Six Easy Steps to Planning a Sustainable, Ethical and Eco-Friendly Halloween - By A Sustainable Gifting Supplier

As a sustainable gifting supplier specialising in ethical hampers, we love to educate you on how to live a more sustainable lifestyle. It’s that time of year again… Time to don a scary costume, carve some frightening faces and stock up on bags of tricks and treats. You might be wondering if you can still have the same ghoulishly good fun this October, without it being so bad for the planet. The answer is yes! There are many easy ways to make your spooky night eco-friendly, ethical and sustainable this Halloween. Here are some simple tips on how you can also reduce your carbon footprint when planning for a more eco-friendly holiday.

Reduce food waste this Halloween

Every year millions of pounds of food are wasted at this spooky time of year. One of the easiest ways to reduce food waste this Halloween is by making your own treats. Not only will you be able to save money, but homemade treats also make great decoration items. You can make traditional treats such as cookies and spooky cupcakes or go the healthy route with no-bake treats such as granola bars. If you do want to buy some treats, make sure to avoid chocolates or sweets wrapped individually in plastic. You can also avoid the risk of food going to waste by sharing the treats with neighbours and friends.

Plan your trick-or-treating route

You can also reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by planning your trick-or-treating route to make sure all houses can be accessed by foot or bike. By avoiding using a car you are saving CO2 emissions from being released.

Give away sustainable Halloween treats

If you want to avoid giving away any treats that contain plastic wrappings, then you can give away sustainable treats instead. If you want to give away candy, try to go for products such as lollipops wrapped in biodegradable wrappers with a wooden stick instead of a plastic one. Wood is a renewable resource making it a more sustainable option. If you do want to give away chocolate, try to go for the more ethically sourced options. This could include choosing a chocolate from a social enterprise such as Grace’s Chocolates or purchasing fair trade chocolate from a social enterprise such as Divine.

Choose a sustainable pumpkin

Pumpkins are a popular Halloween decoration that is carved to create scary faces with candlelight inside. To have a more sustainable Halloween you could buy locally grown pumpkins, which would also help reduce carbon emissions when being transported. You can see if there are any local pumpkin farms for you and you can also pick an organic pumpkin if they offer one. You can also purchase locally-grown apples. Apples are used for apple bobbing, a popular Halloween game.

Go green with your decorations

You will likely want to deck your house in spooky decorations at this time of year. While many of these decorations can be harmful to the environment, there are easy ways to make them more sustainable. One of the most sustainable decoration items to get this Halloween is a real pumpkin. While it may be tempting to purchase plastic spiders, webs, and other decorations, by selecting a pumpkin as a man decoration you are selecting a compostable option. You could also create your own decorations from natural materials such as leaves, twigs and moss. If you want to go for artificial decorations, try to go for reusable decorations, that are good quality, made of wood or other renewable resources, and can be used year after year. You could also purchase second-hand decorations from charity shops which reduces waste.

Be eco-friendly with your costumes

As we have seen with decorations, there are many ways to make your costumes more sustainable. If you want to dress up as a witch, your costume can be made with things found around your home such as a broom handle, some black material and a hat made from cardboard. If you want to go with a more traditional witch costume, try to find ethically sourced fabrics and avoid using too many materials. You could also try to go for materials that can be easily recycled or reused after Halloween. If you want to go with a fancy costume, you could make your costume from reusable materials such as fabric or paper. If you would like a fancy costume but do not have the skills to make your own, you could also try to buy second-hand costumes. The rule with keeping costumes sustainable is to avoid purchasing a costume that will be worn only a couple of times before being thrown away.

Conclusion

Halloween is a great time of year to let your creativity run wild and get into the spirit of things, but it is important to remember that Halloween can often harm the environment. There are, however, many ways to make your Halloween eco-friendly, ethical and sustainable. By following these six easy steps you can make your Halloween fun and eco-friendly experience. We hope you enjoyed our top tips for a more sustainable Halloween. As a sustainable gifting company specialising in ethical hampers, we love to share all things sustainable. Christmas is just around the corner and if you are looking for a sustainable Christmas hamper for family, friends, employees, or clients, check out our social enterprise gift boxes  and hampers which are sure to delight you. Christmas is just around the corner, and you know what that means...presents! If you're looking for sustainable gifts for friends and family check out our gift collection online. If you are looking for corporate gifts for employees, or sustianable Christmas gift for clients, head over to our corporate gifting page. 

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