Green your halloween

Halloween 2009

When I started this quest to go gradually green with my family, I didn't imagine all the twist and turns this would take. I never imagine the way I celebrated Halloween with my family was not environmentally friendly.

In the last year, I've started to read a lot of green blog/news sites and in the past couple weeks, they've been brimming with ideas to "green" your this spooky holiday.

First step: have a costume swap! They way I see it, this step can go two ways ... play date or wine night with the girls. What did I choose? Wine night! I sent that link to my two friends Alissa and Diana who needed a night out and we converged on a local wine shop and indulged on a plate of fine chocolates and red wine. We were having so much fun, we shut the shop down and almost forgot to swap costumes (we did this in the dark parking lot). If you're an ambitious mom with a lot of time, if you can't swap, make your own.

Charlie Brown Lil B

Second step: Make sure the face paints/make-up you use on your kiddos is non-toxic. Since my Lil B is going to be a dragon this year, thanks to my friend Alissa, we will probably skip the face paint but this is good to remember a couple years from now when he gets to pick his own outfit.

Third step: Green your Halloween party. If you're going to throw a party, use reusable or compostable plates. Your worm bin will love you and that's less that goes in the trash. Since having a child, our invites for Halloween parties have been null (and from what I understand, this is normal when you have a young child because sitters are hard to find on that night) but I'll put this in my brain and pull it out in a couple of years.

Now, I should be saying something about candy but I don't want to take all the fun out of Halloween and have my kid years later resent me for it so my exception, let them have candy in moderation.  Simple Organic has a fabulous post on this. Dr. Greene has some suggestions for items which are good to hand out and the kiddos will enjoy.

Looking for other suggestions: Healthy World, Healthy Child, GreenHalloween.org and Green and Clean Mom are some of my go to green resources.