8 Ways to Have a Happy DIY Halloween

Horray, it’s Halloween. Such a fun time of year. There’s the dressing up, the trick-or-treating, the decorating, and the pumpkin carving.

As with many festivals, celebrating can come at a cost to the pocket as well as the environment, and let’s face it, your teeth!

If you love Halloween but want to honor it a little more mindfully and sustainably this year, check out these OGP articles that give you ideas on how to celebrate in style while being a little more thoughtful about waste and cost.

1. Easy Decorations

Halloween is such a fun time to decorate your home and porch as the celebration of autumn and all that is spooky come together in October. All your artistic and crafty flair can come out as you can get your house in tip-top shape for parties and trick-or-treaters. The great thing is that you needn’t go out and buy a ton of expensive adornments. You needn’t go out and buy a bunch of plastic that will likely end up in the trash, either. Take a look at these 5 Wickedly Cheap and Easy Halloween Decorations.

2. Halloween Candy

Halloween comes, and it goes. In the end, many families are left with more bags of candy than a healthy diet can handle. Not only have the kids gone out and trick-or-treated themselves into gluttony, but often the candy meant to give to other trick-or-treaters has surpluses to deal with it. Oh, what a horrid problem! Some might say. Thanksgiving is just around the corner, not even a month away. Then, it’s Christmas parties galore. How many treats does one family need in two months? Have a look at these 7 Creative Uses for Leftover Halloween Candy.

3. Sustainable Halloween

There are many ways to have an eco-friendly Halloween. Just like we don’t need to eat chemical-laced food or use toxic products, we don’t have to make Halloween a bane on the planet. We can step back from the giant bags of candy and mass-produced costumes and begin reimagining the holiday as something more in line with what we want to celebrate. Check out these tips to have your own eco-friendly Halloween! Read on to learn more about a Halloween Done Sustainably: How to Cut Down on Packaging, Waste, and Woe.

4. Recycled Decorations

Whether you are an adult or a child, Halloween can be loads of fun. Of course, the costumes and candy go a long way to making it so, but there are other contributors, too. It brings about a great sense of community, a reason for neighbors to get together, and a call for mutual silliness. A needed rise in environmental awareness has come to pass, and buying loads of disposable decorations seems not only impractical but also irresponsible. Check out these 7 DIY Spooky Halloween Decorations Made From Recycled Trash and Old Items!

5. Halloween at Home

Halloween is a long-standing tradition, dating back to long before there were cheap costumes and snack-sized candies. It has seen us through the best of times, as well as years of turmoil, so this Halloween should be no different. We may not be out on the street with the tricks and treats, but we can still make the most of a really fun day. A home-bound Halloween can be as exciting as – nay, perhaps more exciting than – those run-of-the-mill, door-to-door affairs we’ve all come to expect. Get inspired by these 7 Fun Halloween Activities for Homebound Trick-or-Treaters.

6. Grow Your Own Jack-O’-Lanterns

Winter squash and pumpkins are usually massive items, often with one being big enough to feed a familiar. They can dazzle roasted, whizzed into creamy soups, or even pureed into pies. Oh, and don’t forget toasted squash/pumpkin seeds. These garden greats are much more versatile than many of us realize. Beyond tasting wonderful, winter squash and pumpkins are also game-changers for fresh produce in winter. When harvested correctly, they can be stored for months as is, with no canning or freezing. Learn all about Growing, Harvesting, and Storing Winter Squash and Pumpkins for this year’s Halloween decorations.

7. Decorate with Pumpkins

In an effort not to spoil fall decorating festivities, go ahead and use pumpkins, but try to rescue and eat them before they become waste. Sprucing the pumpkins up without damaging the flesh is the way to go if you want to keep things edible. If you are into carving, don’t toss the innards away. There are so many awesome OGP recipes for amazingly autumnal meals. Have a look at these 7 Fun Ways to Decorate with Pumpkins this Autumn Without Waste.

8. Spooky Cocktails and Mocktails

If you are throwing a Halloween bash this year, you might want to splash out with some fun and spooky-inspired drinks.  There are cocktails for those who like to drink alcohol and mocktails for those who don’t. One great thing is that usually, mocktails can become cocktails and cocktails can become mocktails with just a twist of the ingredients. Dragon fruits, tomato juice, fall flavors, bright red juices, and gory green herbs make wonderful ingredients for ‘horrible’ Halloween beverages to serve to your guests. Check out these Halloween-Inspired Cocktails and Mocktails.

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store, to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
• Adopt-a-Pet: Visit WildWatchers, a watchdog platform specifically designed for animal, earth, and wildlife warriors to actively give back, rescue, and protect animals and the planet.
• Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take initiative by standing up against fast fashion Pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that raise awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade repeatedly.
• Support Independent Media: Being publicly funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!
• Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
• Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and important stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
• Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, Donate if you can, grow your food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!