Have you ever taken out your Halloween bin of costumes and décor and just wondered how it all got to be SO MUCH?? You are not alone!
Here are some tips to help reduce your Halloween clutter and waste:
Go through your costumes. Any costumes or accessories that are too small for anyone your household, donate them! And do it now while other people can still purchase them. Halloween is one of the most popular times for people to shop at thrift stores because they are often purchasing something they will only wear once.
For any costumes or accessories that are broken, are they easily fixable? And if so, are you actually going to do it? If not, post it on Kijiji for free (listing it as in need of repairs). Someone that has the time and skills to fix it will gladly take your item!
Only keep decorations that you actually like, and aren’t too much of a pain to put on display. If it is really complicated to put up, or is so delicate it falls apart more and more every year, consider letting go of this item! It is not worth your time to have to care for an item you use so infrequently, especially if it is not your favourite. Instead, only keep items that you absolutely love to look at, and enjoy putting up!
When looking for costumes and décor check out thrift stores first! You can find some real hidden gems in thrift stores, and they cost less than if you had bought them new! Plus you are supporting a circular economy, rather than a linear one where items end up in the landfill. If you have something specific in mind, see if you can borrow it from a family member or friend.
When trying to think about how to decorate your home, look for natural alternatives! Pumpkins, gourds, acorns, leaves, corn and other plants are wonderful alternatives to plastic dust-collectors. Obviously pumpking carving is a standard for Halloween, but what do you do with your jack-o-lantern after November 1st? Rather than having it rot on your front porch for a few weeks, donate your carved up pumpkin to a local farm sanctuary! Animals love feasting on pumpkins! Make sure when you are carving pumpkins to save and roast the seeds too.
Before going out and purchasing your usual Halloween candy to give out, check out all your options! See if you can get boxes of Smarties or Mike and Ikes rather than candy in plastic pouches, or candy wrapped in foil, and encourage the kids to recycle the boxes and ball of foil when they’re done. Another option is to give out cans of pop. Or if you have a familiar group of kids that know and trust you, try making baked goods that you can package yourself! You can include a note and a business card or picture so they know exactly who it came from.
I would love to see things like this become the norm! If we all lived and breathed sustainability, just imagine what kind of creative things we would be seeing all the time!
