Tuesday, October 27th, 2009...2:00 am
3 Ways to Green Halloween
It’s no surprise that when you try to green your Halloween, you’ll likely save some money, too.
Here are 3 quick ways you can make this Halloween a bit more eco-friendly; these tips are courtesy of my friend Jodi Helmer, author of the awesome book The Green Year (Alpha Books, 2008), which provides 365 simple and inexpensive green ideas for each day of the year.
1. Green the goodies: Think of all the candy wrappers that one little goblin throws in the trash – then multiply that number by the millions of trick-or-treaters who are happily gobbling up their stash. You can still satisfy a sweet tooth but save cash and on the resulting trash by buying treats in bulk to minimize packaging waste.
2. Come up with a new costume: Skip the racks of colorful costumes at the mall (most of them are made of non-renewable materials like plastic) and come up with a creative idea for a homemade costume. Add a bandana to a pair of jeans and a denim shirt for an instant cowboy costume or put on your wedding dress and go as the Bride of Frankenstein. Or, host a costume swap with the neighbors. The costumes their kids have outgrown might be the perfect fit for your little one. (You can do what I did one year and go vintage: I took my daughter to a thrift store so she could buy real 1970s clothing when she decided she wanted to be a 1970s hipster for Halloween; she’s next to “Dorothy” in the picture above.)
3. Choose natural decorations: Bails of straw, colorful mums and a handful of gourds are great seasonal decorations that can be composted on November 1st. If scary witches hanging from the oak tree and plastic pumpkins on the front step are a must-have, scour secondhand stores. (I was in my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore store last week, and it had tons of Halloween decorations for about a quarter a piece. Note: the Christmas decorations were already out, too, so if you want to stock up on the cheap, now’s the time to head out to thrift stores for those decorations before they get totally picked over.)
Of course, it goes without saying that you ought to go out trick or treating with a reusable bag to hold your stash–whether it be the reusable tote you bring to the store with you or that old standby from years gone by, the pillowcase.
Does the tip for buying candy in bulk mean “unwrapped” bulk candy? If so, this suggestion would be good for a Halloween party, or for a group of children whose families already know each other ~ I would not let my child eat unwrapped candy obtained during trick-or-treating! Hope that’s not being a kill-joy!
Our local Mother’s Club does the costume swap each year – really great idea. Used costumes can also be found on freecycle.org, which was created to keep stuff out of the landfill by giving it away for free.
Another idea I wanted to mention is that many Waldorf Schools offer a green “alternative” to Halloween, called “Sprite’s Night”. Parents and children transform each classroom into a stage, and storybook tales are acted out to the delight of the audience. A “spirit guide” takes groups of parents and children around to each classroom, where they will see the creative skits and children receive a trinket related to the story (for example, children may receive a little mini pumpkin after hearing a story about a pumpkin, or receive some seeds after hearing a story about a farmer). These events are usually in the late afternoon/early evening, and the school campuses have been transformed with bales of hay, cornstalks, and lit pumpkins along a path ~ it’s really magical (especially for young children). Hot apple cider and homemade soups and bread might be served as well. And generally, everyone dresses in costume!
I meant buying it prewrapped in bulk–or at least that’s how I read the tip. My thinking is that if you can get one gigantic bag of prewrapped candy at Costco or BJs, as opposed to buying 10 smaller bags of prewrapped candy somewhere else, then overall you will have less waste from the bag the candy came in. Does that make sense?
Don’t forget the real spider webs from the attic or basement you could use, ha. But using real stuff will help out, kids don’t care either way.