Friday, October 23, 2009

A Champagne Holiday on a Beer Bottle Budget



And even though we’re penny pinching these days, [see 7 Easy Ways to Entertain for Less] we can still have a fabulous get together – and with the slightest bit of effort and inventive spirit, we can host a splendid evening boasts of eco-chic brilliance. When thinking of winter, my first thoughts escape straight to a “Winter Wonderland” theme and with a slight obsession for eco-friendly entertaining, I’ve been able to source some charming ideas.

One of the great things about winter is that you can get really creative and free-spirited with the décor. (During what other season would you get away with bringing trees indoors and the decking them with magpie-envying pieces?) When you think of “wonderland”, think odd, magical and strange. Think Alice in Wonderland meets the Snow Queen, where everything is just slightly off the wall, creative and wonderfully mad – with a rich frosty touch.


Because There's No Reason Your Home Can't be Theatrical...


Ambiance is everything. This is especially true if you’re going to host an evening of kaleidoscopic proportion. Think white candles, silver accents, pops of color, reflective surfaces– just about anything that would catch the eye. The great thing about the holiday season is that just about anything goes and the best way to get this is to pay attention to details. Make sure you include lots of accents and clusters of décor pieces.

A quick inexpensive and recyclable option is to top your cake platters with old Christmas tree ornaments. This ensures that you’re using them not just around the holidays, but in a clever festive way that actually gives you the thrill of holiday decorating without sacrificing a tree for it. You can use either tiered cupcake platters or single level ones. Standard cake platters are also great to use as a base for nesting pillars of candles among pine cones and branches from your yard.

Not forgetting our Winter Wonderland theme which embraces creativity, start by breaking convention and bringing in a tree earlier in the year – then turn it upside down. The idea has been popular for a few years now, and it’s both gorgeous and eco-friendly since these trees are of the faux variety.



Another simple idea that heats up the evening was discovered in Sunset Magazine, which suggested that “vases of varying heights [can] contain conifer sprigs in an inch of water.” White votive candles behind each jar adds a mesmerizing glow. This is a much more sustainable décor idea than flowers, since branches can be found in most yards and can last up to a month in an inch of fresh water. The idea makes even more sense when the taken the scarcity of naturally available flowers during the winter, and the high cost of store-bought stems.

Bon Appetite

No matter how much time and energy you’ve invested in creating a lush atmosphere, there’s one key element that always wins out – and that’s taste! Your party doesn’t have to have a five course meal but it does have to have rich savory foods perfectly paired with a winter setting.

For a beer bottle budget, try either a cheese and bread fondue party and for dessert take the evening outdoors. Set your patio or deck with a couple patio heaters about a half hour before you expect guest to step outdoors – this way by the time you enjoy the next half of your evening, you’re in a nice toasty niche.

Next, have your guests collect twigs from around the yard and bring them back to serve as marshmallow skewers. Pair that with organic chocolate and your classic cup of hot chocolate, and you’re set for the evening.


Image: Sunset Magazine

Spiritual Sustainability



They say people in glass homes shouldn’t throw stones Well, this is one glass home you’re not likely to find a squabbling pair in. In 1984, Buddhist monks in Thailand began gathering bottles to decorate their shelters. The interest not only attracted a lot of tourists but also resulted in a flood of donated bottles to help the monks realize their luminary vision. Since then, Thai monks in the Siasaket province just 370 miles northeast of Bangkok, have used approximately 1.5 million glass bottles to create their temple.

While many eco-enthusiasts have incorporated recycled bottle into their décor, these creative and dedicated monks have taken it to a whole new level. Using a mixture of green Heineken bottles and brown Thai beer bottles, the monks find that the use of bottles as building materials is a practical solution since the bottles don’t lose their color and are easily cleaned; plus the thickness of beer bottles makes them durable enough to resist wear and tear. The monks have also cleverly put beer bottle caps to good use as well by created stunning mosaics depicting Buddha.

Moving beyond simple sustainability and to spiritual sustainability, Thai monks have taken beer, normally associated with common erudite culture, and have created a cultural goldmine out of beer byproducts. They’ve single-handedly redefined recyclability, and raised the bar in an eco-conscious world. If a handful of monks with limited resource can create this, what about the rest of us? The temple is a testament to eco-living that fuses practicality and spirituality to create a whole new forum for aesthetic design. The bottles create a structure that holds up the number one of rule in architecture, which calls for an awareness of how the building uses light. The “Bottle Temple”, as it’s now referred to, not only takes this concept but actually draws every last bit of light in and reflects it throughout, creating a warm glow unmatched by electrical lighting. Imagine how a stained-glass church looks – now imagine the incandescence of an entire building arising out of glass with reams of sunlight stretching from wall to wall.

While it's unlikely the rest of us have a glass house, we can certainly learn from the design element.