Christmas and New Years are finally upon us, and we still intend to celebrate the holidays as best we can. Even with smaller groups and a little more distance, you can still throw parties that bring some much-needed joy to a challenging year. Things will be tougher, for sure, so why not make things easier in the kitchen? Adding Smarty’s disposable plate and utensil options to this year’s table settings will make holiday dinners cleaner, easier, and a lot more stylish, too. Here are just a few more of the advantages of disposable dinnerware, all of which you can enjoy with any of our colorful and elegant collections.

Better for the Environment

This may seem counterintuitive at first. After all, you’re throwing away plates! You’re making more waste! But consider the dishwasher. Think of how much hot water and detergent it takes to get your dinner set clean again. And the detergents in your dishwasher pods don’t just disappear when your dishes are clean—they have to be filtered out of wastewater, and the more loads of dishes people wash, the more energy that water reclamation plants have to consume. If this is an issue that gives you pause, consider not just disposable dinnerware but eco-friendly dinnerware that will gracefully biodegrade after use. If you really have an eye on going green, palm-leaf plates can even be added to your compost!

Travel Light

Maybe every big meal you plan isn’t going to be a home game for you. You could be hosting an event at a neutral site, or a friend’s house. Lighter, disposable dinnerware means less to lug around. You won’t have to worry about shattering plates as you carry them in and out, nor will you have to take up so much space in your car. Disposable dinnerware isn’t just light and resilient, it keeps a low profile in transit, too, which could even mean more room for more food. If you’re catering an event, you’ll surely come out ahead with disposable options rather than renting tableware from the facility.

Just Right for the Occasion

Face it: you could never have sets of fine Christmas plates, Thanksgiving plates, Valentine’s Day plates, and Easter plates that each get used once and only once a year. Even if you spent money on all those sets, where would you store them? One of the biggest advantages of disposable dinnerware is that you can creatively embrace the ephemerality of the holidays through your dinnerware. Because most people can’t fit industrial-scale china cabinets in their homes, choosing disposable options allows you to pick out a set of plates and utensils that are perfectly color-coordinated for any situation, making the meal extra memorable. Of course, even the most gorgeous presentation requires delicious food on the plates!