A Green Wedding

I know, I'm late on blogging, but I have a good reason...I got married this past Saturday! As we did our wedding planning, I looked into ways to make our wedding green. They sell invitations on recycled paper, as well as ones that contain seeds which you plant afterward. I was game, until I noticed the cost. Instead, I had to find my own ways of being green.

Although Save the Date cards, invitations, and ceremony programs with bows look great, I figured ones without could easily be thrown in the recyling bin after the event. We ended up purchasing the Save the Date cards and invitations at Office Max on plain paper with a simple design on the top. The ceremony programs were also on plain paper that I had professionally printed, but could definitely be recycled afterward. We also tried to cut down on how many copies we had printed, assuming couples would share one program.

Originally, I pictured beautiful centerpieces at our reception tables. However, I didn't want to buy a bunch of things I'd never use again and would go to waste, such as artificial flowers or twenty pillar candles. We decided to have a simple piece of cardstock with a memory of the two of us written on it at each table. These also doubled as the table name.

Last, my husband and I didn't want to give out wedding favors at the place settings that not everyone would enjoy and would end up wasted. Instead, I created a candy table. After dinner was served, a tablecloth was lifted to reveal five large glass bowls of various candies. Guests were encouraged to fill a bag with their favorite treats, including M & Ms, frosted cookies, and Laffy Taffy.

We had a blast at our wedding. And I feel good that we made an effort not to be wasteful.

The Paper Problem

The school year is coming to an end. As a teacher, I watch a lot of supplies get tossed without so much as a blink from my students. One of my biggest pet peeves: those spiral-bound notebooks. I wonder what the probability is that a student will actually end the school year on the very last page in their spiral...What does happen is that students end up with a bunch of half-used spiral notebooks by the end of the year: one for math, reading, maybe social studies. So on the last day of school, the notebooks get pitched, along with about 100 sheets of unused paper.

Okay, first: waste prevention. If possible, don't use spiral notebooks. Instead, buy loose-leaf paper and use a clipboard or a binder. Not only will you have exactly the right amount of pages, but you're not wasting that piece of spirally metal. In college, using a clipboard in lectures was handy. When I got back to the dorm, I just put the notes I took in each class in the appropriate binder.

For old half-used spirals you have laying around...What I've done is actually take the time to snip away the metal spiral. I used metal cutters and removed the spiral piece. Then I used the paper in my clipboard. This avoids tearing out all the pages and having the paper bits everywhere.

Do you have a great end of the school year green tip?