Remember Halloween parties when you were a kid? Do you also remember all the bags of trash your dad carried out to the curb the nest? How about those cheap party favors and Halloween decorations that soon ended up broken and in the trash? There’s no reason that your Halloween party has to be an environmental disaster! You can have the coolest Halloween party on the block and still be responsible!

INVITATIONS & DECORATIONS

Start out right: Halloween party invitations can be made out of recycled paper. Make your own and save the printing. Better yet, email invitations! Continue by decorating in an eco-friendly manner: consider how much waste each item produces. Decorations should be re-useable. Buy a Halloween flag to hang up outside instead of balloons. Get decorations that can be used for more than one holiday: scarecrows and pumpkins are good for Thanksgiving as well as Halloween. Those giant lollipops for Christmas can be covered with white cloth and moonlight as ghosts. Be creative.

Outdoors, use permanent, non-disposable Halloween decorations. Buy only ones you love and keep them forever. Make sure they’re sturdy. (Bonus: this will end up costing less and looking more classy!) Use decorations made from more natural materials, like wood, metal, and cloth. Try not to get Halloween decorations made out of plastic or styrofoam. Of course, if you already have plastic ones, don’t toss them in the landfill. Just don’t encourage this wasting of our limited resources by buying any more junk. Whatever you do, don’t plug in your decorations! Ban the string lights and giant balloons with the motors to keep them inflated. Put beeswax candles in your pumpkins: THAT is Halloween. And don’t forget to compost the jack-o-lantern! (Check the heap for pumpkin seedlings, these can be potted up and transplanted: pumpkins in January if you live in a warm climate, and interesting houseplants if you live up North!)

For inside, have your kids make some Halloween decorations that are biodegradable. Make them out of paper and cotton balls and then compost them when your Halloween party is over. If you are throwing an Adult Halloween party, leave out craft supplies and invite your guests to make decorations. You will be surprised at how creative some of your guests are. The person you least expect will have a grand old time cutting and pasting!

FUN

Party themes can be eco-friendly. Take donations to benefit your local park. Have a pumpkin carving contest and don’t forget to compost the pumpkins after the party if you don’t send them home with the guest. For children’s parties, decorate small pumpkins with markers and stickers. If you are throwing a children’s Halloween party, remember that goodie bags are usually an environmental crime. They are often plastic bags filled with cheap little plastic “toys” and chocolate (usually made by exploiting poor families.) What a waste! Have your child decorate brown paper (recycled) lunch sacks with Halloween characters. Fill them up together with art supplies , stickers, and a small wooden toy or kite. Halloween stickers can also be given out as party favors or used as game prizes.

FOOD & DRINKS

Do not use disposable plates! Or if you do, use recycled paper plates and compost them after the party. Why not just buy Halloween stickers and decorate your own cups and plates? The treats you hand out shouldn’t be “tricked” with pesticides and preservatives, so buy all-natural, organic candy. Buy fair-trade to make sure that your candy is produced by people who work for a living wage. Traditional foods for Halloween include pumpkins and pumpkin seeds, apples, corn, nuts, turnips, and kale. (Many recipes for the food can be found by doing searches on the Internet.)
An example of an Appetizer Halloween Party Menu would be:
-meatballs and olives (labeled “Eyes and Brains of Newt”)
-apple slices
-pumpkin or pecan pastries (decorate with icing: draw on jack o’lantern faces)
-mixed nuts or Halloween Trail Mix: 1 box coco puffs, 1 can mixed nuts, 1 bag of pumpkin seeds, 2 bags holiday orange and black M&M’s, 2T edible gold glitter or orange sprinkles
-cornbread muffins (add olive “eyes” on toothpicks or cashew “antennae”)

A fancier Buffet-Style Halloween Party Menu might include:
-any roasted meat dish
-corn on the cob
-broiled turnips
-braised kale greens with nuts
-candied apples
-pumpkin pie

Other options include caramel apples, roasting s’mores, and, of course, traditional Halloween candy like chocolates and candy corn.  Drinks for a Halloween party could be Apple Cider or an Orange sherbet punch: mix: 2 2L. bottles lemon-lime or orange soda and 2c. pineapple juice, add: 1 gallon orange sherbet.

Happy Halloween! Be safe and have fun!

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