But what you do is, peel off the label, and wash the can thoroughly, using baking soda and salt to eliminate the smell. You then take an old fashioned can opener, the kind that leaves triangle shaped holes and punch out designs you like, or you can fill up the can with water (I use water leftover from washing dishes for water conservation) and freeze it. Once the water is frozen you can use an ice pick or a nail and using a hammer make patterns of holes in the metal. Once the ice melts, you just dump it out on your garden!

Once you have the patterns you want, you can paint the cans and decorate how ever you want, paint over with school glue for a nice finish, and voila! you have a unique holder for votive or tea light candles. It’s a nice touch, and if you have enough you can get away from using those electric fairy lights.

Another tip for resuing jars, is to remove the label, thoroughly clean, and fill them with dried flowers and herbs for your own potpouri. I grow and dry my own, and so can mix up colours to match or complement any room. Add a few drops of essential or aromatic oils and you have a nice accent piece that smells beautiful.

You can do the same with shells and pretty stones and beach glass that your kids have collected at the beach.

Jars also make great snowglobes. Remove the label, clean well. Fill the jar with water, coloring it with food color if you like, and pour in some glitter. On the lid of the jar, glue plastic toys or whatever takes your fancy, and let dry. Once the glue for the toy has dried, pipe some glue around the rim of the jar and inside the lid, and screw on. Leave the snowglobe upside down until the glue dries (otherwise you may have a mess on your hands!). Then turn it over and enjoy your snowglobe! This works particularly well with those little plastic toys your kids get in ‘Happy Meals’ or out of gumball machines.

I offer drinks in pitchers, kegs or jugs along with appropriate cups/glasses whenever possible to cut down on the number of bottles/cans we use.

I purchased several inexpensive sets of a fun and summery stainless ‘flatware’ from a discount store which are dishwasher safe and use them for outdoor parties. So much better than using disposable plastic forks/knives and they look great. My guests always comment that I used the ‘good’ stuff for them! I also cut down on paper napkins (though I use recycled) by wrapping each knife/fork/spoon set in a cloth napkin and tying with raffia and placing in a basket near the plates. People use far fewer napkins when they are cloth rather than paper…

Here’s one delicious and easy frozen dessert recipe, a treat for your party guests:

Cut up ripe canteloupe and/or honeydew into small chunks and freeze. When frozen, put the melon pieces through a Champion juicer (using the blank plate). It makes a soft-serve frozen dessert. Sweet and creamy and cold. Spoon into paper cups and serve immediately.