Environmentally friendly New Year's Eve party ideas

Whether you’re planning a low-key meal with friends or a large-scale blowout, why not throw an eco-friendly NYE celebration that brings the year to a fitting close?

Low-waste decorations

Decorations are the first things your guests will see as they arrive, so set the tone with sustainable décor.

Glitter and glossy coatings on banners and bunting can make card- and paper-based versions unsuitable for recycling. Whether made entirely from plastic or decorated with synthetic materials, they’ll often end up in landfill, where they will persist for years.

Reduce your party’s waste by reusing materials left over from Christmas or sourcing decorations constructed with recycled content. Garlands, bunting, and streamers can all be made using saved wrapping paper, so even non-recyclable materials are reused.

A simple, low-waste decoration idea (which doubles as a fun party activity) is to make homemade photo props. Just cut cardboard into whimsical shapes and mount them on long wooden skewers.

Use lights to create atmosphere

Rearrange existing Christmas lights to create focal points within your home. A string of fairy lights could line the dining table, light up banisters, or be hung along the wall for a twinkling backdrop.

Natural soy or beeswax candles can be a perfect traditional centrepiece for a New Year’s meal or used as mood lighting when dotted around the room. If you brave the cold and celebrate outdoors, candles can also provide gentle, natural light that won’t outshine any fireworks.

Say no to wasteful balloons

Though balloons are synonymous with celebrations, they are wasteful. Despite latex and natural rubber being organic, balloons still take months or years to biodegrade. In addition, plastic polymers will break down into carbon and microplastics which damage the environment.

Waste-free invites

Once everything is planned, invites need to be sent out. Though traditional paper invitations are regarded with a level of sophistication, they tend to be discarded once the event has passed.

Send invites electronically to eliminate this unnecessary waste. Not only do online invitations allow you to more easily track responses and queries; they can also be updated immediately should any details change.

Shop locally for snacks and drinks

Cater responsibly to avoid large amounts of food waste. Plan a menu that considers the number of guests and any dietary preferences.

Try to make ethical food choices when shopping. This could be sourcing snacks locally for lower food miles, filling your own containers at bulk markets to avoid packaging waste, or choosing products certified carbon neutral or Fairtrade.

Reducing the amount of meat on the menu also reduces the carbon footprint of any event, as the meat industry is one of the planet’s biggest polluters.

Homemade food is one of the easiest ways to control packaging waste when catering at home. For example, slicing and oven drying vegetables with added oil and seasoning can make tasty vegetable crisps.

Toast the new year sustainably

Serve beverages from bottles stopped with corks instead of plastic screw tops. Cork is a natural, sustainable resource; trees do not have to be cut down or damaged by harvesting to obtain the material.

Add decorative bamboo cocktail sticks to drinks for added flair and provide guests with natural straws in place of paper or plastic ones.

Serve food on eco-friendly tableware

When you’re hosting a big group of people, sometimes traditional crockery just isn’t practical. You may not have enough, and the risk of breakages is real.

Disposable tableware is an appealing alternative, but paper and plastic plates create large amounts of landfill waste. They may also not be very reliable, bending under weight or absorbing oils and liquids that cause them to lose their stiffness.

With palm leaf tableware the convenience of disposable utensils comes with none of the waste issues, nor the need to compromise on sustainability and eco-friendly principles.

Not only is palm leaf tableware compostable, there is also the bonus of not having any post-party washing-up. Simply dispose of your plates, bowls, and cutlery in home compost.

Compostable New Year's Eve partyware from a reliable supplier

At FOOGO green we provide all the eco-friendly catering solutions you need to put on a showstopping and sustainable end-of-year blowout.

Our palm leaf tableware is robust enough to be used with a broad selection of foodstuffs – whether solid or liquid; hot or cold.

It can also be reused, washed, or stored in a fridge. When it is no longer needed simply compost it. The completely natural material will biodegrade in weeks.

And our sugarcane bagasse range decomposes in 1-6 months. Since it is both biodegradable and compostable, people can dispose of it in their garden compost, meaning they won’t be filling up landfill sites with plastic alternatives.

In addition to individual packs, we also sell larger party packs – just what you need to cater for the groups of guests you intend to host at your next celebration.