5 Ways to be Green This Halloween

Halloween can be a fantastic time of the year for both kids and adults, but with all those decorations, the costumes, candy and more, it can also mean a lot of waste. But, you can make this a green Halloween if you take these eco friendly tips into consideration and do a little forward planning.

1) Make Your Halloween Candy A Healthy Choice

By choosing your Halloween candy wisely, you’ll be helping to protect your kids’ health as well as the environment. Check out your local health food store to see what they have to offer. Opt for organic treats that aren’t full of artificial ingredients, as well as fair trade chocolate or even homemade baked treats.

2) Creative Halloween Decorations

By incorporating eco friendly tips into Halloween, you may just find that it makes things even more fun! Instead of buying plastic decorations from the store: take advantage of what nature has to offer and decorate your home with leaves, pumpkins, apples and natural candles. Choose reusable plates and cutlery instead of disposable items if you really want to do the best you can for the environment.

3) Recycled Halloween Costumes

Eco friendly tips almost always revolve around reusing or recycling so you don’t have to buy new, and Halloween is no different. By making your own from old costumes or reusing costumes you’ve bought in previous years, you’ll be doing your bit to reduce waste this Halloween. Try making your costumes out of old clothes that would have otherwise been thrown away, or buy second hand clothing at low prices to use for fabric.

4) Reusable Halloween Bags

The bags you need to carry around your Halloween treats don't need to be bad for the environment.  Get your hands on some reusable bags instead of plastic or paper bags, . Canvas bags are an excellent choice – take a look around stores to see if you can find any Halloween-themed bags, or simply decorate a plain canvas bag yourself.

5) After Halloween Is Over

Out of all the eco friendly tips, what you do with everything after Halloween really does matter. Don’t just throw away pumpkins, use them for compost, and try to keep any decorations you bought so they can be used again next year. If you did end up buying a costume and won’t wear it again, give it to a friend or donate it. Every little gesture helps!