Halloween is fun for everyone. Parents and children are equally involved in planning their costumes and trick-or-treating. Houses are decorated to be as scary as possible. But in all this, the really scary part is the harm to the environment, as plastic decorations, greeting cards, costumes – all produce a massive amount of waste. But it need not be so – you can celebrate an eco-friendly Halloween with very little effort, and which is easier on your wallet too. Read on to find out how you can celebrate an eco-conscious Halloween:
Skip store bought costumes
Store bought costumes come with all the trappings, like fun belts and whistles and bells, and they are convenient, but they’re not eco-friendly. Most costumes are made out of non-recyclable materials like synthetic and plastic fibers. These materials are carcinogenic and are best avoided. Even fake blood, face paint and makeup contain harmful chemicals and metals like lead.
To be on the safe side, you can design costumes from what you have at home, and you can take inspiration from many online tutorials. You could also visit the nearby thrift store to use pre-owned clothes to make costumes. As for fake blood, ketchup can do the trick as well. And if you do buy, make sure you buy makeup labeled “organic and non-toxic”.
After Halloween, you could donate your costume so that someone else gets a chance to use your eco-friendly costume.
Eco-friendly décor
Forego the plastic decorations and make your own Halloween spooky decorations. It doesn’t require much effort and the kids too can get involved in making ghostly decorations. You could hang garlic bulbs or make wreaths out of them, use pumpkins and gourds all over the house and garden. These will add brilliant bursts of color in the house and outside.
You can paint the pumpkins in eco-friendly paint in shades of bronze and gold too. Let your kids paint spooky paintings in all sizes to hang around the house. Popcorn strings painted black, broomsticks dressed up as witches – all these can give an authentic Halloween feel to your decor.
After Halloween, store the craft items you made, to be used next year.
Use every part of the pumpkin
You’re definitely going to have at least one jack-o-lantern for your porch. Don’t throw away the seeds and the guts of the pumpkin, but make a tasty snack from the seeds by toasting them, and squeeze oil from them. Pumpkin pulp can be used in pastas, breads and muffins. Whatever is not usable can go into your compost bin.
Give out organic candy
Candy is a must on Halloween for all those ghosts and goblins that come trick-or-treating. There is tasty organic candy available which do not contain artificial flavors and corn syrup or chemical colors. Organic candy is healthier for the kids and is a better choice for the environment. Organic gummy bears and lollipops, and fair trade chocolates is the way to go if you want to celebrate a green Halloween.
Eco-light up the garden path
You might decorate the path to your house with solar powered lamps or LED lights. Investing in solar powered lights is good idea, as they can help to reduce your electricity bills in the future.
Spruce up what you already have
You could add a little bit of glitter or paint any old bag or wicker basket or an old grocery bag which is reusable, to use as a trick-or-treating bag, instead of using the cheap plastic bags from departmental stores.
Walk around the neighborhood
Leave the car at home and walk around your neighborhood with your kids – that way, you’ll be able to see everybody’s costumes and save some fuel.
Party eco-wise
Have an eco-friendly Halloween party. Start by sending out digital invites, serve organic food and candy, and delicious apple cider. Choose foods which are naturally orange, black and green such as black olives and pumpkin.
You can have a good time and be eco-conscious too at Halloween. It just requires a decision to be eco-friendly and make all your choices, from costumes to décor, based on that decision and be included in the list of responsible eco-conscious folk.