Food
For the dinner menu, thinking ahead and buying locally and, if possible, organically would be ideal. Make sure to prepare a good old-fashioned shopping list with the exact amounts needed for the recipes, so you don’t end up panic buying too much.
The holiday season is known to produce high amounts of food waste, only adding to the 70,000 tonnes of food wasted in the UK each year. With any dinner parties, having leftovers is almost a given, because what’s worse than having your guests leave your party hungry and drive to the nearest fast food chain afterwards? Have a few clean tupperwares at the ready to store leftovers in for the next days, and you can even hand them out to some of your guests as sustainable party favours. In terms of desert, I’ve always found that having a small treat for each guest works out better than having one huge three-layered cake which will be delicious no doubt, but will inevitably be left over after the scrumptious meal you have prepared.
What to wear
Wear something old to ring in the New Year. If you don’t have anything that will fit the bill then borrow from a friend that has an especially sparkly closet, or even better, rent something! There are so many options that can help you make a more sustainable and even last-minute decision when it comes to the dress, before you panic buy a single-use outfit on the high street. While being the preferred New Year’s Eve style staple, sequins are usually made from plastic which, at the end of their lifecycle, often end up in landfills or in oceans where they get mistaken for food by marine life. If you really are in need of something new, buying something you can cherish and re-wear often and looking for a non-sequined option could be a good compromise.