Green Options

Whether your child wants tiger stripes or just a few drops of vampire blood, the best Halloween costumes often come with a painted face. That’s a good thing in the eyes of safety experts who caution against masks, which can restrict breathing and obstruct vision, but not such a good thing when you think about what’s inside many face paint formulas.

Like many color cosmetics, face paints can contain parabens, phthalates, synthetic colors, fragrances and other potential toxins or allergens — even lead — and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t have the power to regulate them.

Earlier this year 43 Girl Scouts at an event in Ohio were left with red, bumpy rashes after using Shanghai Color Art Stationery Co. Ltd. face paint. This Halloween the FDA is cautioning parents. “Most of these products are completely safe, but there have been reports of adverse events and allergic reactions,” Linda Katz, director of the FDA’s Office of Cosmetics and Color told USA Today.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love thinking about what my costume is going to be and how to create my perfect look for that year. I think I’ve only purchased a complete costume maybe once or twice in my life. Half of the fun of Halloween is making your own costume.

You too can make your own costume and make it more environmentally friendly with the resources that we here at Crafting a Green World have given you throughout our blog posts. It’s not that scary, just remember these three tips:

• Use what you have first
• If you don’t have the perfect item to create your outfit, then Thrift it.
• If the first two tips have not produced all the items needed for your ghoulish garb, use eco-friendly items such as yarn or fabric to create your monster personality.

Ghouls, goblins, and tasty goodies are just around the corner. That’s right, Halloween is now just a month away - have you decided on your costume yet? If not, your green style maven is here to help with two collections of affordable, easy-to-make outfits for both adults and kids, care of Ms. Martha Stewart. For the younger tots, 7 Grocery Getups features hula dancers, a cheerleader, cowboy, princess, flapper girl,

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