Holiday Hostess Gifts

This is the time of year for open houses and holiday parties, and with those events come the obligatory hostess gifts. This year, think outside the box of chocolates and get creative with tokens of appreciation that are appropriate and eco-friendly.

Five Green Hostess Gifts:

Wine: Wine is a customary selection as a hostess gift, and usually is appreciated (and consumed). This year, ask your wine purveyor for a good local or organic selection. Fetzer is a commonly found, inexpensive vintner that follows environmentally-friendly practices.

Water Bottle: Get your hostess off the (water) bottle by giving him/her a reusable stainless steel water bottle. Green Irene has a variety of sizes (from 10-33 ounces) in vibrant colors, and even offers bottles with sport tops and with water filters. This gift will set the tone for a great green New Year.

Houseplant: Houseplants brighten a dreary winter day while helping to clear the air (which often needs to be done after get-togethers with family!). Plants help freshen up the house by increasing the amount of available oxygen and filtering a variety of pollutants.  

Tote Bags: Give the gift that keeps on giving! Green Irene’s reusable eco-tote is a terrific green alternative to disposable plastic shopping bags! Your friend will think of you every time s/he uses one of these colorful bags! Composed entirely of durable and lightweight ripstop nylon, this tote will carry up to 30 pounds and hold the equivalent of three disposable shopping bags.

Time: The gift of time is often the most appreciated. Offer a gift certificate for leaf raking or snow shoveling for a neighbor. Offer free babysitting for a new mother. Match your talents with the other person’s needs and you’ll have the perfect gift.

Ellen Hall
Eco Consultant
Green Irene
Greening Our World One Home and Small Business at a Time
http://www.GreenIrene.com/CincyDaytonEllen
513-932-7304

Eco-Feasting

Are you ready for Thanksgiving yet? As you prepare, consider bringing some eco-friendliness to holiday meals with these great tips from Green Irene.

If you’re cooking for the holidays, go local with your food shopping to reduce your carbon footprint. See how much of your meal you can find at your local farmers’ markets. For supermarket purchases, try to choose items with minimal packaging to reduce waste. As always, bring reusable bags to reduce waste from disposable shopping bags. If you’re bringing your food to someone else’s house, pack your dish in a reusable container.

Go organic with your ingredients. Don’t forget to go organic with beverages as well; look for organic and local wines, beers, and non-alcoholic drinks. Fair-trade chocolate, tea, and coffee will also add some green to your holiday table.

Green Irene offers a terrific solution that easily produces sparkling water and soda in seconds, eliminating the need to carry, store and dispose of bottles and cans. The Green Irene Sodamaker uses a carbonator and glass carafe to make dozens of flavors of soda (or just sparkling water) as you need it. Rather than bottled flat water, invest in a great water filter and fill pitchers of water (rather than a cheap pitcher filter, invest in a more effective premium 10 stage filter like the one Green Irene recommends).

Serving turkey? Choose a heritage bird. Prized for their flavor, heritage turkeys may cost more than conventional birds, but they are raised naturally rather than in an industrial setting. Purchasing a pastured local bird or an organic bird from your supermarket are also other possibilities to consider when looking for the best holiday turkey for your family.

Recycle and compost while preparing food. Keep a bin handy for glass, plastic and paper trash you can recycle rather than toss. Add vegetable scraps from cooking and dinner to your compost. Green Irene offers a great automated indoor composter that operates without the hygiene or odor issues that can occur with indoor composting.

Adjust the thermostat down a couple of degrees during holiday gatherings in cooler climates. The heat from cooking and from your guests will keep your home warm.

Disposable plasticware is energy intensive to produce and can take thousands of years to degrade in a landfill. Providing cloth napkins and reusable tableware is the best option, but can make for a lot of cleanup work. When reuse isn’t an option, go green at your holiday parties by using biodegradable tableware. Green Irene offers a line of “bagasse” (sugarcane) tableware and cups that fully biodegrade within 60-90 days, unlike plastic or coated paper products which can take thousands of years to decompose. The sugarcane stalk fibers used in its production are also an easily renewed resource, unlike petroleum or wood used in most paper or plastic tableware.

If you’re traveling to enjoy dinner at someone else’s house, carpool with family, friends, or neighbors. If you need to fly for the holidays, consider purchasing carbon offsets to keep your travel carbon neutral. Green Irene sells a BeGreen Flying Offset card to make this easy.

Use all the food you make. Send guests home with leftovers in glass or stainless steel rather than wrapped in plastic or aluminum foil. Freeze leftovers in easily reheatable portions.

A few of these steps can go a long way in reducing your holiday dinner’s environmental footprint. Your local Eco-Consultant is your source for the great products mentioned above, and they can provide you with even more ideas for waste reduction and greening your holiday table.

Do you have other tips for greening Thanksgiving? Share them with us in the comments below!

Enjoy a Green Easter!

Commentary: Green Irene can help you celebrate Easter by GOING Green. This is a perfect time of the year to go green either as part of the holiday or as a gift. Green Irene’s Green Home Makeover can help you take the first important steps towards going green by identifying where you can make the biggest reductions in your footprint. In addition, Green Irene offers GREEN Gift Bags at SHOPGREENIRENE to help you green up your gift-giving activities these holidays. To learn more about the Green Home Makeover and other products and services Green Irene offers, contact your Local Green Irene Eco-Consultant today.

As you prep for this Easter holiday
Try to do it in an eco-friendly way
Dye your eggs with veggies and fruit
And try a reusable basket to hold all your loot.

Green Eggs and Easter

Easter’s almost here and its time to start dying eggs and prepping baskets for the Easter bunny. But instead of reaching for the boxes of chemical dye, try using all-natural ingredients to color your eggs and fill your baskets.

- Skip the plastic baskets and grass that traditionally fills them. Instead, opt for a basket made from reusable materials, or get funky and use a watering pail, or that purse your daughter’s been eyeballing. Then, replace the plastic grass with newspaper clippings or old magazines.

- This year, leave the harsh chemicals at the store when it’s time to get decorating. Eggs can be dyed with everything from spices to fruits and vegetables. Simply pick the color you’re looking for (example: raspberries for red) and follow the recipe below to make your own natural Easter egg dyes.

Recipe for Natural Easter Egg Dyes

1. Add a small amount of water to whichever food you’re using.

2. Bring these items to a boil in a pot and then strain any solids out of the mixture and allow water to cool.

3. Add 2 or 3 teaspoons of white vinegar per cup of dye produced.

4. Submerge the eggs (just as you normally do) and allow them to sit until desired color is reached.

Article Excerpted from Smart2BeGreen.

Rosamaria Caballero Stafford
Co-Founder and the Original Green Irene