Green Options » Halloween

Have a Coco-Zen Halloween: Get Your Reverse Trick-Or-Treat Kit!

Leslie Quigley — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:53:24 +0000

Halloween is almost here! Have you been thinking of ways to make it more green? One of the biggest drawbacks to this spooky holiday is all the candy that gets passed out. Approximately, 10 pounds of it! That’s a lot of candy for one child.

If you’re lucky your children might come home with an all natural version of sweets without the high fructose corn syrup. More than likely, their pillowcases will be brimming with candy you don’t support!

Last year, my family focused on easy ways to put a little eco in your Halloween adventures but this year we’re going a little further. We plan to support Fair Trade and participate in Reverse Trick-Or-Treating this year- Learn how you can too!

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Natural Face Paint for Safe Halloween Costumes

Julie Knapp — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:38:56 +0000

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.

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Eco Friendly Halloween Finds

Allison Wolff — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:54:24 +0000

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:

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Eco-Coolie Plays Dress Up for Halloween

John Simonetta — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:23:03 +0000

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

The EcoCoolie from Numo is playing dress up this Halloween with four pre-printed Halloween costume coolies, Vampire, Mummy, Witch and Frankenstein Monster.

These full color pre-printed units are a great way to give a practical, reusable Halloween promo item this season that will outlast the Halloween night itself.

The EcoCoolie line from Numo Manufacturing is made from at least 15% post-consumer recycled material. I think that is a low percentage, but it is a start and Numo gets some credit as the first vendor to market in the promotional items industry with a coolie containing any recycled materials. If anyone knows of other post-consumer coolies please let me know, as I would like to write about them as well.

The basic EcoCoolie has an EQP of $1.09. That is certainly a premium over the cost of Numo’s standard Pocket Coolie which has an EQP of $0.69, and I hope as more post-consumer recycled material coolies are sold this price will drop.

The Halloween Costume EcoCoolie actually relies on Numo’s full color imprinting process so they come in a bit higher at $2.79. But again that is for a full color, fully printed body coolie, so adding any full color logo or additional artwork to these Halloween Costume EcoCoolies is no problem.

If you are an ASI member with questions for Numo Manufacturing Tonya Luby is the woman to talk to. If you are interested in these items to promote your own business contact your local promotional items vendor or email info@proformagreen.com for information and pricing.

Raining Rose Provides Green Treats For October Events

John Simonetta — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:22:21 +0000

Readers may have noticed that in my last few posts I have been focusing on promotional items that can be used by Ecopreneurists for marketing in two rather large October events, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Halloween.

Both of these events can provide Ecopreneurists an opportunity to involve themselves in their local community, while also raising awareness of their services.

Indeed our office just donated custom printed biodegradable Halloween bags to the Denver Children’s Museum for their Trick or Treat Street event. (FYI Denver Children’s Museum is still looking for an additional 3,000 bags, if anyone is interested in sponsoring them please email me directly). I am sure every Ecopreneurist can find deserving organizations to support in their own communities.

Anyway, to help us all out with ideas, Raining Rose - the first in the promotional items industry to offer a USDA certified organic promotional lip balm - is getting ready for October by introducing several new Breast Cancer Awareness theme and Halloween theme lip balm background art wraps ready for the addition of your company’s logo and contact information (see all wraps here).

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More Green Halloween Makeovers

Wenona Napolitano — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:07:47 +0000

After all the Halloween craftiness I created from tossed trash last year I am trying to figure out new things to create this year.

I grabbed an ice pail and painted it orange and black for Halloween. I want to find some crafty Halloween paper designs to cut out to decoupage to the pail to dress it up a little more.

I was thinking about wrapping it in scrap book paper but I had no Halloween colors or styles. But I think it turned out pretty good considering it started out as a plain white pail headed for the recycling bin. I would love to make a Halloween bucket with paper like I did when I turned an ice cream pail into a flower girl basket for a wedding.

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Celebrate Halloween in Style

Kelly Dunleavy — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:32:10 +0000

Happy Halloween! As you celebrate the holiday with your best eco-friendly costumes, don’t forget to enter the Green Halloween Costume Contest — Deadline: Midnight Tonight!

Though you may not be able to celebrate like Heidi Klum and Seal (above as Eve and the apple), who threw their yearly bash earlier this month, you can still party hard with some last minute D.I.Y environmental Halloween costumes.

