Go Green with Glad's One Bag Challenge {Glad One Bag Party Kit Review & Giveaway}

Now that the warm weather has arrived and school is nearly out, I look forward to the spring and summer parties that await our family and friends. From kids' birthdays to pool/sprinkler parties to outdoor barbeques to Father's Day and holiday-themed gatherings, we always enjoy getting together with those people that make a difference in our lives.

The part that I don't particularly enjoy? The cleanup, of course.

While the preparation (including planning, cooking and cleaning) can sometimes end up stressful, it still provides the results necessary for a great party. But when the last guest has left and I look around at the amount of garbage that has to be bagged up and sent to the landfill, it can leave me feeling a little guilty that the environment has to pay the price for the convenience of using paper plates and plastic utensils.

Fortunately, the Glad Products Company has taken the lead in providing products that offer effective yet responsible ways to clean up after a party. In fact, they have created Glad's One Bag Challenge to see if you can host a gathering and have it result in only a single bag of trash to contain all of the party remnants.

Only one bag for plates, crumbs, party favors, napkins and more while the rest is all diverted to compost and recycling? Although this hasn't occurred in the past for us, I was looking forward to seeing how smart planning and a Glad One Bag Party Kit could make it happen!

Glad is committed to helping consumers help the planet, with the idea being that small changes can add up to a big difference in creating a better environment for generations to come. The key is simple: Waste Less.

With its newest innovations (e.g. compostable kitchen bags, recycling bags, and trash bags that use less plastic while providing greater strength than ever before), Glad has helped save over 6.5 million pounds of plastic per year, the equivalent of keeping more than 140 million extra trash bags out of landfills each year.

Even better, Glad has become more responsible in the way that they manufacture and package their products while also actively encouraging more people to recycle and compost and spread awareness nationwide. So, could I follow in Glad's footsteps and throw a party that resulted in only one bag of waste? It was time to find out!

My overly-excited co-hosts eagerly awaiting the arrival of our party attendees!

Beginning with the decorations, I opted to leave out any unnecessary items and stick with the basics. As well as cutting down on garbage to throw away at the end, I found that setting out the Earth-friendly Green Apple Soy Candle and then letting the beauty of the outdoors do the rest was much easier than hanging streamers or blowing up balloons!

Pulling out the bambu Veneerware, I was immediately impressed that these chic-looking napkins, plates, cups and flatware were compostable. What better way to reduce excess waste than by having guests utilize these high quality, modern pieces and then know that they would biodegrade when we were done?

After prepping some food and encouraging guests to bring a dish to share (in a container that would then return home with them), it was time to pack a few items into our Collapsible Metro Cooler Market Basket to keep them cool, while also encouraging the importance of going green with the unique tree print design.

All that was left was to kick back and enjoy a relaxed, laid back outdoor summer party! For the adults, there was plenty of chatting, laughter, food and drinks...

...while for the kids, there was fun in the yard with toys, the sand table...

...and enough water fun to keep everyone happy and cool.

What's a party without a Slip 'n Slide?

As the sun went down and our party guests began to leave, it was easy to look around and see that the cleanup was minimal compared to gatherings that we have held in the past.

All of the empty drink containers went into our recycle bin, any leftover food was stored in reusable containers, our flatware, plates and cups went into a pile to be composted, and our Glad Tall Kitchen Bag of garbage was left with plenty of room to spare!

Prior to our party, we had been using these Glad trash bags in our kitchen and my husband and I had both commented on the strength and durability that they had been providing. It was easy to fill, pack down, and continue filling these bags and know that they were strong enough to hold up to even the largest of messes.

Plus, just knowing how much plastic Glad has saved by creating these innovative bags makes me even more happy to pull them out for everyday or special occasions. After all, the chance to use a high quality product, do our part to save the earth, and get to pass along a little extra knowledge to my kids about the importance of taking measures to be eco-friendly? That's a win-win-win!

To find out more about Glad's commitment to bettering the environment and their great new products, visit GladToWasteLess.com. It's hard to not be impressed with their collection of bags that stretch to hold more, reusable containers of all sizes, bags with odor-neutralizing technology (that prevent throwing out smelly trash before bags are filled), composting and recycling bags to help divert waste from landfills, and much, much more.

Interested in taking the Glad One Bag Challenge? Be sure visit Glad To Waste Less to find out more as well as to download a free resource kit for help with everything from planning to hosting your event. And, thanks to their generosity, one person will be even more prepared for their next shindig, because...

One lucky person will receive a Glad One Bag Party Kit*!

*Kit includes: Glad One Bag Tote, Veneerware Party Kit, Collapsible Metro Cooler Market Basket, Earth-friendly Green Apple Soy Candle, Glad Tall Kitchen Bags, and Green Works All-Purpose Cleaner

(Enter with the Rafflecopter form below. If you have any questions or problems entering, there is a video tutorial found here that can help.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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.