Smarty Green Halloween

You may remember me mentioning Green Halloween last year. It’s not too late to get involved. A smarty mom of two came together with some local assistance to found this organization. It has so many helpful hints on how to “green” your Halloween. There are tips for kids, parents, schools and communities to make Halloween a healthier tradition. There are so many ways to make your Halloween a little greener. The first would be to hang a sign in your door that says Green Halloween, if you are participating in making this a green Halloween. You can get this in a kit from the site or just make your own. There are downloadable action kits right on the site to get the word out! Some ideas are to hand out stickers or tattoos rather than candy. If you are going to do candy, then choose fair trade and/or organic chocolate.

You could also do all natural candy from the Natural Candy Store. EarthFare has some great alternatives like all natural jelly beans, chocolates and even snack packs for crackers or cookies. You could do pretzels or Yummy Earth lollipops. Trader Joe’s has it’s own organic lollipops as well. Now, I am sure my kids will have some candy and not all of it is going to be natural or organic. I am just trying to give some encouragement to think outside of the box, get creative and join the movement! This organization was founded just outside of Seattle and it has really taken off. You should take a look at the website. It gives great suggestions for costumes and much more. It really would only take a couple extra minutes to get involved. Dr. Oz and Whole Foods Market are on board, how about you? No pressure really…:)

Here are a couple of last minute reminders for this Halloween.

– Use the whole pumpkin. You can toast the seeds in the oven with a little salt and oil. You can also use the pumpkin flesh to make pureed pumpkin for recipes. The smaller cooking pumpkins are best but you can still use the larger carving pumpkins as long as they haven’t been soiled or sitting out long. Painted pumpkins are a great choice since the inside is still intact.
– If you have pumpkins that aren’t painted, consider composting them.
– Reusable trick or treat bags of course!
– Reuse costumes as dress up clothes. You can save them for next year as a sibling’s costume or consign them. We are making one costume and I found a gently used one on Ebay this year. Ebay and Craigslist are great ways to recycle costumes. Who knew finding a leopard costume would be so difficult! I was getting outbid for $50 a costume. I luckily won one for MUCH less than that, or there would have been one disappointed boy in this house. If you are searching last minute, then check out Craigslist since you can drive to pick up and will not waste time with shipping.
– It may be a little late for this year, but as shown on Green Halloween’s website, Sarah’s Silks(www.sarahssilks.com) have adorable costumes made out of natural fibers. Great option if you are going to buy new. These costumes are magical and definitely will be reused time after time.

On another note, here is a fun activity to do with the kids. Homemade face paint is a safer and more affordable option than the stuff you buy at the store. Store bought face paints may contain mercury. Austin wants to be a ghost this year so we will make homemade face paint and maybe throw a little in his hair. If you make your homemade version, you are using edible ingredients and thus making it much safer for your little ones. Here is a simple recipe. You can add food coloring or food juices to get your color of choice.

1 tsp. cornstarch
½ tsp water
½ tsp cold cream
Food coloring/food or fruit juices

Stir together starch and cold cream until well blended. Add water and stir, then add coloring.

Thanks for reading and have a safe and Happy Halloween!