Happy Galentines day! For those of you that don’t know, Galentines day is a holiday made up by Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation to celebrate all of the gals in her life.
For the origin story of the day check out this clip:
Galentines Day has grown beyond its recognition in the show and has become a great way to celebrate female friendships around valentines day. What better way to celebrate the ladies in your life than to throw a sustainable tea party!
A tea party is a perfect way to brighten up the dreary gray days of the middle of winter. Plus, going zero-waste and local makes it super sustainable too!
Dishes
Honestly, one of my biggest motivations for setting up this tea party was to break out the fine china I had recently inherited. There is something so refined and elegant about a beautiful set of china. I know it is totally pointless for some people to own china. However, as a natural-born hostess, I know I will be putting it to good use. The great thing about tea parties is that you really can’t throw one without using real dishes (can you imagine a tea party with disposable cups??).
The 3-tiered stand is a DIY project using plates and cups from goodwill. I transformed some mis-matched plates into a beautiful display that I have used for cookies, cupcakes, and so much more over the years!
Into thrift shopping too? Check out this post on my secondhand shopping list.
Zero-Waste Tea
The most obvious way to reduce waste is to avoid disposable tea bags. Luckily, I have a wonderful set of amazing zero-waste tea essentials and tons of zero-waste tea. Guests can either use single serving tea balls or can make an entire pot of tea with one large in-pot tea strainer.
I buy my tea from Mountain Rose Herbs (it comes in a lined paper bag) or in the bulk section at the grocery store (as long as it is organic). The best part is that this makes it easy to store tea in glass mason jars and helps fulfill all of your wildest pinterest-worthy-pantry dreams. The used tea leaves are easily composted afterwards!
A perfect tea blend for Galentines Day is this Hibiscus Love tea. Check out the beautiful color!
Food
Shortbread: A tea party isn’t really a tea party without shortbread. I made an earl grey tea shortbread cookie that was light enough to go with everything. The author has a few other variations on this recipe too!
Tea sandwhiches: I made chicken salad sandwiches and smoked salmon sandwiches. The chicken was from a farmers market chicken I had used for stock that week and included apples from the farmers market too. I made chicken salad lettuce cups for one of my guests who was on Whole 30 too! The smoked salmon was bought zero-waste from a local butcher (I brought my own container). While the cream cheese did come in a foil package, the dill and chives were bought zero-waste! If anyone knows of a way to get cream cheese without packaging, let me know!
Scones: I use only one recipe for scones now. These cream scones are everything! The secret (as the author says) is to use high quality cream. We have a local dairy that sells their heavy cream in glass bottles at the grocery store. The cream is of amazing quality and I love that I can take the glass bottle back to be reused. I also used Washington grown wheat flour in the recipe.
To continue with my Galentines day theme, I got out the last jar of rhubarb sauce from the previous spring to spread on the scones. The sauce is a delightful pink color and so easy to make! Opening it up made me so ready for spring to come!
Flowers
Contrary to popular culture, roses really aren’t the best flowers for valentines day! A much better environmental option is to choose locally grown flowers. It will be different for everyone based on your growing region, but here in the Pacific Northwest, tulips are the only flowers in season! After several months of no flowers, they sure brighten the house – and the table!
How are you celebrating Galentine’s day (or Valentine’s Day) this year?