Last month, my sister & her two kids came to town for 10 days. It was SO nice being able to see them all- I hadn’t seen my niece & nephew in four years & had only seen my sister for 1 day since Shane was born, so it was long overdue. We just relaxed and hung out and it was a total blast.

But what always happens when family gets together? We eat. That’s not a bad thing- but it is when it comes with doing dishes. Take the first night they were here, we ordered pizza for everyone. That would have been 8 plates & 8 cups to wash on top of our regular dishes- and my new Maytag dishwasher hasn’t come yet so that’s a good two loads of dishes, just for one meal. So what was I to do?

I used disposable alternatives! Not only that, but I used fun ones- the paper plates we used had a super cute pattern and the cups amazed everyone. Have you ever been at a party & forgotten what cup is yours? It’s annoying because then you have to get a new drink- and it’s annoying for the host because then you’re left with wasted drinks & half-full cups all over the house after the party. You can use a Sharpie to write your name, but I’ve had the drink sweat so much that my name rubbed off onto my hand before- not a good look. So I love the new It’s My Solo Cup!

You can personalize your cup however you’d like {write your name or even draw a design} just by peeling off the label and scratching it with your nail! It’s easy & you won’t mix up your drinks that way- we didn’t, and we were a large bunch that was half children, so we really tested that.

The one thing that I don’t like about disposable dishes though is that they can leave an impact on the environment. That’s why we only use them for select occasions- but at least now when we do, we can feel a little better about it because Solo also has a new line called Bare by Solo that includes renewable plates, compostable plates & bowls, recyclable cups and compostable cups. &They don’t compromise any quality to be “eco-forward” either- we put them to the test with a stack full of burgers & hot dogs and they didn’t crack or show any signs of wear at all!

We tested both the renewable plates & the compostable cups and they were both great. Even though they don’t have a cutesy design like the others, I plan on getting these from now on so that we can have convenience {&less loads of dishes} without harming the environment. {But, Solo partners with TerraCycle and has collected more than 350,000 used cups in the last year to make new products- so it’s not too bad if you use the standard stuff, either!}

These new products are such a huge upgrade from the plain red Solo cups you may have seen at parties growing up {or even now}! By the way, did you know that it’s become common for people to think that the lines inside of Solo cups are meant to measure alcohol servings? Totally not true- but the lines CAN be used to measure. See the chart below for a few quick tips.

{click to enlarge}

Want to try out these great new products? One lucky reader is going to win a prize pack valued at $50 which contains the same products I received! Just enter using the simple form below- good luck!

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