Graduation: Moving Toward a Greener, Brighter Future

Green Graduation

Green Graduation by Werwin15 (CC BY 2.0)

Yay! It’s time to get moving to the party. Congrats to all the 2015 graduates! You did it! There are so many ways to celebrate a graduation. My favorite way to celebrate graduation however, is to keep it green. From start to finish, there’s a lot you can do here and there to move toward a greener graduation. Let’s take a look at some of the ways to make graduation more green!

Green Graduation: Gifts

When it comes to graduation gifts, it can be a bit hard to decide. Do you go for the greenest of the green and give them some good ol’ fashioned cash or do you put your money to good use and buy them something they’ll treasure forever? Well the good thing about gift giving is, as long as it comes from the heart, you can’t go wrong. Here are some of my favorite green gifts from the heart:

graduation: green gifts
Monkey Tree Sapling by BenGrantham (CC BY 2.0)
  • Relive the memories with an eco-friendly photo book made with an eggshell cover and 100% recycled material matte pages.
  • Get them moving with a knit reusable cup cozy. They’re going to need all the energy they can get for the upcoming job hunt!
  • Plant a tree in their name. Not only will you be giving them something to watch grow alongside their careers, you’ll be giving back to the earth as well.
  • Take a look at these other great eco-friendly gift ideas.

Green Graduation: Party

Stay green by making your party a zero waste event. There’s lots of ways to cut back here and there. Start by making a list of ways you can make each portion of the party more green:

Graduation: green balloons
Colorful_ness by Ishrona (CC BY 2.0)

Green Graduation: Ceremony

It’s easy for graduation ceremonies to end up be really wasteful. Let’s take a look at how we can make them more sustainable:

graduation: green ceremony
Green Chairs by Horia Varlan (CC BY 2.0)
  • If your school offers it, consider renting a cap and gown instead of purchasing a brand new one.
  • Make your own graduation cap and save some green.
  • Work alongside coordinators and turn the ceremony into a zero waste event.
  • If you do purchase materials, consider donating them back to the school.

What green graduation ideas are your favorite? Tell me about them in the comments section below!