For all our worries, more and more of the world continues to acknowledge the threat of anthropogenic climate change and pollution. Most of us have at least made small strides towards trying to reduce our environmental impact. A hybrid car, efficient house lights, and carefully researched purchases all help a little. That is, in many ways, what all of us can do on an individual level as trying to eliminate our impact is so hard. Learning all the small steps we can take lets us live a comparatively eco-friendly lifestyle without having to worry as much about every little thing we do potentially hurting the environment. Companies have begun to try to provide eco-friendly alternatives in many cases too. This has begun to extend even into party supplies. Let’s take a quick look at what this translates to so you have an idea of what to look for the next time you’re in charge of an event and want to ensure everything ends up being comparatively kind on the local environment.

A Word of Caution
We do need to stress here that not every company is actually interested in providing eco-friendly alternatives. Many try to simply use the label as a buzzword without necessarily putting in the work to ensure that their product would meet the standards necessary. This is an unfortunate truth in the consumer driven economy. People will do or say what they think will make you buy something whether or not they’re being truthful. The key to figuring out whether or not a given product is actually eco-friendly involves taking a closer look at what is involved and the expected lifetime of a product. A good way to understand this is to look at paper plates when compared to bamboo plates. The former tend to have a plastic veneer on them that won’t really go away quickly while the latter are made of an overtly biodegradable material with minimal impact on the environment. Make the effort to check the products you’re interested in for a clearer picture.

Biodegradable
One of the key principles of eco-friendly party supplies is that they are meant to be both safe for the environment without being the same kind of long term commitment as more permanent supplies. Our example above is a fairly good look at one of the adjustments companies have made. They tend to favor finding useful, easily shaped materials in nature for use for their products. Minimal treatments tend to be applied to these products. No extra veneer, no sealants, and no unwelcome chemicals for unnatural colors. These products aren’t the most visually arresting options, but what they are is safe in many senses of the word. You don’t need to feel guilty about missing any of them when cleaning up either as these products are meant to decompose within the space of a year since they use untreated, natural materials. We do wish to stress that most products like this tend to be tableware of some sort though to counteract one of the major issues with standard party supplies.

Growing Things
Another common theme with party supplies is making sure everyone gets the appropriate invitation. While word of mouth works in many cases, many of us like to go a little farther to ensure that everything has an extra bit of beauty and art to it. That’s how we end up hunting for the right invitation cards. Biodegradable alternatives are available these days with a few added bonuses. Not only do most of these easily degrade, but many companies market plantable ones that allow people to make something memorable of the card. All one needs to do is bury the card or invitation and care for it. Soon after, the seeds contained in it will start to sprout and give people a living memento of the gathering. It makes for a particularly sweet and memorable way to commemorate particular events. These are often particularly appealing for things such as wedding invitations or other major life events that create lasting memories.

Eco-friendly party supplies are still a relatively new thing. We’ve highlighted the problems with finding actual eco-friendly options already. This may be an issue now, but the continued popularity of products like the ones we discussed will likely mean that actual eco-friendly products will begin to outweigh fake ones given enough time. People have become far more ecologically conscious in the last few years and that isn’t going to change. Don’t forget that even a small step towards being environmentally conscious is still a step.