I’ve always loved Halloween. I vividly remember picking pumpkins with Dad and carving them at our kitchen table with Mom, parties at school, handmade costumes, and the candy. Oh, the candy. The individually-wrapped, make your teeth rot, sugar high-inducing candy.
There are many ways to celebrate your own Halloween traditions that have less impact on the environment. Here are a few tips to green your Halloween:
1) If you’re throwing a party, email invitations instead of snail mail. Try Evite.com for good-looking, easy and free invitations.
2) Eat seasonally. Celebrate autumn by getting produce from your farmers market. Enjoy hearty meals made with a variety of gourds, root vegetables, and apples. After you carve your pumpkin, cook the meat in a pie and bake the seeds for a delicious salty snack!
3) Pick your own pumpkin. Visit local farms instead of buying from large, commercial growers who ship their product from farther distances. Look for farms that use little or no pesticides.
4) Use re-usable plates, cups, cutlery, napkins and tablecloths for parties at home and your children’s schools. Reusing these items every year will not only save money, but will also lessen what you send to the landfill. We sell Recycline’s line of reusable products. They’re 100% recycled and recyclable, made in the USA, and BPA free.
5) Make your own costume, buy a used one, or borrow from friends. It takes a lot of energy and money to put together a costume you’ll wear once, so go easy on your wallet and the planet by putting together an ensemble of used items. Resale shops usually have nice offerings of not only costumes, but also decorations, at this time of year.
6) Instead of using plastic disposable bags to collect treats, use a reusable bag. Everyone has reusable shopping bags these days, and those will do the trick (or treat). We’re selling Halloween-themed ChicoBags for a mere $5. You can also take a brown paper grocery bag, decorate it, and then recycle it after Halloween.
7) Go reverse trick-or-treating. UNICEF has a great program that gets kids to raise money while trick-or-treating. Visit http://youth.unicefusa.org/trickortreat/ for more information.
Consider zero waste decorations. Choose reusable decorations and seasonal gourds. Stay away from flimsy disposables and anything requiring electricity. We prefer decorating with pumpkins and gourds, because they can be composted!
9) Give green goodies. Consider fair trade chocolate or organic lollipops.
10) Get outdoors and feast your eyes on the season. Visit a farm, pick apples and pumpkins, walk through a lush forest. Look up, look down, look all around. Fall is a festival of colors!
Do you have more ideas for greening your Halloween? Please share them here!
