I Took the Glad One Bag Challenge #Giveaway

A few weeks ago our twin boys turned five years old and I still can't believe it. They will be heading on to kindergarten in August! On May 19 we hosted a relaxed family party to celebrate their birthday. Something that I am always conscious of when I am preparing for one of the kid's birthday parties is waste. I try to keep our regular consumption and waste down on a daily basis and I an endeavor to do the same with the few parties a year that we have. Garbage at a party can so easily get out of control between disposable plates, napkins, utensils, cups and then food scraps, wrapping paper...the list is endless! For this particular party I decided to go ahead and participate in the Glad One Bag Challenge and see if I could keep all of our trash down to just one bag.

Glad One Bag Party Kit

I had already taken a few simple steps to reduce our waste by providing large, reusable plastic cups for drinks and buying two liter bottles of soda as opposed to cans. (Note: we don't drink soda, but our guests do).  The Glad One Bag Party Kit that I received to help me with this challenge helped me take my conservation to the next level! The napkins, bowls, plates, cups and utensils are all compostable. So instead of throwing them in the trash bin to take up space in a landfill, you can add them to your compost pile and turn them into fertilizer for your garden. Of course included in this kit was the Glad tall kitchen garbage bag which I was happy to learn is made with less plastic than other bags. The Green Works cleaner was perfect for the after party clean up, which was not nearly as messy as I thought it was going to be.

I have to say that my favorite part of this kit is that super cool green market basket you see in that photo. What makes it so super cool? Why, it is insulated and zips shut and it is BIG. This basket is going to be awesome when I am bringing four kids to the lake every week day this summer for their swim lessons! It has plenty of room for our 5 water bottles, fruit, snacks and ice packs. I'm looking forward to using it!

So at 1:00 pm our guests started to arrive, hungry for some food! While I know not many people are as insane as me when it comes to feeding my family food that is free of artificial ingredients, chemicals, etc.; I still like to provide healthy snacking options at our parties. We started off the day with my new favorite snack: unsalted sweet potato chips. If I had known these would have been such a hit, I would have bought more!

I set up my one garbage bag right in the middle of the kitchen next to the island so everyone could spot it easily and access it quickly. Once my husband came back with the six pizzas is when things started to get really busy. I kept my eye on the trash can to see how it was filling and was happy to see there was still plenty of room left in there once it was time to sing Happy Birthday!

Normally I get a giant cake from Costco but this time I decided to bake cupcakes myself, since the twins love them so much. There is nothing good or healthy about these cupcakes: I confess that they were made using a boxed cake mix and are full of junk. But I think it is OK to splurge every once in a while, especially at a birthday party!

Once the cupcakes were eaten and the presents opened, our party started to dwindle down. The guests said goodbye and we were left to start our clean up. I was thrilled that even with the wrapping paper from the presents, I was still able to fit everything into just one bag. I passed the challenge!

Trying to reduce my family's carbon footprint is something that is very near and dear to my heart. After all, we only have one planet and we need to take care of it not only for us and our children, but for future generations to come.  We recycle a ton here at our home, far more than we throw in the garbage. But obviously we still do create some trash and I want to use a garbage bag from a brand that is committed to bettering the environment like Glad is. Most recently they developed a way to produce a trash bag using 6.5% less plastic, which will help save 6.5 million pounds of plastic each year. That is the equivalent of 140 million trash bags out of landfills. For more information on how Glad is caring for the environment, visit gladtowasteless.com.


Giveaway

One (1) winner will receive a Glad One Bag Party Kit that includes the following:
• Box of Glad Tall Kitchen Bags
• Glad One Bag Tote
• Collapsible Metro Cooler Market Basket
• Veneerware compostable flatware & supplies
• Earth Friendly Soy Candle (scent may vary)
• Green Works All-Purpose Cleaner

Giveaway is open to US residents only and will end on June19, 2012 at 12:01am EST. Please use the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Glad and received a One Bag kit to facilitate my review, a kit to give away, and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

a Rafflecopter giveaway