Potluck Party Kit

Photo Credits: How to make a Party Box by LifeHacker

I’ve been mulling around an idea that would help make our potlucks 100% waste free and then, just recently I read an article that inspired me to make it happen before our Potluck Season starts back up in just a month. As you may know, our MegaPotlucks are known to pull a crowd of 100 – 200 people soooo this may sound like Mission Impossible…. but I am of the mindset of  “Mission I’M POSSIBLE”.

First, I will say that we always ask people to “Keep it Green” and bring their own reusable “potluck kit” – plate, utensils,

I just bought our first ten plates at a thrift store. Super cute!

cloth napkin, drinking vessel, etc. Nothing is more disturbing than leaving a trash can with overflowing waste after a high vibe event, right? I am pleased to announce that our last potluck with AZ Raw Food had well over a hundred members/guests in attendance and although I brought a gigantic box of disposable products as backup, I only had to give out a few sets to folks that forgot — and to be fully honest, one set went to myself. I understand how we all forget. We get busy. We have kids, pets, etc. We fly out the door and ahhhh…. we realize we forgot to bring what we begged others to bring. You are human. I am human. It happens.

So, back to my vision of the Potluck Party Box. The article on LIFEHACKER that got my creative juices flowing can be found here. I don’t feel like we need a massive kit to accommodate everyone. I think we only need about 2 dozen to offer those, like me, that forget from time to time.

The original organizers of AZ RAW FOOD have always charged a “GREEN FEE” of $2 if you forget and have to pull from the disposable set. I am proposing that we have this box to pull from and your fee is $2. Instead of paying for disposable products you are putting money towards the kit and paying for our time effort to clean and sanitize them. That part is the no brainer. My next question is HOW to keep pieces from our prized Potluck Party Box from “walking off”.

It has been suggested that we take a $5 deposit at sign-in and you get the $3 back upon return at the end of the event. Thoughts?

Many of the cloth napkins that I have been collecting for “the box” are handmade.

The next question is a call for community. If you have a plate, cup, cloth napkins, utensils, etc to donate to the box, please bring it with you. We would like only non-breakable items due to park rules and the number of miles we wish to get out of these. *We can also use them for classes and other gatherings.

If you would love to be our Sign In/Sign Out Service Angel we are happy to give you a class credit for any of the classes that I teach.

In the comments section below, let me know your thoughts. Is this too much effort? How would YOU organize the collection/distribution? What other EARTH FRIENDLY ideas do you have for our MeetUp Group?