see and mingle peacefully.
Place candles in jars, allowing them to emit light and be less of a fire hazard and take on the appearance of a stylish lantern. Or go with a real lantern look! If you are hosting your event outside, use solar powered string lanterns the use LED bulbs. Not only can they help light up your venue, but they also add a fun and decorative look. Another outdoor options is tiki torches with plant-based fuel. These are a stylish and useful way to add some light to your party, with the added benefit of keeping mosquitoes at bay.
There are many different ways to add eco-friendly lighting to your decoration and give your venue some style. Focus on using natural light, soy candles, LED bulbs, or solar powered lighting. These options can help you save energy and add some unique style to your party.
Centerpieces and Wall Decor
Streamers, balloons, confetti, and other regular party decorations are wasteful due to the fact that they are used once and then thrown away. To decorate the venue in the most eco-friendly way possible, make sure you find or create decorations that can be reused. Depending on your party theme you can easy find decorations that you can use and reuse.
If you are having a bridal shower collect flowers from your garden and fill vases to place on each table. Fill vases with pinecones or sand and candles, and use them as centerpieces. Use fabric streamers and banners that can be reused for years to come. You can make you own banner out of fabric or eco-friendly paper that you can use the next year as well.
These decorations can give your party a beautiful and earthy feel, adding a unique feel to you event. The main point of eco-friendly decorations is to make sure they can be reused for a few years. One-time-use decorations are what make decorating for a party harmful to the environment.
Transportation
When you send out your evites, request that your guests carpool or take a public form of transportation. If they live close, they could even ride their bikes or walk over to your event. Not everyone will want to do this, but if you offer prizes for those who do travel to your party in an eco-friendly way, there may be more of a chance that your guests become a little more eco-conscious.
Catering
If you choose to use a catering company for your event, choose one that can help you stick with your eco-friendly party goals. Rouge Fine Catering can offer you delicious and gourmet food that is prepared, served, and disposed of in an eco-friendly way.
Our food is locally sourced and menu uses sustainable ingredients. If you are looking to add seafood to your menu, we have just what you need. The seafood we used has been certified as sustainable by the National Aquarium in Baltimore, meaning that when you order seafood off of our menu, you will be helping with the overfishing problem that is affecting the global seafood population.
Not only do we offer eco-friendly food options, but we also can supply you with biodegradable tableware and clean up in an eco-friendly way. We try hard to make every aspect of our business are environmentally friendly and sustainable as possible. With our help and some green party planning, you can host an eco-friendly party that is stylish, offers delicious food, and helps reduce your carbon footprint!
These tips can help you throw an amazing party that doesn’t create a ton of waste. If fact, if there is leftover food afterwards, let your guests take home leftovers! They will love being able to take home our delicious food options and you won’t have to throw away a bunch of gourmet food!
Create the perfect party and help out our planet while doing it! Rouge Fine Catering can help you host the best eco-friendly party possible. To get started on planning your green party, contact Rouge today and check out our menu!