Eco-friendly Halloween Tips and Ideas
Go Green and Organic this Holiday - Recycle Materials and DIY
© Yahan Wu
Oct 19, 2009
Although Halloween is a fun date on the calendar with friends and family getting together to go trick or treating, play games and dress up, the odds and ends left over from the holiday can be a nightmare. But with a little creativity and recycling ingenuity, the extra junk decorations, costumes, and treats produce can be cut back.
Skip Buying Costumes
Start scouring around the house or a local thrift store to find great costume ideas and supplies before going out and buying a costume. It’s also possible that relatives may have interesting clothes from the 50s, 60s and 70s that can be pieced together for an interesting look spiced up with some funky accessories.
Also consider modifying clothes from the wardrobe and think about what can be put together from items already found around the house and make costume accessories, like wrapping recycled cardboard in aluminium foil to make wands, swords or tiaras, or make a cape for princesses or wizards out of an old pillowcase instead of buying new ones. Forget buying new plastic containers for candy and use pillowcases or recyclable bags instead.
Purchase natural, organic or environmentally friendly make-up. It’s not only better for the environment, it's better for the skin as well.
Organic, Eco-friendly Treats
Cut down on giving kids candies with chemicals, preservatives and artificial flavoring and colors and stock treat bowls with organic, natural treats instead of standard commercial kinds. Organic candies or sweets made with pure cane sugar, fruit juice and natural colors taste just as good and are much healthier for kids.
Also try to hand out eco-friendly candy that is wrapped in paper. The problem with Halloween is that all the candy must be wrapped in eco-unfriendly packaging because of safety concerns and kids are taught not to accept unwrapped candy. There are many brands of taffy and gummy fruit snacks that are paper-wrapped. Whenever possible, buy locally produced treats to support local economy and also reduce fuel consumption and pollution associated with transporting products.
DIY Decorations and Crafts
Natural items like pumpkins, gourds, straw bales and corn husks are inexpensive and festive and can be tossed in the compost pile after the holiday to minimize waste. Reusable decorations that can be used from year to year also help save money and reduce waste over the long run.
Get the family together and create homemade decorations by using old egg cartons to make bats and spiders, milk jugs to make pumpkin heads and paper plates to make masks.
Party invitations can also be sent digitally instead of using paper and envelopes. Or, try handmaking small paper bags decorated for Halloween for guests and have them bring it to the party to serve as a doggie-bag for leftover treats.
Other Earth-friendly Halloween Tips
If possible, try to grow pumpkins instead of buying them to help reduce pumpkin-shipping emissions. Or, plan a pumpkin picking family trip and support local farmers and buy from a local grower rather than a large supermarket.
After Halloween is over add jack-o-lanterns, fallen leaves, straw used for decoration, food scraps, and other organic, biodegradable yard and household waste to a compost bin. Compost is good for the environment and creates excellent soil for a garden. There are many websites with helpful information on how to get started with a compost bin for those who don’t have one yet.
An activity that everyone can do is to plan a walking route so that the family can walk instead of driving from neighborhood to neighborhood. This will help keep the environment clean, save money on gas and also get a little exercise in the process. If driving is a must, get together with a group of friends and set up a carpool to take children trick or treating.
Sources:
- Associated Content, Eco-friendly Halloween Ideas, September 9, 2009
- Mother Nature Network., Eco-friendly Halloween Tips, 2009
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