It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is little more than a week away! I’m sure your travel plans may already be in place, but there are some easy ways to practice green living this Thanksgiving.

Obviously, the biggest part of Thanksgiving is food. At least it is in my family. We all gather at my mom’s house and eat and eat and eat! There are snacks, sweets, turkey, trimmings, dessert, etc. Lots of food.

In order to save my mom headaches, time and money, each family brings an item. This saves her energy and money. Her oven isn’t on for 3 days straight and her fridge isn’t stuffed past full with food.

We do the turkey and we brine it. The brine lasts overnight and needs to be cold. Since it’s chilly this time of year, we put the turkey and brine ingredients in a cooler outside the back door. This saves space in our fridge and the turkey is always kept plenty cold. (We like this turkey with brine recipe.)

Other relatives do the side dishes and breads. If you’d like to conserve energy, or don’t have room in your oven to cook everything, try using your crockpot. Crockpots use less energy than a conventional oven, and there are lots of things that can be cooked in them. My mom likes to do a hot fruit salad, and I once cooked a pumpkin bread in ours. Some smokers and roasters also use less energy.

Once the food is out of the oven, leave the door open just a bit to let the air from the oven help warm the rest of your house. (Be careful if you have children or animals running around!)

Use fruits and veggies that are in season. Apples, squash, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and greens are all in season right now. They are some of the cheapest options at the store and many types will most likely be local. That means that less fuel was used to get them to your grocery store and your table.

Don’t offer a ridiculous amount of food. Instead of having two or three meats, several vegetables, two types of bread, and lots of desserts; have one meat, two or three veggies and only one dessert. With the economy like it is, it’s nice to cut back and be thankful for things like good health, happy family and jobs.

And if you really want to be green this thanksgiving, try a Tofurky.

Once you have the food settled, what about the table? Use pinecones and pine needles, pumpkins and holly berries for decorations, and if you’d like the ambience of candles, look for soy-based candles.

Instead of paper plates, use real dishes and utensils and cloth napkins. Yes, this will mean more clean-up, but hopefully you can enlist some extra hands once the meal is over.

For leftovers, re-use plastic containers that have been taking up space in your cupboards, or ask people to bring their own take-home containers.

After the meal, sit down and play family games. Don’t just turn on the TV and fall asleep! Set up a flag football game or start a game of Charades. Enjoy the company of your family, because it’s not often that everybody gets to gather together.

We usually start talking Christmas (or other holiday) plans at Thanksgiving. If the adults do a gift exchange, maybe you could consider foregoing the gifts and donating to a charity.

What green ideas are you going to use this Thanksgiving? I’m sure I’ve missed some and always love extra advice!

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something…green.

This traditional wedding saying gives you a good idea of where to start planning your green wedding. Instead of just one representative item for old and borrowed, how about adding as many old or borrowed things as possible.   If you do want or need something new, look for green options. The three R mantra of reduce, reuse, and recycle can be brought to one of the most important days of your life just as easily and cost effectively as you can bring it to everyday living.

I’m currently in the process of planning my own wedding and researching eco-friendly options. This is the first in a series of  blogs that will discuss most areas of planning a wedding (some of which can be adapted to other large events). I have chosen to arrange topics alphabetically for the sake of simplicity.

Attire

There are lots of eco-friendly options for your wedding dress, the rest of the bridal party and the tuxes.  Let’s start with the wedding dress.

Have you considered a previously worn gown?  It might be your grandmother’s, mother’s, sister’s, or a close friend’s.  This is both an environmentally conscious and cost effective choice.  Other previously worn ideas include renting your gown Rentagown.com or buying vintage.  When buying vintage, be sure to investigate whether the gowns are really vintage or just vintage style.  Vintage style means that they are really new dresses that are based on a vintage pattern, so purchasing one would have the same environmental impact as purchasing any other new gown.  One way to tell the difference is that “real” vintage dresses will usually mention that the dresses are restored and ready to wear or will comment on the condition of the gown.  Some vintage choices I found include Cherished Vintage Bridal Salon and TheFROCK.com.  Another great choice that also supports a great cause is Brides Against Breast Cancer. This site provides options for purchasing a once used or a sample couture gown and the proceeds are used to grant wishes for metastatic breast cancer patients as well as to support, educate and increase resource awareness.

There are also on line services such as The Dress Market and Pre Owned Wedding Dresses.com
where you can sell your own dress, purchase designer samples or salon
overstocks, or place a ‘wanted’ ad to find the perfect dress.

Are you set on having a new dress?  Consider purchasing one made with environmentally friendly fabrics after all hemp isn’t just for hippies anymore. There are some beautiful hemp and hemp/silk combination gowns at  Conscious Clothing.   There are also some sites that will make you a custom dress using environmentally friendly fabrics, of several that I looked at the three I found easiest to navigate and with plenty of options include (in no particular order) Olivia Luca, Threadhead Creations, and Tara Lynn Studio.And remember you can always donate this once worn gown to Brides Against Breast Cancer or chose an environmentally friendly way to preserve it for future generations.  There will be more about preserving your gowns in a future article.

In the past most bridesmaids did not want to preserve their gowns for anything, but thankfully these dresses no longer have the reputation for being hideous gowns in colors and styles that you would never want to wear again. The first step to choose dresses that your bridesmaids will want to reuse is to speak with them about colors and styles. Find out what they want. Frequently the people you chose to be your bridesmaids aren’t all the same shape, size, and/or complexion. Gone are the days of the “perfectly matched” bridesmaids so allow for some mixing and matching.  This could mean choosing a color
and allowing the bridesmaids to choose their own dresses that will fit
their personal style and body type.  Or chose a color and allow them to
pick shades of that color in the same dress that are more complementary
to their complexions.   There are also separates to chose from so that
even if they never wear the pieces together again, they could have a
great evening out top to pair with jeans or a nice skirt in a funky
color to pair with a more neutral tone that they could even wear to
work. Or if your bridesmaids like to party they may want a dress that they can wear on other formal occasions.

For those bridemaids who know they are not wearing their dress again, there are several charitable organizations that accept donations
of bridesmaids dresses and provide them at low cost or free as prom
dresses.  The Glass Slipper Project and The Princess Project are two choices, but check your local area or consider starting one.

Although it is more difficult to find used dresses for your entire bridal party, it is still possible to make the selection more environmentally friendly. Conscious Clothing also has a small selection of hemp and hemp/silk bridesmaid and flower girl dresses.

As with most of the wedding men don’t have as much to think about. Their typical choice of renting tuxes just happens to be an environmentally friendly option too. But if the
groom and/or groomsmen are in need of new suits Conscious Clothing
also offers hemp and hemp/tencel blend suits. Or if you’re planning an
informal wedding they may be able to wear suits they already own.

Keep posted for the next installment of Green Wedding 101:  Decorations

If you are in a hurry and can’t wait for the next installment of this blog check out these eco friendly wedding options for additional ideas.

Please note that neither I nor the site administrators have used any of these vendors, so I am not vouching for them.