Halloween Waste Got you Spooked?
Love Halloween but hate the cost - to your purse or the planet? Join us in getting our spook on for less (money & waste!)
PUMPKINS
Pumpkins are Souper (I know!) so make the most of them. They are great fun to carve and eat. Head to Balgone Estates extensive Pumpkin Patch to get locally grown ones (far tastier and prettier that the supermarket ones!)
Keep it simple To re-use as much as possible, keep your decorations simple - avoid paint, glue and glitter (it’s full of microplastics) so you can eat or compost after.
Eat it all up Pumpkins are a seasonal superfood. They’re high in fibre and packed full of immune boosting vitamins A & C as well as slow-release carbs. The fleshy parts are great for adding to most dishes, the stringy guts make great stock for soup and try roasting the seeds to make a nutritious snack or as a topper for salads and soups. Love this recipe from the gorgeous Sonia Lee: 'CROWN PRINCE' PUMPKIN RISOTTO with CHORIZO and wilted spinach (leelife.co.uk) Lot’s more recipes on BBC Good Food
If you want to eat them, don't carve them to early or they'll rot before you get to them and if it's going to be frosty, bring them in or cover up - they go mushy after freezing
Plant the seeds Scoop out, rinse and dry the seeds to grow your very own pumpkins next year – great family fun. It’s turned into a bit of a growing competition in our house! The Royal Horticultural Society say that they’re best grown from seed indoors in pots from mid April before planting out later in the summer.
Treat yourself to a facial According to the International Dermal Institute, pumpkins are beauty gold! The fleshy part can help to nourish, brighten and smooth skin, as well as boost collagen and help tame the signs of aging. There are loads of mask recipes out there - including ours here.
Turn them into bird feeders Once you’ve scooped out the flesh, fill with bird seed and hang from a tree to attract a whole host of garden birds.
Put them in a tree to feed birds & squirrels. It’s not recommended to leave them on the ground for Hedgehogs - pumpkins aren’t poisonous for them but too much gives them diarrhoea and dehydration which is dangerous, particularly as they prepare for hibernation.
Compost it Once you’ve used up as much of your pumpkin as possible, compost the rest. Cutting the flesh up into smaller pieces helps speed up the decomposition.
DECORATIONS
I am known for going a bit OTT with the Halloween decorations. I just LOVE IT! But it’s hard to cut the waste and avoid all the plastic tat that the supermarkets are flogging us at this time of year. However, I have discovered there is real joy in getting creative. I still want a smoke machine though…
Pumpkins – obvs. Maybe the more traditional (Scottish) neeps? Carved painted carrots make great severed fingers too! There are some ideas for your pumpkins after Halloween here.
Dig out that box of decorations from last year – and if you haven’t stored them in the past – do it this year. You’ll save ££ too.
We have had great fun in previous years painting signs like ‘Help’ or ‘Save yourselves’ with dripping red paint on cardboard from boxes to set the scene for the house. We made tombstones from cardboard and one of our neighbours kept a big box and made it into a coffin!
A sheet hung over a coast hanger, with a witch’s hat pinned on the top and a few twigs for the end of a broom poking out of one side makes a great witch hanging in a tree – she’s flies around in the wind! Or stick with just the sheet, with two big black fabric of paper eyes pinned on, and you have yourself a ghost.
Make broomsticks to stand by the door – a stronger stick, with a bunch of twigs for the broom bound tightly with string will do the trick)
Autumn Leaf Garlands: Collect fallen leaves from your garden or local park. String them together to create colourful, biodegradable garlands to hang around
Try to avoid the fake spiders webs, particularly outdoors as they can trap birds.
Or make spooky silhouettes from black card (paint it first if you don’t have black (cereal box cardboard is great for this) – makes bats, pumpkins, eyes, ghosts and witches, let your imagination run wild!
A note on candles – please avoid naked flames. Most (bought) Halloween costumes are made of polyester – an oil based plastic and are highly flammable. Use battery-powered tealight candles in your pumpkins and other decorations.
COSTUMES
I love dress up! But every year the kids want to be something different and last years costumes have been outgrown! Try our top tips and find the perfect costume whilst avoiding the horror of the price tag or the waste!
As with every top eco-tip, we have to start with use what you have – lots of characters are in fact dressed in everyday clothes – it could be a popular TV or film character – got a duffle coat? Dress up as Paddington! If you want something more spooky the traditional white-as-a-sheet ghost, zombie or vampire can all be dressed in everyday clothes or old clothes you don’t mind ‘converting’ to fancy dress – a bit of red paint, a white face, a smudge of black eyeliner and the obligatory dribble of fake blood and you’ve got it sorted!
Go for a rummage in the cupboard. What did you wear to that Halloween party 3 years ago? Bring the dead (costumes) back to life!
Swap & Share – Join Lil’s Preloved Costume Facebook Group and put a request up for the costume you want. Remember to search the posts first – it might already be listed. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2020309154714217/?ref=share Or start your own exchange – maybe a rail at your kids school or a WhatsApp group between you friends.
Ask your friends – can you borrow a costume off them or an element of a costume you are missing?
Prop it up - Use whatever you have to hand to add to defining touch to your costume. Cardboard wings, a wooden sword,
Add the artwork - face paints are great fund and really help finish a characters look. There are non-toxic, vegan, cruelty free face paints available and a lot you can do with everyday make up. Check out tutorials on YouTube for some inspiration.
Rent a costume – if you really can’t find what you need try renting a costume before you succumb to buying new. Try Any Costume, Edinburgh
It's worth noting that 90% of UK families buy new Halloween costumes every year. ££££ heading for landfill!
TREATS
Do you know, sometimes life is too short!
It is too difficult to create a smorgasbord of natural, homemade treats that won’t cause issue – post-covid fears, allergies and don’t forget how hard it for a 3-year-old to carry an iced cupcake around the town with them!!
If you can, opt for paper or foil wrapped treats or the natural ones like satsumas decorated as pumpkins (yes, it is ok to give kids fruit at Halloween! It may scare them more than anything else! Remember to use nontoxic child friendly marker pens for decorating).
Try to avoid the plastic nightmare like what’s in this pups cauldron!
