How To Have A Spooky AND Sustainable Halloween [Week 29]
Halloween is my favorite holiday! Here are some tips on having a fun and sustainable Halloween night.
Amanda Drews, 9 minute read
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The Costume
Dressing up for Halloween falls under my top 5 favorite things to do in life. I don’t even care about the candy anymore as an adult but I still love dressing up and going out.
Do you already have something you could use for a costume?
If you are looking to keep things zero-waste for your Halloween costume, take a look around your house and wardrobe to see what you already have or can create. Got air duct construction leftovers? Upcycle them into a robot. A previous job uniform like scrubs? Boom. Doctor. That costume you already wore in college that may not be appropriate for a kids Halloween party? Do it! No judgement here. Who hasn’t been a sexy Buzz Lightyear or Thomas the Tank Engine?
All upcycled or reused 
Some of you may have that fancy skill I have yet to learn called sewing. If you can make your own costume with materials you have laying around, that makes it so much cooler and more unique.
Look for a used costume.
If you can’t find anything around the house or are just looking for something different, check out consignment stores, Facebook Marketplace, Buy Nothing Groups and other places that may have used costumes. Arrange a costume swap at school or in your neighborhood. This also gets you away from the store bought costumes that everyone else will have this year. Think of the best costume you’ve ever seen at a party. Was it store bought? And who wants to pay $50 for an oh-so-cute toddler costume when there are plenty at Goodwill for a couple bucks? Your kid will still be cute.
Save items that could be re-used
When you’re done with your costume, decide if there’s a possibility you may want to wear it again. If you have room, keep a bin of accessories that you could use across different costumes like wigs, jewelry, masks, hats etc. Or if your kids have a dress-up collection, throw the costume in there. I use Halloween as a chance to buy multiple dress-up costumes for at home for the kids to play dress up with. It’s not uncommon that my kid goes to bed dressed like a dinosaur or a ninja.
The Decorations
A lot of the same zero-waste tips go for your Halloween decorations.
Keep your decorations from year to year in a specific place where you will be able to find them. If you don’t want your yard looking the exact same every year, find a way to put the items in different places. I say, the more Halloween decorations, the better. As long as you can easily store them. My dream has always been to be able to create a haunted house like setting in my front yard but I don’t have the ability to store more than what I already have into decorations right now.
The opposite could be true too. How much more spooky is a house that just has one flickering light on over the door? Maybe some scary sounds playing over your phone through an open window? This might be way cooler, especially if you plan on dressing up to hand out candy.
Some of the same decorations that make Halloween fun like pumpkins, gourds, and candles can also be used into Thanksgiving season. Try to have your decorations do double duty where they can.
Fall season decor that can double up for Halloween and Thanksgiving. 
Have you ever thought about where Halloween decorations are made? We may think about purchasing Fair Trade and B corp products in other areas of our life but it’s never even dawned on me until this year that a lot of Halloween decorations are made by people in forced working conditions. BBC had an eye-opening story in 2018 about a letter found in a tombstone decoration that a woman bought at Kmart. See what you can buy that has been locally made or turn to Pinterest to find some creative DIY Halloween decor.
The Honest Consumer has links to a few ethical Halloween decoration brands.
Keep the birds in mind during Halloween.
Ditch the fake spider webs. I know it looks super cool to have a house covered with massive fake spider webs but birds can get tangled in them. I never even thought about it until it happened to us. It took us about 20 minutes to get that poor little guy untangled from that super fine material. Luckily we got to him right away and he seemed to be uninjured.
If you do want to add spider webs to your outdoor decor, place them flush against the side of your house or windows.
Here’s the plastic Halloween decoration that is a must have in our house. Window stickers! Since Halloween falls around the same time as a lot of birds are migrating, now is a good time to get some festive window stickers. I like the ones that create an actual scene but any window clings work. If you’re not so into Halloween decorating, there are also some with nice autumn leaves you could use. Either way, it helps out migrating birds that are unfamiliar with your yard and your windows.
Check it out on Amazon HERE.
How much energy do inflatable decorations use?
I’ve always been curious about this because inflatable decorations can be cool and would store more easily than anything else that same size. But how much energy goes into having an inflatable blown up in your yard? According to nationalgridus.com, about 150-200 watts per hour depending on the size. They note if you have them on for 10 hours a day, that will probably run you about $10 per month to keep each inflatable up.
