It was a great weekend for a party. And a party is totally in order to celebrate a first birthday. How a year has slipped away I don’t know but on July 24, 2009 Pumpkin was born and suddenly it was July 24, 2010. We made it!
There is some sort of mental hurdle in the first birthday – so much development (physical and mental) has transpired in the first year I marvel at how Pumpkin has so much energy to move (quickly, even) when he is constantly growing teeth and neurons and things. Not that he will stop growing and developing but the first year is huge. He has gone from a baby to a little boy. And Spouse and I have made it too – we’ve become parents. We have a blossoming boy – we must be doing ok. And if we made it through the first year we’re going to be alright moving forward. We just needed to carry out our last duty of the first year: the party.
What would we do? And how would we keep it granola? Parties are an easy place to go “fast food” – junk food, soda, disposable everything. Ug. I mentioned in “being a granola house guest” that I have become a killjoy for myself and that I try really hard not to squash the good times of others through my concern about waste and toxic exposure. How the heck was I going to throw a party?
Turns out, by finding a middle path, it wasn’t so bad. Here’s what we did – and why no one had their joy killed…
- Host the party in a park. Ok, this one was pretty much out of necessity…we wanted to invite a bunch of folks and our small house wasn’t going to be a great venue. But our local park has horseshoe pits, bocce courts, a splash pad, play ground and a pavilion (** See aside below about Pavilion Squatting). The splash pad was especially key as it gave everyone a chance to keep cool in the 100* heat. Free entertainment – very granola to use the resources at hand. The park worked perfectly. The kids alternated between bocce and splashing while the grown-ups alternated between chatting and splashing. Being able to hose down the birthday boy was a plus too – he wore more cake than he ate!
Cake: the perfect accessory!
- Serve good food. Since we were going to be in a park I looked into grilling – easy enough but HOT and it’s hot enough here already. Plus you normally end up with a lot of processed sides like chips, cheetos, soft drinks and so forth. What could we do instead? Well, we love pie. And it’s a birthday so there’s got to be cake. Add a couple other desserts and you have a desert buffet. And everyone in Vegas likes a good buffet. So that’s what we did: cake, pie, cookies, tiramisu, watermelon. Aside from the cake and the watermelon Spouse and I made all the desserts from scratch. The cake was from a local bakery and the watermelon originated in Mexico. It was definitely treat food, but there was nothing processed on the table. We skirted soda by offering lots of water (100* remember), iced tea and iced coffee. It was a fun spread, a little different and it went over well.
Licking the Beaters: his first taste of real whipped cream
- Cut back on disposables. Sure you can kill yourself by providing plates, silverware and cloth napkins for 30 and cleaning all that after the crowd leaves…but who actually owns that much dinnerware? And, in this case, who would cart it all to a park? We did a middle path here…huge Rubbermaid cooler for water…so yes there were plastic cups but no bottled water (that in addition to creating an empty bottle was trucked halfway across America from a tap in Texas to my grocery shelf). We brewed the coffee at home and used another large cooler for that. The iced tea was in gallon jugs poured into plastic cups. We used paper plates and napkins. So a fair amount of disposables, but I did get the “4 for $1” silverware at a big box store and we kept our forks. A small step to be sure, but a good move in building a stock of party supplies. If I use those forks at three parties they have become a better value than the middle quality plastic forks…and they can be used indefinitely. (Added bonus – if one goes missing there is no need to check the trash…they aren’t meant to be disposed but they aren’t precious either.)
And that is what we did to stay a little greener than your average summer party. This was easy enough and wasn’t obtrusive to the guests. For our next event we will step it up – maybe use compostable plates…maybe real glassware…maybe cloth napkins. What’s your next party? How granola can you make it? Clearly some events – small, in-home gatherings – are easier to make sustainable. Barbeques, work parties, church get-togethers, kids parties and summer do’s are hotbeds of disposable goods and junk food. But these parties need to be easy too – that’s part of why we have them! For fun! For relaxation! To forget about our worries! This middle path was a great way to do that – still a fun, easy, great-tasting good time and just a wee bit better for us and the environment.
**Aside regarding Pavilion Squatting
When we got the park (about 30 minutes prior to the published party start time) there was a man in the pavilion with 4 of the 6 tables dressed in plastic tablecloths and balloons. Also present were large packs of plates and napkins, cases of soda, bags of chips, pirate decor…clearly a party in the making. I knew this was a possibility…one pavilion, possibly many parties…we had been beaten to the space. But I wanted to check it out – maybe we could share. I asked the squatter how many folks they had coming and if he thought we could share the space. He responded that they had about 40 and that if we needed to we could use “that one” table. Hmm. Clearly we were not welcome. No worries…plan B: set up under the bocce court overhangs – near benches but no tables. We called our friend (and extraordinary priest) Helen and had her pick up and deliver a table from church as well as a camping table from her home – perfect. Helen saved the day. Now here’s the thing – we adapted and we had a great time; we didn’t stress about this particular detail. About three hours later, as we packed everything up – including our 2 makeshift tables – I saw that while the guard had shifted and there was a new guy squatting in the pavilion…there had yet to be a party. How unfortunate – on the personal level, these two men were enduring hours of unpleasantness, missing out on whatever other fun was being had at home and on a societal level, they were hogging a community resources when they had no need of it. The principles of Karma seemed to be already in action: selfish pavilion squatting rewarded with sitting alone in 100*+ weather shooing away citizen park users and missing time with birthday boy. I am guessing this isn’t how they saw it though. And I do wonder if they think it was worth it – and if they will be squatting again next July 24…
Note sad, empty pavilion on left...splashing hard to make out on right
