☀️It's Sustainable BBQ Season 🍉🍴

Creative Upcycling Ideas for the Outdoors

In partnership with

BBQ season is a beautiful time to enjoy the outdoors and gather with loved ones. However, it's important to be mindful of the waste we generate during our festivities. Even when we clean up, the waste often ends up in plastic bags and then plastic garbage cans, eventually finding its way to landfills. But what if we could change that?

We believe upcycling offers a wonderful opportunity to reduce waste and celebrate summer more sustainably. This month, we're exploring creative ways to make a positive impact on our environment. Imagine if each of us could put just one armload less into our plastic bags this summer—together, we could make a significant difference!

How are you planning to reduce waste at your summer picnics or BBQs? Share your ideas and join the conversation in our project thread below. Read on for project inspiration and more!

Inspiration to get you started:

Upcycled yard games

Skip the Target aisle this summer. Why buy new when you can make something cuter out of materials you quite literally have sitting around the yard? BBQ’s are made better with games, and these upcycled yard games mean sustainable can be playful, too.

We don’t recommend grabbing road signs for yard games, unless of course you’ve sourced them from a junkyard, but this cornhole upcycle does remind us that there are materials everywhere, we just have to be creative about how to repurpose them. (Extra points for upcycled bean bags, like these ones by The Vanderveen House, too!)

Transform an old cooler into a gingham picnic necessity

What better way to waste less, then to take the things we have but don’t love, and make them lovable. We came across this adorable tutorial by I Gotta Create and just loved the idea. Gingham just screams picnic, amiright?

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Diversions:

Quote Hangers: Upcycled Tea Tabs

Discover the magic in the everyday with this project inspiration by Gabriela Chagas. As someone who finds joy in the simple pleasure of a fragrant tea packet, Gabriela shares her journey of turning a small, often overlooked ritual into a source of daily inspiration. In this heartwarming piece, she takes us through her unique upcycling project which infuses positivity into her daily routine using the inspirational quotes found on tea bags.

From the community:

Joanie shared a simply adorable project — handmade children’s clothes from donated/recycled fabric!

Jane shared an upcycled handbag she made from an over-the-top vintage jacket.

Wow, this week, we’ve simply run out of space to share all of the fun project ideas we came across in exploring Summer BBQ Upcycles. We’ll be dropping some extras over in our project thread, and hope you will, too. Discover ways to level up, and upcycle your yard party goods along with us this month.

In this together,

Team Peo Vee