The big list of healthy and eco-friendly Halloween ideas !
Halloween is such a controversial topic!! You either love it or you hate it. Either way I hope you find this big list of healthy and eco-friendly Halloween ideas useful.
My kids loved dressing up for parties, but we never went door to door because it wasn’t really a thing ten years ago! These days it is fast becoming a very popular celebration.
Personally I think getting kids outside, off their screens and walking around interacting with friends and the community is a good thing. If you want to participate, enjoy it, have fun and don’t worry about the cranky nay-sayers.
Halloween can come with a lot of excess consumerism, a lot of junk food and a lot of cheap plastic rubbish! Like anything, you can choose to participate that way or you can choose to do things differently. It really only takes a few simple swaps to make Halloween less commercialised, healthier and eco-friendly.
I think Halloween can be a great opportunity to create your own family traditions and make some fun memories with the kids. Here are some tips and ideas to inspire you.
Trick or Treating
If you do want to go door to door, remember to be safe! The Queensland Police have some good tips here.
Why not line up some neighbours or family and friends to welcome your kids for safe trick or treating before the night. You can even provide the healthier treats for them to hand out to your kids! This is particularly useful for kids that have allergies or special needs.
Eating a substantial and healthy meal before you got out trick and treating can help with the amount of lollies being consumed and dampen the sugar high! Some savvy parents make a deal with their kids to swap their Halloween lolly stash for something else when they get home.
You don’t need to buy a special plastic bucket for your goodies. What about upcycling and decorating an old pillowcase or using a paper bag, basket, jar or box you already have?
If you want to welcome the neighbourhood kids to your front door for trick or treating, don’t use balloons. You can pop a pumpkin out by your front gate or print out a Trick or Treaters welcome sign. If you don’t want to be bothered, print out or hand write a sign saying, no thanks.
If you want to give out something healthier, what about homemade play dough or slime, crystals, paper fortune tellers, stickers, pencils, bamboo toothbrushes or some better quality treats.
Halloween Activities
You don’t have to go trick or treating to celebrate Halloween! What about these other ideas….
♥ Throw a party at home with friends
♥ Make some Halloween crafts and/or decorate the house
♥ Make a special Halloween dinner and dessert for the family
♥ Go to Halloween events in your community
♥ Have a scary movie night with some healthy Halloween treats
♥ Buy or borrow some spooky or monster themed books and read one for 13 nights in a row
♥ Have a Halloween themed scavenger hunt with some friends dressed in costume
Eco Halloween Decorations
You don’t have to buy cheap plastic decorations for Halloween, get creative and use what you have around the house or in the recycling bin.
Using paper, cloth or things from nature for your decorations are eco-friendly options. Branches with some cut out paper black bats are easy, cheesecloth ripped up makes spiderwebs and old sheets make good ghosts! Store them in a box to use again next year.
You can buy large carving pumpkins from the major supermarkets at this time of year if you want to have a crack at making some traditional jack-o-lanterns. Don’t forget to compost it when you are done.
Halloween Luminaries
So easy but so cute – use cut out paper for the eyes to avoid plastic!
don’t worry, they are just dried out apples
save your milk bottles to make these super easy ghost lanterns and recycle when you are done
got some old Barbies lying around? they make perfect zombies!!
Eco Halloween Costumes
Unfortunately cheap Halloween costumes from the discount stores are usually made from poor quality plastic that is not great for the environment.
Why not consider making a costume from recycled materials or things from around the house? You could also hit the op shops and see what second-hand costumes they have or borrow something from your friends.
If you are painting your face, use something safe and non-toxic like No Nasties facepaint and makeup. Some face paints contain lead and heavy metals.
Check out Pinterest for some easy ideas to get you inspired.
Got a broken umbrella lying around? Make this easy, no-sew bat costume!
Zombie Nerd
A simple costume that I sourced from the op shop and dress up box mixed with some fake homemade blood to make my son a ‘zombie nerd’ !
Crafts
For easy Natural New Age Mum style Halloween crafts, you can’t go past the amazing blog, Mother Natured. Check out Penny’s 21 Halloween Nature Crafts.
just one brilliant Halloween nature craft from Mother Natured!
recycle your toilet paper rolls!! (fill it with my Salted Caramel Popcorn)
Healthy Halloween Food and Treats
you could use cut up nori sheets if the kids don’t like olives
make it even easier and ditch the eyes!
just use currants on bananas for an even easier treat
these use mini Babyel cheeses and are super easy
this would be great for a party centrepiece!
okay you won’t get much easier than this – an orange and a sharpie and let the kids go wild
Yummy Mummies (aka Hallo-Weenies)
if you are in Australia, use the new Cleaver’s Organic Paleo Hot Dogs!
Jack O Lantern Sweet Potato Faces
No junk here, just sweet potato slices, seasonings and oil
Halloween is the perfect time to get the kids to try green smoothies, am I right?
Spooky Green Monster Zucchini Noodles
a super-healthy, fun Halloween dinner idea
Stuff capsicums with your kids’ favourite spaghetti for an easy but effective Halloween dinner
Whew! That’s a bumper post. I really hope it has helped with some ideas on how to do Halloween, Natural New Age Mum style – a bit healthier and a bit kinder on the environment. The big list of healthy and eco-friendly Halloween ideas
Want more?
♥ Check out these three green ideas for Halloween from my friend Bel at The Root Cause.
♥ Katherine at The Ekologi Store has some amazing zero waste Halloween ideas.
What ideas do you have? I would love to hear how your family celebrate Halloween.
Let us know in the comments.