If you’re planning an event, you probably already know how important it is to ensure everyone stays hydrated. It’s especially true when hosting an event outdoors in warmer temperatures. Mild dehydration can lead to serious health concerns, which is the last thing you want during a special vent.
What do you need to know about keeping everyone hydrated at your next event?
Importance of Hydration at Events
Good hydration is one of your most important health factors. Mild dehydration affects your energy, your ability to think clearly, and the functions of your body.
You might not realize it, but ensuring you are drinking enough water means the difference between feeling just ok and feeling fantastic.
Dehydration causes a variety of symptoms from mild to severe, including:
- Thirst
- Dark urine
- Dry mouth
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Dry skin
- Muscle cramps
- Difficulty concentrating
- Irritability
- Confusion
- Rapid heart rate
- Sunken eyes
- Reduced urination
- Fainting
Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to stay hydrated. Some people don’t like the taste of plain water and turn to sugary drinks or fruit juice. Others don’t have easy access to water or clean water to meet their daily fluid needs.
Still others just get distracted and forget to drink throughout the day. This is especially true if you’re busy at a special event. Stopping what you’re doing, whether it’s work or fun, to get a drink of water is challenging for everyone.
Best Ways to Stay Hydrated
Many assume the best way to stay hydrated or rehydrate is to chug a plastic bottle of water. They’re usually available at most stores and events, don’t cost a lot, and are a quick way to quench your thirst.
Unfortunately, plastic water bottles are one of the worst ways to deal with dehydration.
Single-use plastic water bottles cause:
- Plastic pollution
- Risks to wild animals, including injury, suffocation, or death
- Debris in bodies of water
- Microplastic accumulation that poses a risk to animals and the environment
- Strain on resources due to manufacturing and transporting the bottles
- Exposure to dangerous plastic chemicals
What’s the Solution?
One of the best alternatives to using single-use plastic water bottles at events is replacing them with refillable water bottles. It’s a small change that has a significant impact.
Refillable bottles are eco-friendly and convenient. Benefits of refillable bottles include:
- Durable
- Affordable
- Reduced environmental impact
- Safer for health
- Marketing opportunities
How do you make using refillable water bottles as easy and convenient as possible at your next event?
It’s simple. The best way to encourage refillable water bottles at your next event is to offer a water refilling station for event attendees. Water stations are an easy and affordable way to provide water for everyone.
Water station water is clean and cool, and it tastes great. Of course, in many cases, you’ll need to do more than offer a water station to get people to turn to refillable bottles at your next event.
In addition to having at least one water station onsite, the following increases the chances that people will stay hydrated without turning to single-use plastic water bottles during an event:
Provide Water Bottles
One of the easiest ways to ensure everyone at your next event stays hydrated without turning to single-use bottles is to provide attendees with refillable bottles. If everyone is given a bottle at the beginning of the event, they’ll have it handy and ready when they get thirsty.
They’re also more likely to drink water if it’s free, which it will be if they have an empty bottle ready to fill and they’re provided access to water.
As an added benefit, you can add your event logo or a website address to the water bottles. This means every time they use the bottle in the future, your event or company will get free advertising.
Encourage Proper Hydration
Just providing a water bottle to event attendees probably isn’t enough. Most people need a reminder, especially when they’re enjoying time with friends or focused on work.
Make sure there are plenty of reminders at the event space reminding people of the location of the refilling station and that they need to stop what they’re doing and refill their water bottles.
Don’t Sell or Provide an Alternative to Refillable Water
Once you’ve provided people access to healthy water, there’s no need to offer single-use plastics for drinking. If you don’t offer sugary drinks, sparkling water, or sports drinks and the only choice is to use a refillable water bottle, you don’t need to worry about people using anything else.
Make sure you notify people in advance that their option for drinking water will be provided, that they cannot bring in single-use plastics for drinking, and that they won’t have the option of buying them.
Make Staying Hydrated Fun
Finally, you can encourage people to drink water by planning rewards or games encouraging good hydration. This makes refilling bottles and drinking water fun for everyone.
Consider offering a stamp or sticker every time someone refills or encourage them to keep track of their fluid intake on the honor system and provide recognition at the end of the event to whoever reaches a certain goal.
Renting or purchasing a refillable water station makes event planning easy. These stations eliminate concerns about hydration and hydration-related health emergencies. Call us now or visit our website to learn more about how a refillable water station can make your next event better than ever.