BYOD: Bring Your Own Durables

A comment made by Brooke in the post below on disposable corn-based plastics has inspired me to try and generate a discussion on using durables at large gatherings. She stated,

I am still having a hard time getting around what to do for large events other then ask people to bring their own durables.

School potlucks, family reunions, church dinners or big parties anyplace -- at home or a park -- how do you avoid using disposable plates, forks, cups, napkins, etc? We've talked about using durables for kid parties, but what about grown-up or family gatherings with lots and lots of people? Check out this recent email from Sherry:

We go to a potluck every week at our local Grange hall and my husband and I bring our own plates, silverware and, yes, cloth napkins. He was sort of embarrassed at first but he's gotten okay with it, especially since our plates are bigger than the paper ones they like to use. If only I could get other people to do the same thing. I just keep trying by example.

I celebrated my 60th birthday in September and threw myself a party. In my invitation I told everyone to bring their own plates. I was so touched that everyone did. Most even brought cloth napkins. I went to Goodwill and bought up supplies of silverware and it went over great!!

Hooray for Sherry! Renee and I usually bring durable picnicware for our families to use when we go to school potlucks. And Portland's Muddy Boot Festival encourages attendees to bring their own dishes, etc. (yeah JulieG!) It's really easy to toss a few plastic plates, cloth napkins, forks and water bottles into a bag to take to a potluck or a festival. We bring along a plastic bag to put the dirty dishes in afterward. I'm hoping that our elementary school will encourage, well ahead of time, all families to try this next year. Because that's really the key here -- education and promotion. If you are involved with throwing a big event like that, you've got to educate the attendees on why you want them to BYOD. You can do this through a newsletter, Web site or invitation.

Renee's husband and I threw a surprise party for her 40th birthday, and we just rented plates, silverware, etc. Our friend, Christy, bought place settings for 60 kids for a party she threw, and now she rents them out to other families for a nominal fee to cover her costs. (And we hear that her partyware is constantly in demand!)

Remember Elizabeth's story about her green baby shower? She and her friends rounded up enough durables for 35-plus people. Borrowed from friends and neighbors, perhaps?

Has anyone else had success encouraging people to either bring durables to a large gathering or throwing a big party with durables? Share your stories or your challenges, and let's see if we can inspire a BYOD movement!