Sustainable Halloween ideas

Perhaps a little off topic (no I'm not about to suggest using your hair as part of your DIY crafting) but with the weather turning and Halloween around the corner, I thought it might be fun to share some sustainable ideas for your Halloween fun this year. 

Mum and I love Halloween - we don't tend to go all out in decorating or hosting parties , but it has become an annual tradition for us to walk around the neighbouring streets on the 31st of October and marvel at the wonderful displays, pumpkin carvings and other fun things people have put out. It's lovely seeing little groups of children all dressed up and excited and there's somewhat of a community feel to it all. 

Unfortunately however, there is a darker side to Halloween. I could write paragraphs on how the scariest thing about Halloween is the amount of waste it produces. And it is, truly scary. In researching this blog I came across a bunch of different facts and figures, all of them equally terrifying. I won't go into detail, because, quite frankly, it's a bit too depressing. I will however give you some bullet point outlines, which you can feel free to skip should you wish to get straight to the fun stuff!

In the UK alone it is estimated that each year:

- around 2,000 tonnes of plastic waste from costumes will be thrown away (this is equivalent to about 83 million plastic bottles)

- 4/10 of these costumes have only ever been worn once

- 83% of these costumes are made from non-recyclable materials

- around 40 million pumpkins will be bought with 22.2 million of these ending up in landfill, decomposing

- a single trick or treater generates about 0.5kg of plastic waste in the form of sweet wrappers and their plastic costumes

 

I could go on.... 

 

But instead I decided to try and do two things with this blog.

1) Provide some very simple tips on how to have a more sustainable Halloween this year (most of them are common sense, but still good to be pointed out).

2) Provide some super effective and simple DIY Halloween craft ideas to get anyone who wants to get into the spirit - no pun intended!

 

Tips for a more sustainable Halloween in 2024

1) If you're going to buy a new costume, then buy your costumes from charity shops! It sounds simple, because it is. So much cheaper and SO much better for the planet. Make sure you donate them back again afterwards. 

2) Make your own, for the creative amongst you. 

3) Swap with friends. If you have children, suggest to the PTA at their school that they hold a charity Halloween costume swap this year. Everyone donates £1 plus a costume and in return they get a token that allows them one costume to take away. Any leftovers can be donated to charity. Win-win. 

4) EAT YOUR PUMPKINS! Or at the very least compost them. One of my favourite snacks are pumpkin seeds roasted in loads of salt. Honestly, they taste amazing. Don't forget that after carving, the flesh can still be eaten too, or if it's been left out a little too long and gone soggy, then composting or food waste recycling is your answer. 

5) Paper wrapped treats. If you want to make something homemade than that's an even better step up, but alternatively opt for sweets wrapped in paper, not plastic - more and more big companies are making this move (think Quality Street). 

6) Make your own DIY decorations (for inspiration, see below!)

 

DIY sustainable Halloween decorations

 

DIY Halloween leaf ghosts

1) Leaf ghosts

I love this one, it's so simple and easy to do with kids too. Simply collect your fallen leaves, paint them white and draw on the features with a sharpie. 

I've seen people string these up as garlands, which can look very effective, especially if paired with dried oranges, conkers etc. 

 

DIY Halloween pressed flower pumpkins

2) Pressed flower pumpkins

These have to be my all time favourite and they are super eco friendly. Again, they're pretty simple to make. Simply find your flowers/ leaves and press them in a heavy book for 24-48 hours.

Make your biodegradable glue:

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups water

  • 2 Tbsp corn syrup or honey

  • 1 tsp vinegar or bottled lemon juice

  • 2 Tbsp cornstarch

Instructions

  1. In a saucepan on the stovetop, combine only half the water (¾ cup) along with the corn syrup (or honey) and vinegar. Bring the mixture to a boil.
  2. In a small separate bowl, thoroughly mix together the cornstarch and the remaining ¾ cup of water to create a paste. 
  3. Next, add the cornstarch paste to the hot syrup on the stovetop. Stir well.
  4. Return the glue mixture to a rolling boil and boil for about one minute. 
  5. Remove the glue from the heat and allow to cool before use. I usually transfer it into a mason jar and put it in the fridge for a bit to expedite cooling.
  6. Store homemade glue in an airtight container. Leftovers are best used within a few days (it starts to get clumpy thereafter) but can last several weeks if needed. 

After that, simply stick your flowers on and leave to dry. You can add one final coat of glue all over once dried to give a uniform look. 

Tip, white pumpkins work best for this craft, but your standard orange will do the job too. The glue is also not waterproof, so perhaps best not to leave out on a rainy night. 

The best thing about this is that once Halloween is over, you can simply wash off your glue and flowers and chop up and eat your pumpkin guilt free! 

 

DIY Halloween toilet roll bats

3) Toilet roll bats

There's something about toilet roll crafts which I find incredibly nostalgic. We all did them as kids. 

This one is dead simple. Just cut your toilet roll in half and press in the two top edges to create the ears (I actually tried this bit at home and it couldn't be easier). 

Draw on your features and glue on your wings! 

 

DIY Halloween ghost garland

4) Old teeshirt and conker ghosts

 Chances are, if you have a toddler like me, your house will already be full of conkers, as every time we go out right now, we come back with pockets full of them. 

Why not cut up an old white teeshirt already destined for cleaning rags and make these super cute ghosts out of them? 

Simply wrap a square of cloth around the conker, tie with string and draw on the eyes. 

If you want to make it into a garland like this, then sew in a little loop on white thread at the top so you can hang onto string or ribbon. 

 

DIY Halloween hand-painted acorns

5) Painted acorns

Not much explanation needed here - make them as complex or simple as you like! Very cute, very effective.

 

I hope everyone has a happy and hopefully a little more sustainable Halloween :)

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