While it may seem daunting at first, removing sugary drinks from community events can lead to engaging, fun and family-friendly events without impacting on the bottom line.
The City of Whittlesea and the Rethink Sugary Drink consortium have joined together to assist councils to take the first step towards holding healthier events with the Rethink Sugary Drinks events toolkit.
The toolkit takes councils through eight simple steps of planning a sugary drink free event. If you and your council are ready, you might jump straight in and go sugary drink free. Alternatively, you might begin by adopting a range of strategies to rethink sugary drinks without removing them entirely.
This may include: working with vendors to increase the price of sugary drinks relative to other options; ensuring only water is included in vendor meal deals; or offering discounts and incentives for vendors who agree to go sugary drink free.
Regardless of the approach you choose, you will be joining a movement that is seeing health services, sporting clubs, community markets, and sport and recreation centres going sugary drink free and helping to normalise healthier choices in your local community.
You can access the events toolkit here.
What are you and your organisation doing to rethink sugary drinks?
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