Parties worth celebrating
Late winter in Southern Ontario is a tough time of year, when the grey slush on the streets leaks into your boots and into your spirit. The news can feel that way too, especially when it’s stacked with a near-pandemic, colonial violence, striking teachers, the latest Trump lies, and, of course, the terrifying climate change headlines that aren’t there but should be. Life can feel hard and heavy, so this week I’m looking for reasons to celebrate.
I love a party. I’m ready to celebrate all your milestones, even the small ones, and especially the ones that don’t usually get any fanfare: let’s have a party for your new job, your friendaversary, your first publication credit, your divorce, your tomato harvest, your year of sobriety, whatever. I’ll be there with snacks! I like holidays too, and while I’d sooner be cursed by a leprechaun than enter a pub on St. Patrick’s Day, one of my favourites occasions for a party is Earth Hour (coming up on March 28th), when we like to turn off the electric devices, light all the candles, and commit to some good analog fun, like making music or playing cards. Our best beloveds are our own supply of renewable energy, and in a world that too often replaces faces with avatars, the sound of real shrieks of laughter with limp LOLs, let’s put in some more time IRL — that in itself is something worth celebrating.
So this week’s challenge is simple: find something to celebrate. But let’s do it without making the planet worse.
Consider what’s on the table.
The biggest climate choice at your gathering is what you eat. Hosting can be an excuse to splurge, so use those dollars not just to avoid harm (by limiting high carbon foods) but to do good by investing in sustainable agriculture and your local food economy. To lower your fiesta’s footprint, consider a meat-free celebration (which at a traditionally meat-centric meal could start some worthwhile conversations).
Share your lefties.
Though I know this gang tries to avoid food waste, leftovers happen. And rather than be left with a quantity of cake you’ll regret eating or enough salad to satisfy a ravenous bunny horde, why not send it home with guests? Raid your recycling bin for jars, yogurt containers, etc., and encourage people to take a little bit of the party to-go.
Don’t skip the dishes.
Throwing a party can be a lot of work, so often it’s tempting to rely on disposables. But using real dishware is not only pretty and classy, it’s less work than you might think. (And this is coming from someone who doesn’t have a dishwasher.) Now perhaps you’re short on place settings, but you could
borrow from a friend. Especially useful for things like water pitchers, platters, etc.
borrow (for free!) from the wonderful PlateShare.ca. Folks all over Toronto (including yours truly) host various sets, for both grown-up gatherings and kid-focused fiestas. (And, if you’re not in Toronto, but have dish sets to share, why not post them on a community group or start bringing them to gatherings?)
get creative: jam jars make great tumblers, tumblers can become wine glasses, and so on.
rent from a party rental place. This costs a bit more, it can be worth it for special occasions or really large gatherings. (Plus: no dish washing!)
ask people to bring their own. It works well for really large groups, or when you’re headed to parks, playgrounds, and the like. You’re also helping normalize a sustainable practice — culture change starts with looking like a weirdo, but later you’ll look like a visionary.
If you do turn to some disposables, pause your party to tell people how to sort their trash: in Toronto, soiled paper plates and napkins go in the compost; plastic glasses, solo cups, and white plastic cutlery go in the recycling.
Don’t decorate the landfill.
There’s a whole aisle at the dollar store I like to call “seasonal pre-garbage,” because it’s just flimsy crap making a pit stop on its way to trash town. When you’d like some decor, forego the turtle-killing balloons and flimsy streamers and try something else:
borrow from friends: my parents entered a Christmas house decoration contest this year and made several rooms look like Sears Wishbook covers by asking pals to raid their attics and basements.
borrow some decor from Mother Nature: at basically any time of year, you can find beautiful things to decorate a table, whether it’s branches with a few red winter berries, evergreen boughs, fall gourds, wildflowers, or the first blooms of spring.
find or make a reusable option. My friend P made some beautiful fabric bunting she brings out at many a party occasion, and I have my own felt bunting that says EAT CHIPS, which is the message I want to bring to every occasion.
Feel good, do good.
Community Food Centres Canada, which supports hotspots for healthy food in low-income communities, runs an annual event called the Big Social, where people host dinners and encourage guests to donate the money they would have spent on bringing wine to CFCC. In November 2019, people all over the country had dinner parties that raised $375,000 to support food-insecure folks. Fundraisers don’t have to be limited to running marathons or (heaven forbid) climbing the CN Tower: sometimes it can be as simple as enjoying good food with friends. Choose a cause you care about and let the money roll in.
Embrace questions.
Not the questions about when you’re going to get married or find a nice guy or finally give your kid a sibling or whatever (unprompted v. personal questions should go directly to landfill), but about some of the eco choices you’ve made for this shindig, or the bigger but important questions about the climate crisis and related issues. Talk about why it matters for you, and look for genuinely shared values. Start with the personal, rather than the politics.
A while ago I decided to have more climate talks with those near and dear to me, and while it can be a buzzkill sometimes, this is important climate work. It helps offset “pluralistic ignorance,” where we’re unwilling to speak up because we don’t know what other people are thinking, but we don’t know what other people are thinking because we’re not talking about it. Don’t underestimate the value of a human beside you saying, “I’m scared too.”
BONUS: Jen’s impossibly delicious party popcorn
Y’all liked last week’s recipes, so here’s my go-to for any gathering. It’s also vegan, gluten-free, not terrible for you, and can be zero waste. It takes about 7 minutes to make, and a stockpot full will cost you roughly $1.
Ingredients
approx. 2 tbsp coconut oil (or another oil)
1 cup white kernel popcorn (it’s so much better than the usual yellow kernels and available at Bulk Barn)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for drizzling
Method
On medium heat, melt coconut oil in large stock/pasta pot.
Place two kernels into the oil, cover pot.
When you hear the kernels pop, add the rest of the kernels, and re-cover the pot.
Shake the pot now and again. When it gets to three seconds or so between pops, remove from heat.
Drizzle with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. Devour.
TL;DR
The most high-impact choice you’ll make is what you serve: choose lower carbon foods when possible and offer people leftovers.
Borrow, rent, or use a service like PlateShare.ca to fill out your dishware for a party.
Skip the direct-to-dumpster decor; borrow some or get crafty.
Dinner parties can make great fundraisers, and any occasion is a chance to talk about climate change.
Learn more to level up
Sarah has a great post on zero waste birthday parties for kids. (She’s also well worth a follow on IG!)
Wins of the Week
“I’ve been thinking, How do I want to be for the rest of my time in this place, where it’s just going to continue to get much more difficult for a lot of humans? . . . I think what I need to do is think about it in terms of: Who lives on my street? Who am I near? How do we take care of each other? How do I make the small places and times feel good? And then the real question is: What can I learn from that, which I can then share with a larger group of people?” — Samin Nosrat, in this delightful New Yorker interview
With the help of their investment firm, Emily and her husband divested their RRSP of fossil fuels!
My sisters Jaime and Kelly have both been snatching food from the jaws of the landfill like it’s their job.
I refilled my shampoo at my local co-op, where it cost about $4 less than a new bottle.
Please share your eco wins so we can celebrate! And thanks as always for reading, for liking, and for sharing. Till next week!
— JK
FlashFood for the win!