Every holiday is a chance to create new family traditions, including green habits. There are many ways to “reduce, reuse, and recycle” this month. If you’re not already greening the holiday, Halloween is a fun time to start.
Choosing to celebrate a green Halloween is a healthy decision for your family. Not only will you save resources and protect the environment, but you’ll also save money.
Pause before you shop for Halloween costumes and treats. Consider how the things you buy create waste, use energy, and bust your budget. Sustainable, natural alternatives are healthier, cheaper, and better all-around.
Ready for some eek-o-friendly fun? Let’s get started.
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7 Ways to Celebrate a Green Halloween
Are you and your family ready to go green? Commit to making at least one green change this Halloween. Then challenge yourself to make small changes throughout the year. In time, your family will enjoy a new and healthier lifestyle.
Here are seven ways to celebrate a green Halloween.
1. Green Halloween Costumes
Halloween is all about the costumes. It’s tempting to buy the cheap, plastic, throwaway kind. But consider the cost to your health and the environment.
Instead of buying a costume, recycle one from a previous year or create a new one. Raid your clothes closet or visit a resale shop and rummage through the garment racks. Use boxes, toys, or household accessories to create a unique design.
Don’t forget about the makeup. Whether you paint your own lips or draw whiskers on your child’s face, consider the product. Conventional makeup can be toxic to your body and the environment. So use natural and organic makeup and skin care products.
2. Green Trick-or-Treat Bags
Provide your kids with eco-friendly bags for trick-or-treating. From pillowcases to canvas totes to repurposed milk jugs, the possibilities are endless.
Make it a family craft project, and let the kids decorate their own bags. This will help them feel like they’re really celebrating the holiday.
If you choose to buy new bags for treats, opt for reusable bags like Halloween ChicoBags. They come in various designs, such as a pumpkin, ghost, and skull.
Each purchase includes a donation to Green Halloween, a grassroots movement to create healthier, more sustainable holiday celebrations.
Original ChicoBags / Halloween Trick-or-Treat Bags
3. Green Halloween Treats
Who said you have to give sweet, sugary candy to trick-or-treaters? There are many healthier treats and non-food alternatives.
For greener treats, buy fair trade chocolates or fruit-flavored organic lollipops from YumEarth. Or hand out energy bars, organic chips, fruit strips, or raisins in small, recyclable boxes.
For non-food treats, think sea shells, polished rocks, hair clips, or pennies for UNICEF. Mitch and I hand out Halloween tracts with edible treats. Kids treasure small keepsake items.
If you do hand out packaged treats, recycle the wrappers and send them to TerraCycle. This green company collects hard-to-recycle waste and turns it into new products.
4. Green Halloween Decorations
There’s no need to buy commercial Halloween decorations for your home or front porch. Plastic decorations are generally gaudy, gimmicky, and bad for the environment.
This year, go green with locally-grown gourds, pumpkins, leaves, and fall flowers. Cut out the waste by composting the decorations when Halloween is over.
Use paper bags to make door and window decorations. Use beeswax candles for luminaries. Recycle the decorations after Halloween, or store them in a bin to reuse next year.
5. Green Halloween Lights
If you light the night with candles, use beeswax instead of soy or paraffin-based candles. Beeswax is non-toxic when lit, and better for the environment.
For electric lights, use LED string lights or compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs. Although CFL bulbs cost more, they use much less energy than incandescent bulbs – and last much longer, too.
6. Green Halloween Party
Want to keep Halloween green, healthy, and safe? Skip trick-or-treating and throw a backyard party instead. Send invitations by email to avoid paper waste and postage costs.
Serve popcorn, pita chips, veggies, and dips. Make pumpkins out of oranges! Drink apple juice, or go bobbing for organic apples. (Did you know October is National Apple Month?) Carve goofy pumpkins, read scary stories, or tell ghost jokes. Go on a flashlight scavenger hunt for Halloween treats.
After the party, brush away the sweets with a fun, eco-friendly toothbrush. The Preserve company sells 100 percent recycled toothbrushes for kids and adults. They’re great for everyday use, and they make unique handouts for trick-or-treat.
7. Green Halloween Cleanup
Make your holiday cleanup a green event, too. When Halloween is over, send the pumpkins and gourds to the compost heap.
Recycle the costumes, party supplies, bottles, cans, and other items that your city accepts for recycling. Send the hard-to-recycle items to TerraCycle.
If you’re in the United States, mark your calendar for November 15. That’s when we celebrate America Recycles Day, a national green event from Keep America Beautiful.
Wrapping It Up
As you can see, it only takes a few ideas to create a sustainable and fun Halloween. Focusing on the season – summer’s end and autumn’s harvest – can bring tradition into your life.
Preparing seasonal foods, carving goofy pumpkins, doing fall-inspired crafts. These activities turn the focus to home and family – exactly where it should be. So have fun this Halloween, and do your best to keep it green. ◻️
Related Posts
- 12 Little Halloween Quotes to Put You in the Holiday Spirit
- 31 Silly Ghost Jokes That Will Make Your Family Laugh
- How the Spookiest Day of the Year Came to Be
Now It’s Your Turn
Thank you for reading my post. Now it’s YOUR turn to chime in. Does your family celebrate a green Halloween? How do you reduce, reuse, recycle, or otherwise go green?
Let’s fill the comments with friendly conversation. Scroll down to leave a reply, ask a question, or just say hello. And if you liked this post, please give it a share.
Blessings, Annette
📋 NOTE – You are reading “7 Ways to Celebrate a Green Halloween – Tips, Tricks, and Treats.” An earlier version appeared on HubPages in 2013. It has been updated for the Savoring Home community.
Photo Sources
- James Qube | Pixabay | License
- Fun With Food, Michael Phillips / Getty Images Signature | Canva | License
