1. Reusable Trick-or-Treat Bags
By choosing reusable shopping bags to go trick-or-treating, you can avoid having to buy disposable plastic trick-or-treat bags. If you do want to buy a bucket for your trick-or-treating, choose one that you can use to fill and decorate for the whole season.
2. Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin “guts” are everyone’s least favorite part of pumpkin carving, but not if you clean them up and make them into a snack! By cleaning and toasting the pumpkin seeds, you can create delicious fall treats for your Halloween party.
3. Organic Candy
Organic candy has less harmful preservatives for your kids and trick-or-treaters, and they are made without pesticides or GMOs, so they are good for the environment too. Check out stores like The Organic Candy Factory to try them out.
4. Solar Powered Lamps
In addition to using candles in your pumpkins (see Tip #8), you will need to light up your walkway for trick-or-treaters. Using solar powered lamps will be better for the earth as you use renewable energy instead of electricity. The best part is that making this adjustment for Halloween will benefit you and the earth year-round!
5. Recycle At Your Party
Halloween parties are great, but there is often a mess left behind after they are over. Putting out recycling bins at your party will reduce the amount that you have to clean up and also make sure that you get all those cans and bottles recycled properly.
6. Nature’s Halloween Decorations
Instead of buying cheap plastic decorations that you will throw away, use all natural fall decorations like pumpkins, gourds, hay, and leaves to decorate your doorstep and yard. You can even compost the materials after you’re done.
7. Up-cycle Your Trash to Make Halloween Decorations
For the clever decorators (Pinterest-lovers, you know who you are), there are several ways to recycle AND decorate for Halloween. Check out Care2’s article for Halloween up-cycling ideas, like making bat decorations out of old egg cartons.
8. Soy Candles
It’s not a jack-o-lantern without the lantern, so you need to have candles inside of your pumpkin for Halloween success. However, choosing to use non-toxic soy candles instead of paraffin candles that add carcinogens to the air you breathe. Soy, unlike petroleum, is a renewable resource, and actually burns for a longer period of time than paraffin candles.
9. Donate your Kids’ Costumes
There are very few times where a Dracula costume will come in handy. If you buy Halloween costumes that you probably won’t use again, consider donating them to a costume shop or thrift store. This way you save someone else money and reuse your purchase instead of throwing it out.
10. Walk, Don’t Drive
By walking around your neighborhood instead of driving, you will avoid putting harmful pollutants into the environment and get good exercise for you and your family.