Top Five Scariest Vegetables

Beth Bader — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:07:57 +0000

Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Beet

Leery of the leek? Afraid of asparagus? Broccoli your personal Boggart? It seems witches are not the only green thing that scares us. You are not alone. According to a 2007 study published in the American Journal of Medicine, fewer than a third of us eat enough fruits and vegetables daily.

Perhaps it’s time we faced our deep-rooted fears?

Number 5: Beets.
I clearly recall making little towers of canned, pickled beet cubes. I don’t remember eating them more than once. It was a long, long time before I faced down a beet again as an adult. As my first season participating in the Eat Local Challenge and as a member of a CSA, I felt compelled to cook whatever came in the weekly box in whatever way I could to make it palatable.

What I found out was, they are pretty good. That, indeed, everything not in a can tastes a whole lot different. Beets are especially good roasted and especially good for you as they are rich in the same anthocyanin compounds like wine and berries.

And the Top Four Are …

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5 Ways To Cut Down On The Sugar This Halloween

mcmilker — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:08:20 +0000

As the daughter of a dentists and a proponent of healthy eating, I have a reputation. I’m the mom who doesn’t buy her kid candy.

Nope.

Don’t

OK. So you don’t think I’m absolutely draconian, He does get candy in his Easter basket, I do let him eat a piece or two at birthday parties and yes, grandma, grandpa and even my DH buy him candy.

But I don’t.

You see, I grew up that way. We didn’t have candy in the house. Candy was something for holidays, other people’s houses and, of course, Halloween (though we gave out apples instead of candy to the disappointed trick-or-treaters that appeared at our door).

So Halloween’s a tough holiday for me. I cringe when I see the shear amount of candy he ends up consuming between Halloween parties, school events and even the candy bowl that magically appears at many of the stores we frequent around this time of year.

This time of year finds me furiously brushing his teeth and hoping for the best. Over time though, I’ve found a few tricks that seem to help reduce the amount of unrefined sugar he ingests.

1. Good Deeds Begin at Home – This year, instead of buying a bag of commercial candy treats consider giving out small toys instead. The dollar store often has trinkets that won’t upset your green soul too much – like chalk, crayons and notepads. If you tend not to get too many trick-or-treaters at your door, consider spending a bit more and buying little wooden toys or if you really must give out candy, make it organic.

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Mean Joe Green #34: An Environmental President: Trick or Treat?

Joe Mohr — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:38:33 +0000

We’ll see…

Low Impact Living: Who’s the Greenest? Obama vs. McCain
My Bottom Line is Green: McCain v. Obama on Renewable Energy

Green Pumpkins with Ready Made

Kelly Rand — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:30:34 +0000

We sure are excited about the upcoming Halloween holiday here at Crafting a Green World. Do you have your costume ready? What about decorations?

Ready Made Magazine has this great refresher course on pumpkin-carving how to; including a clever CFL template to carve into your pumpkin! What a perfect idea to not only make your own costume for Halloween, but carve your green ideals for all the trick-or-treaters to see.

You could carve other environmental symbols into pumpkins and have yourself a very Eco-Ween with many different green jack-o-lanterns. You could carve a Prius, the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle symbol, or even a Windmill.

Let us know some other fun ideas to make your Halloween truly green!

[Image courtesy: Ready Made]

Go Green This Halloween: 5 Spooky Kids’ Crafts

Reenita Malhotra — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:28:41 +0000

Because I love encouraging my kids to be creative, Halloween becomes another excuse to get them to make some great artwork that I will invariably want to put on display for the rest of the year. Best of all, there is more than enough in the way of recycled materials to use as raw materials for their artwork.

Here are my kids’ five of my favorite Halloween activities this year:

Green Monster Mask

Make a scary green monster mask from bits and scraps left lying around the house. In addition to what is described in the how-to, I like the idea of using an egg carton for scary teeth. Go here for complete details.

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Carnival of Green Crafts #7

Skye Kilaen — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:29:13 +0000

Welcome to the seventh Carnival of Green Crafts!

This one had an extra day to percolate while I was on my way home from Colorado, the state where my environmental consciousness was born when I was in high school.

And though that means the Carnival is a day late, is by no means a dollar short. So sit back and enjoy this collection of green and crafty goodness.

