Halloween is just around the corner and the team started thinking about how to celebrate this holiday more sustainably. Here are some sustainable tips for Halloween we’d like to share with you:
Costumes

Buy costumes from the thrift store and when you are finished using them donate them back to the store.
Pet costumes – If you have multiple pets you could save pet costumes and swap out the costumes for each of them to wear.
Sometimes old costumes can be re-worn as something entirely different, so you get more than one use out of it.
Dress up using a costume from previous Halloween’s.
Use the costume for different events such as a Halloween party, school activity, or in a play.
Buy costumes throughout the year for dress up and then the kids can choose to dress up from their favorite costumes they already have for trick or treating!
Use clothes in your closet to dress up for your Halloween costume.
Pumpkins

Roast the pumpkin seeds for snacks after carving rather than waste them.
Eat the pumpkin used as a jack-o-lantern or use it for food. You can cut it up and roast it with other vegetables.
Compost the pumpkin.
Use your pumpkins for Halloween and for Thanksgiving decorating.
Ask local farms if you can donate your pumpkins for the animals.
Decorations

Buy decorations you can reuse year after year.
Use LED lights.
Paint pumpkins instead of carving them with non-toxic paint
Use household items to decorate from such as egg crates, milk jugs, cardboard boxes, and sheets to make bats, ghosts, headstones for a cemetery, etc.
Apples for shrunken heads.
Create spiders out of construction paper or fabric and use them in your windows to decorate.
Jack-o-lanterns made from empty jars lit up with LED lights.
Apple tea light holders.
Treats

Candy in boxes instead of plastic wrappers
Foil wrapped candy
Temporary tattoos
Pencils
Fair trade chocolate
Trick or Treating

Walk your neighborhoods for Trick or Treating rather than driving.
Trick or treating locally in your neighborhood (to save carbon travel miles).
Use rechargeable batteries in your flashlights.
Reusing the same trick or treat bag, pillow case, or use a green shopping bag, etc. for trick or treating.
Community

Host a Halloween party and provide homemade treats.
Organize a neighborhood clean-up the day after Halloween to pick up any candy wrappers that may be left behind.
Donate the leftover candy to a non-profit.
These are just a few ideas that could make this holiday a little more sustainable for you, your family, and neighborhood. Do you have some ideas? Please share with us, we’d love to hear them. We hope you have a safe and happy Halloween!
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