Obviously, it is more energy efficient to decorate with non-inflatables but if you do choose to go that route, just make sure you have them on a timer and only have them on when needed. Same with lights.
The Candy
First, you’re going to need something to put your candy into.
Use the same trick-or-treating buckets/bags/whatever you use from year to year. My kids have some of the same plastic bins I had as a kid. Reusable grocery bags, paper bags and (if you’re hard core) pillowcases also work fine as trick-or-treating bags.
Find local, eco-friendly and animal friendly candies.
Look for treats made from companies that have made commitments towards sustainability. Does the company have clean energy plans? Do they use palm oil? Do they use sustainable palm oil? There are a couple different sides to the palm oil argument. On one end, land used for palm oil can have far greater yields than many other commonly used oils. On the other hand, there are reports that sustainable palm oil companies are not being compliant with the standards set.
Many large chocolate companies source their cocoa from places that use child and slave labor. Wow, what a buzz kill Amanda. I see that look a lot from people. But for real. It’s not that I never opt for a chocolate candy in the grocery line here and there but overall, I prefer to support companies that don’t use child labor to satisfy my sweet tooth.
I was looking forward to recommending Tony Chocoloney chocolates for this post because they taste amazing but apparently in early 2021 they have made some not so ethical partnerships and have since been taken off the Ethical Chocolate Companies list by slavefreechocolate.org. Check out their list for ethical chocolate sold in your country. Also check out the list on The Good Trade. Looking at these lists, I’ve tried a few but I can say with confidence that Alter Eco is by far my favorite brand on there. Their truffles. WOW. Although more expensive, they would be an excellent choice for Halloween if you are set on handing out chocolate. Endangered Species chocolate bars are also pretty good.
Or you could just use something different all together.
Look for alternatives to traditional candy to give away.
Look for something local. Is there a local bakery that has pre-packaged and labeled goods that can be given away? A local soda company? Maybe you aren’t given away treats at all. Halloween tattoos, stickers, reusable straws or other things kids could use might be good give-a-ways. Avoid the tiny plastic toys, no parent wants them around and odds are strong they are just going to end up in the trash soon. My grandma used to give away quarters which was awesome as a kid! For healthier food items, think fruit leather, granola bars and crackers.
What you give away at your door will depend on a lot of factors. Your budget, how many kids will show up and if you need to have some food allergy-friendly treats available (note: you probably should have these as an option now. Just in case).
The Pumpkins
Look for a pumpkin at the closest local, organic farm to you. You may have an idea of what you want in a perfect pumpkin, but let your kid pick out the one they want. Check out Local Harvest for farms near you.
Opt for carving your pumpkin instead of painting it. If a pumpkin has glitter or paint all over it, it should not go into the compost. Wipe off any paint with a damp rag before composting.
When it’s time to get rid of your pumpkin, do not put it in the trash! Organic matter in landfills releases Earth warming methane gas. Make sure all the seeds are out, break it into chunks (which can be fun in itself) and chuck it into your compost or see if your town has a pumpkin collection event.
The Clean-Up
It’s hard not to sneak a few pieces of candy while you’re out trick-or-treating. Whenever I steal my kid’s candy, bite of ice cream etc, I declare it as a mom tax. My kids haven’t questioned it yet because they know that if they don’t share, I won’t bring them to tasty places.
Anyways, people are running around all over Halloween and a lot of those people are dropping candy wrappers on the ground. Take a stroll with your kids on November 1st and see who can pick up the most pieces of litter. I would give the dog a day off from walking as well that day just in case she sniffs out some chocolate that she shouldn’t have. If you wind up with a blizzard like the one we had in 1991 (I was a ballerina just fyi) then you can skip the cleaning up after.
Terra cycle offers a Candy and Snack Wrapper-Zero Waste Pouch to send in wrappers to be recycled. They do run pretty pricey and they don’t list what exactly they do with them. I’m a bit hesitant. Is it really worth the energy and money to ship a few candy wrappers back to be recycled? I’d like to see more info than what they have on their website.
- Organize your Halloween decorations so you know what you have and don’t go out and buy doubles.
- Keep birds in mind while you decorate for Halloween.
- Avoid buying brand new Halloween costumes by looking for used items or things you already own.
- Mindfully chose what you give out to trick-or-treaters.
- Help out by cleaning up your neighborhood the day after Halloween.
- Should you leave the leaves this fall? Find out in Week 30.
