Do you enjoy celebrating Halloween?
Most of my friends and family still get a kick out of the wild and witchy rituals associated
with this holiday.
Sure, Halloween is a fun and festive holiday, but holidays certainly can get wasteful.
Think about it.
Typically, Halloween celebrations involve themed decorations that get thrown out such
as straw bales and pumpkins.
And think of all those plastic masks and candy wrappers!
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
If we just take the time to educate ourselves and others about easy ways to make
Halloween celebrations waste-free and more environmentally-friendly, we can make
a significant impact.
Most of all, we’ll be teaching good green habits to our children!
8 Ways to Have a Waste-Free Halloween
Here are some tips to help you have a greener, waste-free Halloween.
#1. Eat the Pumpkin Seeds
Save the seeds of the pumpkin you use for your jack-o-lantern.
When you scoop out the pumpkin flesh to make the lantern, save the seeds.
They are full of nutrients and have many health benefits.
Do not wash them, but separate them from the stringy pulp with your fingers
and spread them out on newspaper to dry.
Then you can roast and salt them, or eat them raw.
You can also make pumpkin seed milk or smoothies.
#2. Eat the Pumpkin’s Flesh
The canned pumpkin so popular for pies was once pumpkin flesh.
You can make your own pies, soups, stews, casseroles, breads, and other dishes using
actual pumpkin flesh.
#3. Opt for Sustainable Costumes
Choose sustainable options for costumes over disposable ones, which can be wasteful.
Children wear them once, usually for just a few hours, then toss them out.
-Try renting costumes instead.
-Go to your local second-hand store (such as Goodwill) and purchase a costume there,
or buy clothing to improvise a costume.
-If you do buy a new costume or make one, pass it on to someone or give it to charity.
That’s how the costumes get to Goodwill in the first place!
#4. Use Recycled Materials for Decorations
You can cut spooky shapes out of the sides of paper bags, put sand in the bottom, and
insert a candle.
This makes festive luminaries for trick-or-treaters.
Make spooky shapes from materials you have around your home.
Raid your recycling bin and get creative!
#5. Green your Treats
Treats and candies wrapped individually generate a lot of trash.
-Buy candy in bulk or make your own treats.
Then package them yourself in reusable containers, such as mini glass jars or little
decorative boxes.
-Give non-candy treats, like mini art supplies, inexpensive jewelry, or temporary tattoos.
#6. Green your Trick or Treat Containers
Use reusable bags or containers when trick-or-treating.
Children can make their own treat containers from used buckets, shopping bags, or
other containers.
They can even make their own cloth bags.
#7. Carve Decorative Jack-o-Lanterns
Want to create cool jack-o-lanterns that delight your family and friends?
Use these free patterns to carve fun and fancy jack-o-lanterns.
#8. Compost your Jack-O-Lantern
Rather than throwing the pumpkin shell in the trash after you’ve used the seeds and
flesh, recycle the spent jack-o-lantern by composting it.
What are you doing to reduce waste when you celebrate Halloween?
Share your thoughts and comments with us.
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These are really great ideas. Thank you so much…:)
Hi Mrinalini,
I appreciate that. Thanks for taking the time to hop by and share your thoughts.
very informative article on Halloween. Keep writing and sharing 🙂
Thank you Ardhendu! I appreciate your comments and your support!
We need to save the environment as much as we can. Good advice to celebrate a green Halloween.
Yes, Sandy!
I appreciate your comments. There are so many little changes we can make that add up to make a big difference.
Great ideas here and thanks so much for sharing with us. Love the photos too. 🙂
Hi Mark,
Thanks for hopping by and sharing your thoughts. I appreciate it!
I love these tips! I always look for clothes at Goodwill to use for our Halloween costumes, I roast the seeds and compost the pumpkin after my Jack O Lantern is done. This year I used branches that I cleaned up out of our yard, and spray painted them black for spooky (and FREE) decorations!
Deborah, I like all of your ideas for making Halloween more green. I personally don’t decorate for any holidays (I’m just cheap and lazy/don’t have the room) but when I was a kid my parents kept a couple of boxes of decorations and costumes that my sisters and I would reuse year after year. Now I still enjoy dressing for halloween but I do try to get creative with clothes and accessories I already have instead of buying something I won’t wear again. Thanks for sharing with Great Idea Thursdays
Great tips! I hate seeing all the waste from holidays, especially all the plastic from individually wrapped candies at Halloween. I really like the idea of homemade candies!
We were just at Goodwill last night looking for Halloween costume supplies for my 11 year old son. We went in thinking about one costume and came out with supplies for another. I love thrifting costumes!
I’m a bit of a Halloween freak – my family always made a huge deal of it growing up.
I love these tips! I do most of these already, but I’m always looking for ways to be more environmentally friendly. Thanks for sharing Deborah =)
I think these are great ideas. I don’t like the idea of pumpkins getting wasted this time of month. I always roast the seeds and give them out as treats or bring them to work as treats. I’m stopping by from the link up & I hope your having a great Wednesday!
Hello gorgeous! What amazing ideas. Pinned. We hope to see you at our party tonight at 7 pm. It is so fun to party with you! http://loulougirls.blogspot.com/
Happy Monday! Lou Lou Girls
I am so impressed and inspired by this article! Next week my best friend has a birthday and I am going to organize a zero waste birthday party for her. She is a person who follows the zero waste path and I am sure that she will like the party. Thank you for the ideas!
Hi Emma,
I am so delighted that you found this post helpful. Thanks for sharing your comments! I appreciate it.
Such a cute post!!!! LOVE it! And thanks for linking up on Halloween YoFo!!!!
I loved reading this article again Deborah! It’s always important to think about how much waste we are throwing away that still could be used. Thanks for linking up at #VeganYoFo!
You make very good suggestions! Our costumes are something that kids wear all year long. We re-use hay for covering the plants in a garden and in a spring just rake it all in with the fresh dirt. And Neighborhood squirrels do a good job of helping us recycle carved pumpkins (by eating them).