Black and orange and GREEN: Montecito event planner throws eco-friendly parties for Halloween and other occasions
by Dave Mason, News-Press Staff Writer
Photos by Mike Eliason, News-Press Photos
Apples will be one of the goodies Merryl Brown, with, from left, Drake Rabin, 9, Winslow Brown, 10, and Parker Matthews, 9, all of Montecito, will hand out at her private Halloween party this weekend. Mrs. Brown, president of Merryl Brown Events LLC, stresses organic food and eco-friendly decor for her events. |
At least for the environment.
That's because she's reducing the impact on it at her party by teaching kids and adults the 3 R's -- reduce, recycle, reuse.
" You can make small changes that can make a big difference," she says on a recent day at her gated Montecito home, where she lives with her husband, Monte, and sons Winslow, 10, and Dryden, 13.
The Marblehead, Mass., native, who moved to Montecito with her husband in 1992, is organizing Earth-friendly events through her recently incorporated company, Merryl Brown Events LLC. The former international banker, who worked for American Express Bank and Bankers Trust, says she started planning events 17 years ago for nonprofits such as Santa Barbara Museum of Art, where she has served as a trustee. She started green parties eight years ago as a natural outgrowth of her organic gardening and cooking. She recently formed her business as a means of doing more green events on a regular basis.
This weekend, Mrs. Brown is holding her own eco-friendly private party for 10 boys, all ages 9 and 10, at her home in a wooded Montecito neighborhood. As part of the party, the kids will go trick-or-treating and run into some surprises along the way.
Through her company, Mrs. Brown, a former director of public relations and events at Saks Fifth Avenue in Santa Barbara, organizes parties that are low in waste. Cardboard boxes and paper end up in recycling bins; extra food at Foodbank of Santa Barbara County and homeless shelters, or in compost heaps. Leftover decorations go to neighbors and schools or are saved for later use.
Merryl Brown reuses Halloween decorations from year to year as part of her efforts to avoid waste. She says it's possible to have an eco-friendly party and create a sense of wonder. |
Mrs. Brown clearly likes to emphasize a mix of fun and pragmatism.
For Halloween parties, she notes, costumes can be reused. She recommends that parents go online to craigslist.org to find them, or exchange costumes with other parents at their children's school. During the first week of October, SBParent.com has a swapping of costumes, she adds.
You can also reduce waste, she says, by making costumes from recycled or rejected materials rather than buying a new one. She recommends going to remnant stores. "They have unwanted bulk of materials that are damaged or surplus."
Kids also can put together costumes by going through their closets, she says. She points to her son pulling out a football helmet this year and a blazer last year to go with a fake nose and mustache that he bought.
Being creative can save money and help the environment, Mrs. Brown says.
Eco-friendly decor for her upcoming party will include tombstones, skeletons, spider webs and skulls from previous parties, Mrs. Brown says.
" Decorations are used year after year," she says. She and her friends share materials for parties.
Mrs. Brown plans to create centerpieces using organic wheatgrass flats with candles from S.R. Hogue & Co., a Montecito florist. She's also reusing a dried leaf display from the same business.
She'll have the boys at the party create crafts with recycled materials she'll buy from Art from Scrap in Santa Barbara, as well as leaves from her yard. "I use 100 percent recycled paper."
"One year, we made masks by cutting holes in cardboard and putting ribbons on them," she says, adding that they were a decorative touch.
Even the goodies served at her party will be environmentally sound: She'll be giving out organic candy and other treats!
For her party, Mrs. Brown is reusing the dried leaf centerpiece in the background and serving a variety of organic treats, including hazelnut macaroons, tarte tatin (a French apple tart), lollipops, chocolate-covered almonds, caramel and almond popcorn, gummy bears and black forest cake with marzipan pumpkins. |
It's all organic. Almost. The one exception is a jar of candy sticks.
Mrs. Brown smiles and admits there is some non-organic candy, but in limited quantities. "Less is more."
She scores environmental and health points with the food she's going to make this weekend: grass-fed beef burgers on whole-grain buns -- along with fresh vegetables from her garden. (Some research suggests grass-fed beef may have less fat per serving.)
As for the beverages, "We're not having sugary drinks. We will do cider."
To reduce waste, she will use real glasses, not paper or Styrofoam ones, and glass and porcelain plates for the entrees. "Why use paper plates? I know people don't want to wash dishes, but then you have bags of garbage," she says.
" And I'm using cloth napkins."
