The leaves are turning, and maaaybe you’ve lit your favorite fall candle more than once and even snuck in a pumpkin spice treat or two; hey, no judgment here. Fall is the kick-off to the holiday season, which can be one of the most challenging times to maintain your green lifestyle.
Sister, I feel you. That’s why I am making it super simple with tips to celebrate the season while maintaining your love for sustainable living and well-being, starting with Halloween.
Here are five tips to have an eco-friendly Halloween.
1. Choose an Eco-Friendly Halloween Costume
Do your little goblins have a specific costume in mind? Save a little money while inviting imagination and creativity into your family by taking advantage of these tips.
Shop Your Closet
Most costumes are worn for a few hours, one day out of the year. No matter what look your little ones have dreamed up, you can always start by shopping your home’s closets.
Not only will they have a one-of-a-kind unique costume, but you may be surprised at all the spooky things hiding in the back of their closets, but that I can’t help you with-eeek.
Buy Second Hand
Can’t find what you’re looking for at home? Try hitting up your local thrift, antique, or consignment shop to find something you can repurpose into your costume of choice.
This is a fun adventure to take your little ones on, sure to inspire a one-of-a-kind costume.
Rent A Costume
Listen, you’re busy doing it all, and sometimes you don’t have the time or capacity to chase down all the elements to nail the look you are going for. Renting a costume saves time and is an excellent way to reduce waste. Rent something locally by simply googling “costume rental” in your area. There are also several online options like this one that make renting a costume super simple.
Host a Costume Swap
Gather your witches for a costume swap. You can even make a little thing of it by having everyone bring last year’s costume to trade. This blog post has everything you need to plan a smashingly good costume swap soiree.
Other options like Facebook Marketplace are great resources for other moms wanting to trade costumes and accessories.
2. Utilize Eco-Friendly Halloween Decorations
Most traditional Halloween decorations are made from non-recyclable plastics. These are a few simple ideas and easy swaps to make your decor more sustainable.
Decorate with Nature
Mother nature offers us the most beautiful fall decor. Utilize beautiful dried flowers or grasses along with pumpkins and gords to create a beautiful fall scape for your home. I just put some lovely yellow dried yarrow by my front door together with some branches I found in our yard. It is fall happiness, will last all season, and can be composted come springtime. Win all around!
Make The Most of Your Pumpkins
Ok yall, pumpkins are like the gift that just keeps giving. I could talk all day about every single way you can use these things. They are so versatile!
When buying, look for locally grown or organic pumpkins.
Use them to decorate.
Eat ’em. Roasting pumpkin seeds is the easiest thing ever! For realz. This is my favorite roasted pumpkin seed recipe, but visit Pinterest for seasonal soups and recipes for roasted pumpkin, yum.
When you’ve got all your use out of them, compost them. If you don’t compost, check your local community garden that may have a compost drop-off site.
Host a pumpkin smash and let the kids (carefully, under adult supervision) smash, drill holes, and destroy your jack-o-lanterns and feed the pieces to wild animals.
Utilize What You Have
If you’re like me, you often look around your house and wonder where all this stuff came from. Turn your unused jars, vases, and candles into potions and other hocus pocus fun.
For instance, try using yarn, pipe cleaners, or cotton balls you already have to make cobwebs in place of the packaged nylon kind. Check out Andrea Nelson Art, she’s got SO MANY easy craft ideas- including pipe cleaner spiders!
3. Offer Sustainable Halloween Treats
Ok, Ok, your kids probably aren’t going to go for cutting out sugar completely, but here are a couple of ideas for lessening the blow on the environment and their teeth.
Choose Candy with Eco-Friendly Wrappers
All those mini-bite-size candies are typically wrapped in plastic. Purchase treats wrapped in cardboard boxes or foil, which can be recycled.
A few ideas are junior mints, nerds, chocolate gold coins, or Hershey’s kisses. Here are more options you can order straight from Amazon, easy breezy.
Candy Alternatives
Mix it up by offering something other than sugar to your trick-or-treaters. Eco-friendly options include a canned drink like La Croix, Halloween pencils or erasers, or temporary tattoos.
You could be really brave and offer a “trick” to your Halloween visitors by learning a new magic trick or offering a simple Halloween game for kids to enjoy in your driveway.
4. Incorporate New Trick-or-Treating Habits
I’m always down for a fun new tradition to incorporate into our holidays and celebrations. Here are a few ideas to try this year.
Utilize a Pillowcase or Reusable Bag
Nothing brings back the nostalgia of Halloween, like running the neighborhood with a pillowcase stuffed with candy. Amiright?!
Skip the cheap plastic bucket for a reusable grocery bag. Make a thing of it and plan a night for your kids to decorate a reusable canvas tote bag they can use year after year.
Pick Up Trash Along The Way
With all the fun and excitement, there is sure to be plenty of decor and trash that makes its way to your neighborhood sidewalks and streets. Carry an extra garbage bag to clean up debris you find along the way.
Walk or Ride
Get your steps in by walking your neighborhood for trick or treating. If you attend a trunk-or-treat or some other community event, try riding your bike as a simple way to lessen your carbon footprint.
5. Use Non-Toxic Options
I’m thankful to live in a time when options are readily accessible to most. These are a few easy swaps to incorporate healthy choices for your family and environment.
Use Non-Toxic Face Paint
While I’m always striving to choose non-toxic makeup as much as possible, Halloween face paint can be some of the worst for your family’s skin. They are typically loaded with heavy metals that aren’t healthy for anyone or anything.
Natural Earth Paint can be found on Amazon and is free from heavy metals, parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde, petroleum-based pigments, and animal products.
Masks
Skip the cheap, toxic plastic masks and go for one made of cardboard or even wood. Put your little ghouls to work by creating their own out of a cardboard box.
Organic Candy
While there are plenty of organic candy options, choose one that is environmentally friendly, like Glee Gum or YumEarth Organic Pops, healthy for the earth and your family.
Don’t let celebrating an eco-friendly Halloween overwhelm you. Start by choosing one thing you can change this year to build upon. Inviting your family into new traditions makes new habits and good choices fun and exciting for everyone.
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