DIY Skincare
ECO-FRIENDLY HALLOWEEN TIPS AND SIMPLE CRAFTS
HALLOWEEN IS SPOOKY ENOUGH, LET’S DITCH THE EXTRA WASTE WITH THESE ECO-FRIENDLY HALLOWEEN TIPS AND CRAFTS. FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY!
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Let’s make this Halloween a little more sustainable with these Eco-Friendly Tips and Tricks!
This post is written in collaboration with some of my very talented blogger friends as part of an “All Things Fall” collab! Be sure to scroll down to the bottom to see what other great fall posts our friends are sharing.
WHY AN ECO-FRIENDLY HALLOWEEN?
Halloween is often times filled with single use decorations, trinkets, unhealthy candies and wrappers. After Halloween is over, most of these items end up in the trash (or worse, in the street)!
If we all make one or two small swaps to reduce waste on Halloween, imagine the impact that will have on the planet.
TIP 1: ONLY PURCHASE HALLOWEEN DECOR THAT WILL LAST MORE THAN ONE YEAR
It is possible to have a spook-tacular home on Halloween without purchasing disposable items each year. When you’re out at the store looking at decor, consider the quality of the items you are looking at. Will they last more than one season?
Consider decorating with pumpkins! I recently wrote a post on sustainable fall decor using pumpkins, and we love pumpkins because they are so versatile. Our fall decor pumpkins are now Halloween decorations, and any pumpkins that we don’t carve will go back to being fall decor after Halloween is over.
TIP 2: SWITCH TO REUSABLE TRICK-OR-TREAT BAGS
There are many adorable (and sustainable) trick-or-treat bags available, and these festive finds will last year after year. Our kids have small canvas bags that we have used for a couple of years now! These are easier to store than those big plastic pumpkin heads, as they can be folded up into a tiny size and placed in the Halloween bin until next year.
TIP 3: GET CREATIVE WITH MORE ECO-FRIENDLY HALLOWEEN TREATS
Halloween may be a dentist’s worst nightmare, but along with all of those sweet candies are tons of wrappers. There are some creative ways to still share Halloween treats with the neighboring ghosts and goblins, without a trash can’s fright!
- Socks: Sounds crazy, I know. Last year we were out trick-or-treating and one of the first houses we approached handed out a pair of Halloween socks to each trick-or-treater. We were over the moon, a reusable, non-candy item?! (Side note, I actually still have and wear these Halloween socks)
- Mini Pumpkins: Tiny pumpkins are generally available for a low price, a fun treat to hand out on Halloween would be a mini pumpkin with a face drawn or painted onto it!
- School Supplies: Fun Halloween pencils, erasers, or a box of crayons would make for a useful, reusable Halloween treat!
- Okay, Candy: While candy is seemingly inevitable when you’re out trick-or-treating, consider the type of wrapper the candies are in. For example, Junior Mints are in a small cardboard box – so the cardboard could be recycled making this treat a greener option.
TIP 4: HOMEMADE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES
We store all of our Halloween costumes and goodies in a big Rubbermaid bin in our attic each year. Within this bin, we save costumes year after year for scraps or to recycle for another year’s costume.
This fall, we decided to make costumes for our kiddos from scratch. We purchased some felt type material from the local fabric store to make the “bodies” and some remnants to make the “faces”.
HOW TO MAKE A “PULL OVER” STYLE COSTUME
These costumes are no-sew, we simply measured our kiddos and cut the fabric into a circle (for the pumpkin) and an oval (for the ghost). We then measured and clipped out a hole for the head.
For the sides, I cut strands about 1″ thick all the way around the edge of the fabric. Then I knotted each strand to make the costume look like a tied blanket.
My husband drew the cute faces of these costumes on a sheet of paper, which we then traced onto the black fabric with a white crayon. I cut the faces out of the black fabric and hot glued them onto the body of the costume.
Viola! And these costumes will fit over warm clothes if Halloween is a bit chilly.
TIP 5: ECO-FRIENDLY HALLOWEEN CRAFTS
We enjoy simple crafts to make with the kids each season, and Halloween is no exception. It’s amazing what inspiration you’ll find when you look around your home!
This season we crafted tiny ghosts out of my husband’s old T-shirts, bats using crafts from our craft-bin, and beautiful dried oranges. Here’s how we made them!
HOW TO MAKE ECO-FRIENDLY HALLOWEEN DECOR: DIY RECYCLED GHOSTS
Items needed to make DIY Recycled Ghosts
- Old shirts (or any fabric)
- Twine
- Marker
- Sissors
- Newspaper
To make the DIY recycled ghosts, cut the t-shirt or material into a square. Next, take a piece of newspaper and crunch it into a ball. Fit the material over the newspaper to make the ghost’s head. Squeeze tightly, then wrap twine around the base of the ghost’s head. A spooky ghost face can be drawn on with a marker!
These little ghosts are a fun craft to do with the kiddos, and are eco-friendly (and free) if you are able to use what you have in your home to make them. We decided to hang our little ghosts around our home, and the kids have such a blast playing with them too.
DRIED ORANGE CRAFT
A fellow blogger at Ruffles and Overalls made a stunning wreath out of dried orange slices, which inspired me to dry oranges as part of our eco-friendly fall/Halloween decor.
Find the whole tutorial for drying oranges in your home here. This was very simple to do, but was a bit on the time consuming side. The result? A beautiful craft with a natural, citrus aroma. Dried orange slices would make for a stunning wreath, garland or decor to hang in the window. Our dried oranges are on display on our table at the moment, and they are so beautiful that I haven’t wanted to re-purpose them yet!
SIMPLE BAT CRAFT
Our youngest is two, and he’s very independent. He wants to do his own crafts, by himself and that’s final! So, we made a simpler craft just for him. We have a large bin of craft supplies and throw odds and ends into the bin after each craft that we make. Occasionally we break out the bin and dig for treasure.
We had found these little styrofoam bats (not the most eco-friendly, I know) and we had a large supply of googley-eyeballs. Over the weekend, our little Halloweenies glued eyeballs onto the bats and used them to decorate our entryway. Although simple, we will save these bats for next year and hopefully the year after that too.
ALL THINGS FALL COLLAB!
Now that you’ve learned about eco-friendly Halloween switches and crafts, it’s time to check out these other amazing fall posts written by my blogging buddies!
- Anja from Our Gabled Home has whipped up a delicious Pumpkin Sourdough Bread Pudding.
- Catie from Willows and Wheatfields is sharing a beautiful Simple Acorn Centerpiece on her blog.
- Cheyenne from Living Like We’re Country has made adorable DIY Halloween Costumes that you must see!
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Speaking of all things fall – you may also like these posts!
- How to Make Homemade Pumpkin Puree
- The Perfect Body Scrubs for Fall
- Delicious Pumpkin Bread
- The Best Pumpkin Muffin Recipe
- How to Sustainably Decorate for Fall
SHOP THIS POST
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
PIN IT FOR LATER
Thank you for visiting the Simply Rooted Farmhouse today. I hope this post, and the posts written by my blogging friends have inspired you today! In the comments below, I’d love to hear what your favorite thing about fall is.
Linked to: Sundays on Silverado #12 (The House on Silverado), Silver Pennies Sundays Link Party #382 (Finding Silver Pennies), Embracing Home and Family Link Party #12 (The Everyday Farmhouse), Home Matters Linky Party #305 (Modern on Monticello), Chic on a Shoestring Decorating (Flaunt it Friday #485)
