Hosting Parties: disposable utensils/plates?

[mrspez07]

I like to use dishes over disposable but don't always have enough, so I'll set out my party-worthy (aka ok if broken) plates and silverware and put out disposable as well. Then people use the dishes until they run out and then disposable, or they can choose.
I may have lost a fork or spoon with this method, that's the biggest drawback.

I think the water to wash is less impact than manufacturing, packaging, shipping and transporting trash of disposable.

[TBM]

We use dishes, mainly because I can't stand the way utensils feel against disposables....and I can't stand the waste.

We bought dishes instead of renting for a small wedding, it actually cost less)so we have enough for 75 or so. We have a bunch of plastic dishes that we bought to use at a rental in Maui, that we keep around for the kids.

We do use disposable utensils if we have a lot of people, but it is my goal to get more of those too.

[pixy0stix]

Real stuff unless you live in the desert or CA. If you live in the desert or CA then the water edge goes slightly to the disposable stuff (as long as you recycle what you can) (and not counting the other environmental impacts).

I do real stuff with cloth napkins. Never seems to bother people.

[auntie]

I don't feed people off paper. I have like 50-75 settings of glasses and plates and use those. Sometimes I'll use paper napkins since I don't have hundreds of those.

[dr.girlfriend]

Just get a few melamine plates and cups for kids, and use real stuff for all the grownups. My kid is five and we don't have to worry about him breaking anything these days, so it's really only the toddlers that you'll probably have to be careful of.

[hausfrau]

If our parties are under 20, we use our regular plates and utensils and glasses. Otherwise, I buy compostable disposables. I hate all of the waste, but we also don't have a large amount of regular place settings. But, we maybe have a large number of people over once a year.

[megstoo]

For us it depends on the meal/food we're having. If it's appitizers or burgers/brats/hot dogs than we'll do disposable but if it's more of a dinner than we'll use regular plates.

[my4girls]

we use real if we have enough. I prefer real

[pixy0stix]

Aug 26, 2014 8:25:47 GMT -5 auntie said:

Sometimes I'll use paper napkins since I don't have hundreds of those.

My mom solved this problem for me. She bought a crapton of "vintage" napkins at an estate auction for cheap. Vintage is in quotes, because I think they're only from the 70s. I dyed them various colors, just because.

[sillygoosegirl]

Real. Disposable sucks to use and sucks for the environment.

[auntie]

Aug 26, 2014 9:14:37 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Aug 26, 2014 8:25:47 GMT -5 auntie said:

Sometimes I'll use paper napkins since I don't have hundreds of those.

My mom solved this problem for me. She bought a crapton of "vintage" napkins at an estate auction for cheap. Vintage is in quotes, because I think they're only from the 70s. I dyed them various colors, just because.

Such a great idea.

My mom took 65 years oflinen calendar tea towels out of my aunts place that would have been cool for this, but she won't share. She has all my nana's vintage hankies with the hand tatted trim, too.

[Deleted]

Get the plastic plates from IKEA for the kids and then let the adults use the regular stuff. You're a brave soul to do all those dishes after a party. I hate doing dishes. HATE.

[h]

I use real for pretty much any event I host other than kids' bday parties. For mixed age parties I use glass for the adults and bright colored plastic plates and glasses I bought at IKEA for this purpose for the kids. Usually adults get cloth napkins and kids get paper. Sometimes I use a big stack of bandanas that I bought on the cheap for casual backyard kind of parties.

[jillybean222]

It never would have occurred to me to use anything other than disposable but we went to a party with real dishes, utensils, cloth napkins, etc. and it was refreshing!  There were lots of kids and it was an outdoor gathering, so pretty informal, but very nice to have a real plate in hand.  The hosts have chickens so food scraps went in one bucket and all the dishes went into another and there was so little trash and I was amazed.  I would definitely consider it for our next event.  Oh and there were plenty of people who offered to help with dishes after so that was NBD either.  

[TBM]

Aug 26, 2014 14:59:26 GMT -5 @bluesky said:

Aug 26, 2014 7:48:43 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Real stuff unless you live in the desert or CA. If you live in the desert or CA then the water edge goes slightly to the disposable stuff (as long as you recycle what you can) (and not counting the other environmental impacts).

I do real stuff with cloth napkins. Never seems to bother people.

We are in L.A. 

i still think real is the better option.  Especially since you are such a conscientious water saver and can make it up in other ways.

Disposable is too much waste.  When we lived in CA, we were not allowed any trash except what fit in our bin.  We were allowed as many recyclables as we wanted, but the cost really adds up for those, and you need to rinse them anyway, so not saving water there. 

Compostable would be good if you actually composted it rather than tossing it in the trash, since nothing breaks down very easily (if at all) in a pile of trash.

[cjeanette]

If we have enough plates that is what we use. Parties of 20 or more need paper unless I want to bust out the china which I really don't in that setting.

[pamela]

Absolutely go real. Although I cannot imagine the storage space to store that many dishes or where that many people would be able to eat even in my 2600sq ft house or where they'd go to wait to be washed. I give kids my cheaper sets and everyone else real. I'd only go disposable if it was a situation where people don't have a place to set their stuff down therefore more likely than normal to drop.

[lavender444]

I bought a bunch of glass plates and silverware at ikea this year specifically for parties. I have a 4 and 5 yr old and they do fine with glassware.

[mollybrown]

How many people are we talking about? I can't imagine using real dishes for a gathering of more than 20 people. Our kid parties are usually around 50 people, and just washing the serving dishes, serving utensils, etc takes forever. No way would I wash 100+ plates (lunch, cake, appetizers), 50+ glasses, silverware, etc on top of that even if I had room to buy and store it all.

I always use real dishes for nice occasions such as thanksgiving, Christmas, or adult dinner parties. But we've never had more than 14 people for such an event.

[TBM]

Aug 28, 2014 1:32:59 GMT -5 mollybrown said:

How many people are we talking about? I can't imagine using real dishes for a gathering of more than 20 people. Our kid parties are usually around 50 people, and just washing the serving dishes, serving utensils, etc takes forever. No way would I wash 100+ plates (lunch, cake, appetizers), 50+ glasses, silverware, etc on top of that even if I had room to buy and store it all.

I always use real dishes for nice occasions such as thanksgiving, Christmas, or adult dinner parties. But we've never had more than 14 people for such an event.

We just put the dirty dishes in big plastic bins with lids, and run load after load in the dishwasher until they are done.  NBD, and we don't have to actually look at the dirty dishes in the meantime.