Before we begin, a few administrative notes: The eighth Carnival will be hosted at Things We Make, which is part of the Hallmark Magazine website! Send in your posts via the carnival submission form. The Carnival of Green Crafts home page has background info.

Now on to the carnival!

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Eco-Ween

Kelly Rand — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:30:29 +0000

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.

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Have a Green Halloween

Becky Striepe — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:28:00 +0000

[photo by Becky Striepe]

Halloween is probably my very favorite holiday. I just love carving a pumpkin, putting on a costume, and playing make believe. Of course, this meant I was overjoyed to stumble upon Green Halloween, an organization aimed at promoting what they call “The Three G’s:

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Green Halloween Costume Ideas for Busy Parents-

Katy Farber — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:37:39 +0000

I must admit I get consumer google eyes around Halloween time. Those pre-made brand new costumes from Pottery Barn, Target, or any other retailer for babies and toddlers are tempting. They are cute. They require no sewing (yes, I have no skill in that department). But they are expensive and more of the consumer glut that I have a goal of avoiding (or at least limiting).

So, what does a non-crafty, super busy parent to do try and to have a Green Halloween?

*Think Simple: The costume does not have to be huge and extraordinary. Kids will just love dressing up. Find your dress up bin, or old clothes bin, and see what you have.

A wand, poofy skirt, and a leotard? You have a fairy. Just add some sort of crown (throw colorful ribbon on a headband–even I can do this!), sparkles in her hair, and layers of frothy, gauzy, magical clothes. Do you have a hardhat, tool belt and a small toy tool? There’s your builder. Grab a striped shirt, eye patch, and make a hook out of foil for your little pirate. Check out what already exists in your house. Better yet, do it with your child and have them pick out what they want to be. The ideas are endless.

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Have A Creative and Crafty Green Halloween

Wenona Napolitano — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:00:53 +0000

Crafty green Halloween décor may be lurking in the most unusual places…like your trash can or recycling bin.

You can create cute favor boxes crafted from cardboard toilet paper rolls and bejeweled black cats from empty plastic laundry detergent bottles. Old scraps of fabric can become ghastly ghosts and discarded pieces of wood can be transformed into a creepy cemetery in your yard. Empty Styrofoam containers and leftover Styrofoam packaging can also be transformed in reusable tombstones.

You don’t have to spend a fortune on new mass produced stuff at the Halloween store to have a frightfully fun Halloween. Instead you can go green and reuse everyday objects and implement natural elements to turn your home into a Halloween haunt.

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Fair Trade Halloween Candy: Kids Can Educate Neighbors with Reverse Trick-or-Treat

Robin Shreeves — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:01:11 +0000

I know it’s over a month away, but with the cooler weather that has set in, my kids and their friends are suddenly all a buzz about Halloween.

I usually don’t buy my Halloween candy until Halloween morning. If I buy it any earlier, it doesn’t last until October 31st and I end up buying more that day anyway. But this year, I just ordered my first bunch of Halloween candy. This won’t be candy that I’ll be handing to the kids who knock on my door. It’s candy that my boys will be handing out as they go door to door.

They will be taking part in Reverse Trick-or-Treat, a program that Global Exchange is sponsoring. From their website:

This year, Trick-or-Treaters across the US will unite to help end poverty among cocoa farmers and promote Fair Trade as an alternative by giving Fair Trade chocolate back to adults while Trick-or-Treating door-to-door in their communities. Each chocolate is attached to a card with information about problems in the cocoa industry and how Fair Trade provides a solution.

What is so special about Fair Trade chocolate? For chocolate to be Fair Trade Certified, the farmers who grow the cocoa beans must be paid a fair wage for their crop. Some of the other criteria for Fair Trade Certification include using sustainable growing practices, providing workers with safe and healthy working conditions, and making sure that no abuse of child labor occurs.

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What is Baby going to BEE for Halloween? Help Spread the Buzz about CCD

Tara Benwell — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 06:38:50 +0000

The honey bees are dying off around the world, and yet still many people have never heard of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). This week the Italian government banned several pesticides that are thought to be linked to the honey bee decline. More research (funding) is required to find out exactly what is causing the disappearance.

During Honey Week on our sister site, Meridith Melnick wrote:

“One-third of the food we consume comes from pollinators. Bees are responsible for pollinating almonds, apples, soft fruit, and berries among other crops. Without them, we will lose more than honey (a tragedy in its own right!), we will lose a large portion of the biodiversity we now enjoy on our plates.”

