I have long been careful to use as few disposable items as possible in my daughter’s school lunches. It’s so much cheaper to buy and use reusable bottles and containers for her food.

It also ensures that she doesn’t throw everything out at school, and I know how she’s eating. But that’s just a side benefit.

But with my son’s birthday coming up, I keep thinking about the disposable dish use for most birthday parties. Just seems kind of silly to be wasting those.

One idea I’ve read about that I really like is hitting the thrift stores for cheap, old dishes and silverware to use for parties. I like that. It’s great for the budget if you keep them, or if you don’t like them, back they can go. Donating to thrift stores is very easy.

I like the idea of keeping them, of course. That’s just the cheapest way to go.

The challenge, of course, is finding dishes that young children can handle with minimal risk of breakage. Plastic dishes are of course not that great an idea.

There are other times you should be looking at your use of disposable dishes. Some people bring their own containers to restaurants to bring home leftovers. It’s a bit more challenging in some ways for take out, as you may have called ahead, plus the restaurant has a standard way they get food ready. But if you’re nice when you ask and have your containers ready, they may cooperate with a smile.

Quitting disposable dishes is challenging, but it can be a great conversation starter, both with family and complete strangers. It’s an extra step to take a lot of the time, but really not all that inconvenient once you build the habit.