Mrs. Brown is doing her bit to reduce the carbon footprint. She buys goods from local businesses to cut down the amount of gasoline used in transportation and to support the area economy.
Her recycling efforts extend to the fruit at her party.
" Everything goes back into the compost," Mrs. Brown says. That will include unbleached coffee filters, which are biodegradable, that the kids will use as small plates for their candies.
The compost provides fertilization for her garden, where fruit and vegetables will grow for other parties.
Certainly environmentalists don't have to fear her party. Mrs. Brown is even saving trees by e-mailing invitations. She found a template for them at www.paperlesspost.com .
" I'm really glad to start this business," Mrs. Brown says. "I find it combines all the things I'm passionate about."
Green Event Planning
Enough was enough, and actually it was too much.
" I went to events and started noticing more and more waste. I thought, 'I can improve upon this,' " says Merryl Brown, president of Merryl Brown Events LLC in Montecito. "There was good food being thrown out that can be given to homeless shelters and the Foodbank. There were nice floral arrangements being tossed out that could go to nursing homes and the hospice."
Eight years ago, the Montecito resident began organizing green parties, including some for nonprofits, and a few weeks ago, she started a home-based business, Merryl Brown Events LLC.
" It's a nice opportunity for people to make their decor more ecologically friendly. I'm concerned about helping people to make better choices," she tells the News-Press. "I really wanted to do this, and to do it in a meaningful way, I needed a corporation."
She emphasizes details that are good for the environment, from reusing materials to reducing waste and recycling food in compost heaps.
Her clients include nonprofit organizations such as the Community Environmental Council, which held a party last weekend with her help — her first client under her new business. She also plans to organize birthday celebrations and weddings.
She works with caterers who stress local, organic products and area florists who grow organic flowers. She prints party invitations on 100 percent recycled paper but also offers a paperless, e-mail option.
Services include an audit of an organization's waste at its previous parties.
" We are the only sustainable event planner on the Preferred Vendor Lists at the Four Seasons Biltmore and San Ysidro Ranch. We are also the only 'green' preferred vendor at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History," according to the business' Web site, www.merrylbrownevents.com <http://www.merrylbrownevents.com> .
Mrs. Brown says she'll organize parties anywhere in Southern California. Rates vary from occasion to occasion; she can be reached at 455-3112.
Before her current business, Mrs. Brown was director of public relations and events at Saks Fifth Avenue in Santa Barbara, and she has served as a trustee of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. She is a lifetime honorary trustee of the botanical garden Lotusland in Montecito.
She is a Certified Master Gardener and earned a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University. She was formerly an international banker with American Express Bank and Bankers Trust.
Going Green for Halloween
Merryl Brown, president of Merryl Brown Events LLC in Montecito, has this advice for making your Halloween party more eco-friendly:
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Borrow decorations and costumes from friends and family to reduce material. Trade old costumes at SBParent.com's annual exchange the first week of October or go to craigslist.org. Moms and dads can also trade costumes with other parents at their children's school. It's a good way to save money and help the environment. And kids and parents can pull out clothes from their closets to make costumes.
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Serve organic food, drinks and treats. Instead of mass-produced candy, use homemade cookies and cupcakes or organic goodies from places such as Robitaille's Fine Candies in Carpinteria and Chocolate Maya in Santa Barbara. Buying local products cuts down on the gasoline used in transporting goods.
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Serve refreshments and food with reusable tableware. If you're planning to use disposable products, look for biodegradable or compostable options.
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Save time, money and resources by sending out paperless invitations. You can find a template at www.paperlesspost.com.
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Make sure to have a recycling container nearby throughout the party.
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Grow your own pumpkin or buy one from a local farmer.
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Save and bake seeds from your pumpkin; they'll make a great snack. Throw the rest of the organic pumpkin waste into a compost heap to fertilize next year's pumpkin patch.
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Create fall harvest displays with organic items such as leaves.
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Skip the cheap plastic toys and instead give homemade crafts, miniature pumpkins, fruit or organic treats as party favors. You can incorporate these into your decor, games and activities at the party.
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Lead the kids in crafts, such as making masks, by using recycled materials, available at businesses such as Art from Scrap in Santa Barbara.
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Tell others, especially children, about your efforts, to ensure that they continue them in the future.
Originally appeared in the Santa
Barbara News-Press, October 21, 2009
Reprinted with permission from the Santa Barbara News-Press
For additional information or to inquire about sustainable event planning, call (805) 455-3112 or visit: www.merrylbrownevents.com
