One of our favorite holidays is just around the corner: Halloween! Last year we shared some of our tips to making your festivities as green as possible, and this year we’re taking it a bit further and making a more challenging list of green Halloween tips:
1. Dress up as an environmental issue – be a tree, a smoke stack, an endangered animal, or even be the globe. This may not lower your carbon footprint, but it can be a great talking point if you’re headed to a Halloween party.
image courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens
2. Don’t throw away candy when Halloween is over – offer it to coworkers or neighbors after the holiday, or freeze it and snack slowly all year long. Frozen chocolate is especially delicious, and doesn’t go bad!
3. Make, swap, or purchase a costume that doesn’t contain any plastic. Cardboard and old clothes are the raw materials for any great costume. Cheap plastic costumes are easily destroyed in one night so are difficult to swap later, and of course, they aren’t biodegradable.
4. Use only biodegradable or reusable party ware – you don’t need pumpkin-themed plastic plates to have a great Halloween party. Instead, decorate your party space with real locally grown pumpkins and use reusable dishes, cups, and flatware. If you do need to decorate with paper materials make sure they are either post-consumer recycled or certified by the Forest Stewardship Council [FSC].
5. Give your trick-or-treaters something organic, fair trade, or local. Taza chocolate is a great local business with fairly traded chocolate that everyone will love – or check out Whole Foods for some other green options.
6. Save candy wrappers for craft projects or give them to someone that will reuse them.
