As the evenings get longer and warmer, start thinking about planning spring and summer dinner parties that offer food for thought. Prepping an organic, locally sourced feast is a great way to get your dinner guests to enjoy a sustainable meal, but it’s also a green conversation starter, sparking lots of talk about food politics, green agricultural practices and even just the joy of food shopping at farmers market.

Pair your food with an equally conscious list of dinner party amenities. We’ve rounded up a few key items that will help you and your guests give back while enjoying each others’ company.

Wine

For those who enjoying sipping delicious, complex grape, having a few good bottles of wine on hand is a bonus for any successful dinner soiree, and Cellar Thief provides an excellent resource for finding the perfect bottle of vino while at the same time helping to bring clean water to those in need. For every bottle of wine sold, Cellar Thief works with charity : water to donate 100 days’ worth of clean water, and because they’re selling wines at a steal of a price, when there are only five cases left of a certain wine, if a customer buys all of them they’ll donate an additional 500 days’ worth of clean drinking water.

Need some help creating a menu based around your wines? Check out our 10 Green Wine and Food Pairings guide.

Plates and Glasses

Once you’ve planned the menu, you’ll need something to serve the food on and pour the drinks into. If you’re in need of a new table setting, Plates with Purpose is a creative option. The company produces a series of custom designed plates each representing a non-profit to which a percent of proceeds are donated. For drinks, you can go the recycled glass route. Green Glass Company has a variety of options that will not only give your table a distinct look, but also make for great parting gifts for your guests.

Dessert

Fresh fruit is always a simple, yet delicious option for dessert, especially when paired with a good dark chocolate. The staple of many chocolate lovers, Endangered Species Chocolate comes in a variety of milk and dark varieties and 10% of net profits are donated to support species, habitat and humanity.

Light

To maintain a romantic and inviting dinner party ambiance, lit candles are a must. But for the eco-friendly dinner party, avoid traditional candles made from paraffin, which is made from petroleum and releases harmful carcinogens when burned. Instead, choose beeswax or soy candles to light your table.

Beeswax is a completely renewable resource, and supporting smaller producers of beeswax candles also means that you’re helping the threatened bee population. Bluecorn Naturals sells both beeswax and soy candles, and at Candle Bee Farm you can purchase a variety of beeswax candles from a company that donates a percent of sales to non-profits, benefiting children and a variety of nature and wildlife causes.

Happy entertaining!

Photo Credits: The Arches, Derek Garvey, Green Glass Company, vegan feast, ItzaFineDay

The post Planning a Spring Dinner Party That Gives Back appeared first on EcoSalon.

Caffeinate Consciously with Grounds for Change

If you have a friend who has just moved, you’re well aware of the epic cleaning and sorting that took place before packing up her life in boxes, so why contribute to more clutter? Food and drink are always welcomed when it comes to housewarming presents, and nothing makes a house feel like a home more than the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Grounds for Change packs plenty of eco and humanitarian goodness into its beans: certified Fair Trade and organic, shade grown and carbon offset. That’s one powerful cup of java.

Designer Microfinance with Nest

Nest is one of those ideas that just makes sense. The nonprofit organization was established to empower female artists and artisans around the globe through micro finance. Nest partners with domestic designers to sell a wide array of beautiful, and exclusive, goods with the proceeds going to fund additional artisans (we’ve long been fans). Providing micro-credit loans, Nest ensures that women get to practice their crafts and benefit their local communities.

Nest sells everything from designer throw pillows to exotic jewelry, meaning there’s something in there no matter who is on your list. Start exploring here or track down a store near you that sells Nest products.

Know Who Made Your Purse with Mend

With most items we buy we can figure out their country of origin, but when it comes to who is behind the production we’re left in the dark. Mend was created to offer a solution to that problem, while at the same time helping to repair the lives of women in war-torn countries.

Buying a bag from Mend means you get to see and know the person that made it and be sure that they were paid a fair wage. All of the seamstresses were formerly abducted child soldiers, making all the handbags “story-driven.” Each piece carries the name of the seamstress who made it, and the purchaser can access online bios, videos and photos to learn more about her. Bags range from $75.95 to $175; buy here.

Promote Peace with Falling Whistles

Want a piece of jewelery designed to influence change? Check out Falling Whistles, a campaign for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC is home to the world’s largest and most deadly war. It is estimated that 1,500 people lose their lives daily, many of them children. During a trip to the DRC in 2007, Sean Carasso learned about “whistle blowers,” Congolese children too young to hold a gun who are put on the front lines of war, armed only with whistles. Their sole purpose is to frighten the enemy with their whistle blowing before taking the first round of bullets.

Carasso knew that he had to do something and upon returning to the US, founded Falling Whistles. The organization sells specially designed whistles, to be worn as a necklace, and all proceeds go to restoring the lives of war-affected children in the Congo. Buying a whistle from Falling Whistles lets you “make their weapon your voice and be a whistle- blower for peace in Congo.”

A sleek fashion piece, the whistles command questions, and questions lead to conversation, getting more and more people around the world talking about what’s currently happening in the DRC. There are four different whistles in different materials, ranging from $30-$100. Check them out here.

Doing Good for Your Skin and Others with the LUSH Charity Pot

It’s not often that you can buy a gift and have all of the proceeds go to charity. But body care brand LUSH understands the importance of supporting great causes, which is why they created the Charity Pot. A simple yet rich hand and body moisturizer, 100% of proceeds are donated to the charities that LUSH supports.

Some of the programs that have benefited from the LUSH Charity Pot include Sea Shepherd, where LUSH helped in efforts to end the Canadian Commercial Seal Hunt. Not only can you buy a couple of Charity Pots for you and your friends, you can also recommend groups you think LUSH should be supporting.

Images: DeaPeaJay, Nest, Mend, Falling Whistles, Lush

The post Embedded Charity Is Where It’s at with 5 Gifts That Give Back appeared first on EcoSalon.

The money will be sent directly to Caribbean Craft, an organization set up to employ and give assistance to the talented crafts people who produce some of VivaTerra’s most loved products from a fair-trade workshop in Port-au-Prince. These original crafts include uplifting holiday angels to papier mache birds and oil drum tree-of-life sculptures.

“At VivaTerra, our first instinct has been to do whatever we can to help in the wake of one of the worst conceivable tragedies in memory,” says Bonnie Trust Dahan, a founding partner of the company. “The terrible devastation has struck close to home and we’ve learned form preliminary reports that it claimed the lives of at least four of the artisans in [our] workshops, as well as their families.”

The materials they employ in their designs – recycled newspapers, discarded oil drums and emptied cement bags – help fulfill VivaTerra’s mission of reducing waste and reusing our abundant resources to heal the planet. That mission began when the company was founded in 2004 with the commitment to encourage local artisans with a retail site and product catalog that would provide an audience for their imaginative handmade creations. Haiti is among the several countries worldwide where VivaTerra has formed bonds with local artisan workshops where a future of hope comes in the form of the fair trade industry.

The post Eco Retailer to Donate Up to $10,000 to Haiti Artisans appeared first on EcoSalon.