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10 Ways to Celebrate Halloween Sustainably

These simple tips and tricks make Halloween costumes, decorations and cleanup more sustainable.

10 Ways to Celebrate Halloween Sustainably

Halloween is spooky, but you know what's really scary? Eighty-three percent of Halloween costumes purchased in the U.S. contain non-recyclable plastic. That's equivalent to about 1800 tonnes of plastic waste. And that doesn't even take into account the pumpkins that go right to landfills, the plastic decorations and the candy waste.

Follow these tips and tricks, including fun activities for the whole family, for an eco-friendly—but just as fun—holiday.

Less-waste costumes

Host a costume swap

Bring out the spooky decorations, pumpkin-spiced goodies and scary music before inviting friends and family to enjoy a pre-Halloween party and clothing swap. Each participant brings a costume and trades it for one that is secondhand, but new to them. This festive event is all the fun of Halloween shopping without any of the waste.

Two children, whose faces are out of frame, hold jack o'lantern-themed pails on a porch.

Use what you have at home

Sometimes, the best costume ideas are right under our noses. Household items and old outfits can make great Halloween looks. Plus, getting creative while putting them together is an entertaining family activity. 

Look through items used for after-school activities. An old dance recital outfit and some ribbon will easily turn your little one into a dazzling ballerina come Halloween night. Or, grab a football, a helmet, a t-shirt and some markers to create your own jersey and become your favourite athlete. 

And do not underestimate the power of cardboard boxes—all those pesky shipping materials will easily transform into a unique costume. Cover the box in tinfoil after cutting out holes to become a trick-or-treating robot. Create cardboard wings and use ribbons as shoulder straps.

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Three children stand side by side. The middle child is wearing a robot costume made of tinfoil and cardboard.

Explore rental companies

Renting is a great option for parents who don’t want to invest in a costume, only for their child to grow out of it by Christmas. By renting your Halloween look, you reduce waste by giving a second life to a typically one-use outfit.

A phone showing the recycle symbol sits atop an open-knit, white tote bag.

Buy from thrift stores or secondhand shops

Buying a costume doesn’t have to be wasteful. By heading to a local thrift store for your Halloween shopping, you reduce the emissions created by producing new materials or disposing of goods in landfills. 

Less-waste decorations

Make the most out of your pumpkin

Displaying pumpkins on the porch and around the house is a treasured Halloween pastime. Unfortunately, Waste Dive says Americans send over 1 billion pounds of pumpkins to landfills every year. Instead of throwing yours out, see this guide on using every part of the pumpkin. The seeds, when roasted, make for a delicious snack and the flesh will level up all sorts of Fall recipes. 

Make carving and cooking more sustainable by buying your gourds from local farms. When produce travels long distances from farm to table, its ecological footprint worsens. Plus, local food is often fresher, more nutritious and better tasting.

Two children smile at the camera while sitting on a countertop in front of a carved pumpkin.

Upcycle throwaway materials

Create your own Halloween workshop by making paper mache skulls and skeletons. This hands-on craft is super entertaining and a great way to get rid of junk mail and old newspapers. Prima offers a quick and easy paper mache guide to get started. Or, for a quicker activity, transform old egg cartons into little bats with some paint and these instructions from All Free Crafts. 

Another do-it-yourself decoration to display all season long is homemade autumn wreaths. Plenty of plastic leaf garlands are available for purchase online but don’t settle for a wasteful alternative when you can have the real thing.

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Simply cut out a doughnut shape from poster boards or old boxes. Then, spend some time at the park collecting colourful leaves. Cover the leaves with paper towels and press under a heavy book to dry them out. Finally, staple the leaves to your wreath to create a beautiful Fall piece. To preserve the leaves and make your wreath last longer, dip them in melted biodegradable beeswax. (This is a job for parents as the wax will get hot.)

A young girl paints a bunny-shaped mask.

Repurpose old clothes

Cover old shoestrings or yarn in black paint and have kids spin spiderwebs for a festive, low-supervision craft. For decor, cut up old t-shirts or sheets to make spooky ghosts. Just wrap the material around a sock ball, draw on some eyes and fasten it with a hair tie. These homemade items are less likely to break than the single-use plastic decorations littering landfills.

A handmade ghost toy hangs from a string. Behind the toy, papers are stapled onto a wall.

Save your creations

Most of your handmade Fall decorations will hold up well in storage. Since spooky season never goes out of style, you can reuse your children’s shoelace spiderwebs and fabric ghosts year after year. Plus, they make for adorable keepsakes.

Post-Halloween tips and tricks

Dispose of your pumpkins properly

An important part of putting your pumpkin to good use is eco-friendly disposal. According to National Geographic, jack-o’-lanterns which end up in landfills, become methane—a greenhouse gas which warms the atmosphere quicker than carbon dioxide, making it a particularly potent cause of climate change. 

Luckily, plenty of farms will take your pumpkins after Halloween to use as animal feed. To reduce food waste, the Pumpkins for Pigs Foundation created a map of animal sanctuaries, farms and rescues across North America which accept donations. Find the sanctuary closest to your family and bring your pumpkins over to support a local business while reducing your carbon footprint.

If you cannot donate your pumpkin, be sure to compost the scraps.

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A young girl faces away from the camera, feeding a goat with her hand. A smaller goat sits in front of her. Filinecek via Pexels

Donate costumes and decorations

Give your child’s costumes a second life by gifting them to younger friends or donating them to charity shops, schools and daycares. If the clothes are clean and in good condition, teachers may want to use them at recess or in school plays. 

If an item can’t be stored or donated, see if it is recyclable. Check out Business Waste Management’s guide to recycling Halloween decorations to see what to do with led lights, inflatable monsters and other ornaments.

This article was originally published on Oct 11, 2024

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Alina is a journalism student at Toronto Metropolitan University and an editorial intern at Today’s Parent. After working in a Montessori environment with students aged 4-11, Alina discovered a keen interest in covering childcare.

She has also studied pop culture writing at New York University and fashion/lifestyle journalism at City University of London.

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