We love spending time with our friends and family during the festive season, but all the dinner parties and festivities add up; from tinsel to food waste, this time of year can take its toll on the planet.
At Stoneleigh, we believe whatever we take from nature, we must give back to nature to restore balance. We have compiled our top four tips for being the hostess with the mostess, reduce your impact on the planet while still making an impact on your guests.
Tip #1 – Hire instead of buying
Unless you’re a prolific host or hostess, you’re unlikely to need 30 wine glasses or 30 candlesticks once the night is over. To avoid being left with an abundance of unneeded party supplies, hire what you need for the night instead of buying.
Not only is it kinder to the environment, but it means you’ll have decorations that fit your theme or style in exactly the quantity you need.
Tip #2 – Use nature as decorations
Nature might not have an alternative for balloons, but as important as it is to set the scene for your fabulous soiree, single-use plastic items contribute to your eco footprint.
You can still have a beautiful tablescape, but consider swapping your centerpieces for a little nature. Consider locally grown flowers in jars or vases, swapping confetti for flower petals, and instead of printing place cards, use organic options like painting your guests’ names on leaves. Small steps like this add up!
Our grapes are 100% sustainably sourced.
Tip #3 – Prepare only what you need
Food waste has a huge impact and is totally avoidable. Planning your menu with food wastage in mind is key, and really easy to do. Nobody likes a hungry party guest, but think about how much food each person will realistically be able to eat and try not to overload. An easy way to reduce food waste is to serve a grazing platter that guests can help themselves to; top up as needed rather than putting it all out at once to spoil, and have a plan for how you’ll use those leftovers, too.
Tip #4 – Serve Stoneleigh!
We might be a little biased, but choosing Stoneleigh is an easy way to reduce your footprint without compromising on taste or quality.
From vine to bottle, our wines are all made with the planet in mind–our grapes are 100% sustainably sourced, naturally ripened with sunstones from an ancient riverbed, and even our bottles are lighter to reduce the impact from shipping.
Our unique and vibrant tasting wines also look pretty good on the table!