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Green Family Values: A Fair Trade, Alternative Halloween

Jennifer Lance — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:18:13 +0000

Halloween is one week away, and the blogosphere has erupted in green Halloween posts. From The Green Guide to Eco Child’s Play, everyone is writing about having an eco-friendly, ghoulish good time. Green Halloween has also been a hot topic lately on Green Options:

By now you may be groaning, "Oh no, not another green Halloween post about making your own costume and giving out pencils," yet this green idea flips the holiday over on the concept of Fair Trade.

Think about Fair Trade in the simplest terms, as a young child may define it. If I give you something, in exchange you will give me something of equal value, whether monetary or not. For example, children trading marbles will exclaim, "That is not fair," if they do not view the marble exchange as equitable. In a child’s mind, Halloween is not an equitable trade… they make out like bandits while trick-or-treating! All they have to do is sport a costume and knock on their neighbors’ doors to receive lots and lots of candy! It is definitely not a Fair Trade! Global Exchange proposes a change to this custom by promoting "reverse" trick-or-treating.

Reverse trick-or-treating is an educational campaign aimed at informing households about the "social justice issues in the cocoa industry, and how Fair Trade certified chocolate works to end poverty." Families participate by knocking on their neighbors’ doors and giving them Fair Trade chocolate. Instead of only receiving sweet treats, children get to give them out, too. It’s a fair trade. The Fair Trade chocolate is accompanied by flyers explaining how Fair Trade benefits children in cocoa farming communities. One flyer includes a letter of protest to the CEO of World’s Finest Chocolate and a letter for parents to give to their children’s teachers about Fair Trade curriculum. Another flyer states,

Despite six years of promises from major chocolate manufacturers, little has been done to tackle the documented problem of forced child labor on many farms that supply their cocoa. Moreover, low cocoa prices have left cocoa farmers in poverty year after year. There is a SOLUTION, and all you have to do is eat chocolate!

Even though the deadline to officially sign up for Equal Exchange’s reverse trick-or-treating has passed, you can still participate in your own campaign and report your results. Imagine the look on your neighbors’ faces when your costumed children give them Fair Trade chocolate! I propose that children can still receive goodies while reverse trick-or-treating, thus I think the term "exchange" trick-or-treating offers a better description of the activity. Goodies for adults may be different than treats for children, but the idea of fairly trading goods on this holiday instead of the one-way giving of tradition is an interesting idea. Unless we put the "trick" back into trick-or-treating, exchange trick-or-treating offers a great solution for turning Halloween into a socially responsible holiday.

Green Options » Halloween

Have a Coco-Zen Halloween: Get Your Reverse Trick-Or-Treat Kit!

Halloween is almost here! Have you been thinking of ways to make it more green? One of the biggest drawbacks to this spooky holiday is all the candy that gets passed out. Approximately, 10 pounds of it! That’s a lot of candy for one child.

If you’re lucky your children might come home with an all natural version of sweets without the high fructose corn syrup. More than likely, their pillowcases will be brimming with candy you don’t support!

Natural Face Paint for Safe Halloween Costumes

Eco Friendly Halloween Finds

Eco-Coolie Plays Dress Up for Halloween

Raining Rose Provides Green Treats For October Events

More Green Halloween Makeovers

Celebrate Halloween in Style

Happy Halloween! As you celebrate the holiday with your best eco-friendly costumes, don’t forget to enter the Green Halloween Costume Contest — Deadline: Midnight Tonight!

Read more of this story »

Top Five Scariest Vegetables

5 Ways To Cut Down On The Sugar This Halloween

Mean Joe Green #34: An Environmental President: Trick or Treat?

Related Articles:

Green Pumpkins with Ready Made

Go Green This Halloween: 5 Spooky Kids’ Crafts

Green Monster Mask

Carnival of Green Crafts #7

Eco-Ween

Have a Green Halloween

Green Halloween Costume Ideas for Busy Parents-

Have A Creative and Crafty Green Halloween

Fair Trade Halloween Candy: Kids Can Educate Neighbors with Reverse Trick-or-Treat

What is Baby going to BEE for Halloween? Help Spread the Buzz about CCD

Green Family Values: A Fair Trade, Alternative Halloween