Green Options

Halloween, like many other holidays, is a love-hate day for me. I love the tradition, the fun of dressing up as someone or something completely different from myself, the excitement of walking the streets in the dark, leaves blowing, trying to figure out who is hiding under each costume, and, of course, gorging on piles of candy just before bedtime (of course I only did that as a kid). As I’ve become a concerned “greenie” mother, however, I am growing to hate holidays that fuel the consumption of toxic materials and goodies that ain’t so good for the planet or our bodies.

That said, I am the mother of a 15 month old girl and, in an effort to not be a complete curmudgeon, I thought I would do some research to find eco-acceptable costumes and planet- and body-better goodies. Here are a few good finds:

Even if you have not really thought about it yet, going green this Halloween is an easy and sustainable exercise. To make it even easier for you, I have put together this cheat sheet of Top 10 Green Halloween posts that were created in the last month.

With childhood obesity rates and even scarier, type II diabetes rates in children under 10 years old sky rocketing, it’s time to take up the mantra of Green Halloween and start to “think outside the candy box.”

I learned about this program in the spring and am so impressed by what the founder, Corey Colwell-Lipson has accomplished after taking her idea to Whole Foods a year ago.

It’s that time of year again: eight-pound bags of "fun-size" candy fill whole aisles at the grocery store and houses in the neighborhood are sprouting plastic pumpkins, foam headstones and other ghoulish decor. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans are expected to spend more than $5 billion on Halloween costumes, candy and decorations this year. But there are ways to celebrate without doling out much cash for stuff that,

[...]