Being green doesn't mean you can't have any fun at a vacation house by the shore. Ethan and Maryhope have 20 guests over for a weekend beachside shindig, and while weighing their options in flatware, waste disposal, and the menu they hit on their best decision in weeks: an authentic clambake.

So what good is a borrowed house by the shore if you don't invite your city friends over for a beach party? And how exactly do you entertain those friends in an environmentally responsible way?

Ethan and I had 20 people over for a beach and barbeque weekend. It was the first time we'd ever planned or hosted anything together, which alone made it an exercise in relationship-building. (Ethan is a big list-maker, while I am much more likely to wing it.) We did well to keep ourselves from snapping at each other while we noted people's changing arrival times, found places for everyone to sleep, took care of my parents' constantly barking dog, and figured out how much food and drink to buy. But keeping the environment a priority was a challenge.

I went to the Internet for ideas. I barely had time to go to the drugstore and pick up extra bug repellent, so while I had heard about some helpful books (such as Dan Seo's Simply Green: Entertaining), I had to take what I could get online. Googling green entertaining turned up several articles, including a post on Vital Juice Daily and Eneract's planet-friendly entertaining checklist, both of which offered good bits of advice.

Many of the articles included such tips as sending e-vites instead of paper invitations, or cutting and reusing old greeting cards as place cards. These ideas prompted daydreams about color-coordinated, magazine-perfect summer dinner parties. But we were going for the kind of affair at which everyone chips in, sleeps on couches, and plays whiffle ball on the lawn, so they didn't help much. I had to do some picking through to find the advice applicable to the eco-friendly but cash-poor party thrower.

One frequent entertaining suggestion I encountered online was to give up on paper and plastic tableware as a major way of reducing waste. Some recommended replacing the plates with those made of Earth-friendly bamboo, but sadly, at a dollar a plate, this is reserved for those with a healthier party budget. We would have to weigh the choices: either plan on abandoning our guests as we washed dishes or accept the paper plates. We compromised-real dishes at breakfast, recyclable paper plates for the other meals, and real silverware all the time. We also planned on washing and reusing the plastic cups.

Another area of concern for us was food. The major suggestion here was to buy organic, which sadly would break the bank. And unless we wanted to feed our guests a steady diet of pea tendrils, basil, and lettuce, eating local as a way of being green would go only so far. Many of the sites suggested looking for local or organic drinks, which hadn't even occurred to me. But the local brew was close to twice as expensive as good old Bud. So we decided to put 80 percent of our energy (and budget) into the main Saturday meal, which would be feeding the most people (and generate the most potential waste). The rest of the weekend, we'd go heavy on snacks like apples and granola bars and grill up some skewers and other finger foods, which would help on the paper-plate and dish-washing fronts.

We decided to grill. But one element of grilling that is somewhat environmentally contentious is what kind of grill to use: propane or charcoal. I have heard from various opinionated proponents of each. Green Living Online devoted an entire article to the greenest grills, which helped: If you're not going to buy a space-age eco-grill and you already own the charcoal variety, it is good to know that hardwood charcoal is more environmentally friendly than the little briquettes (which are apparently packed with chemicals).

This was a bit of a blow to Ethan's sense of grill order-he enjoys the satisfaction of a neatly stacked glowing pile of charcoal-but it did make us feel a bit less guilty about firing up the Weber.

Our major food event both appealed to our sense of eating green and also made us feel like locals: We'd have a clambake. Despite being city kids, we figured, We're smart-how hard can cooking seafood in a hole in the ground be? Given that a few months ago Thai takeout was our go-to meal, I admit I was skeptical about our abilities. We had never attempted something quite as ambitious on the culinary front.

Ethan and our friends Zach, Morgan, and Matt get full credit for effort and ingenuity. (Trash bags instead of a canvas tarp? Perfect!) The clams were from just up the coast in southern Maine, and the potatoes were from a local farm. The cooking apparatus was 100 percent local and maximally green-a hole in the backyard lined with rocks and seaweed collected from a nearby beach. The boys started the fire in the pit in the morning, and by early evening we were all standing around a table, eating clams out of a big bowl-no napkins, no plates, no silverware. The best part? Our most environmentally friendly effort was also the most delightful and commented-upon event of the weekend.

Looking back, I can see that there are ways we might have been able to entertain more sustainably. Perhaps if I had gone to the brewery and explained the situation, they would have cut us a deal on the beer. Or maybe Ethan and I shouldn't have been so timid about the new toilet-flushing policy in the house. But overall, I think we did well. In fact, being on a budget may have actually helped us be more Earth-friendly in some aspects of our planning. We certainly did a better job than we would have even a few weeks ago. And most important, as hokey as it sounds, we had a truly fantastic weekend with friends.

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