Have a green Halloween

If you`ve been shopping recently, you`ll know Halloween is approaching, as seasonal displays of spooky costumes, decorations and treats have been on sale for several weeks already! Whether you love it or hate it, there`s no doubt the popularity of Halloween is growing in the UK, with supermarkets seeing Halloween sales triple since 2005 and British shoppers expected to spend £280 million on Halloween this year.

One scary thing about all this Halloween shopping is the amount of waste created. 99% of pumpkins sold at Halloween are for lantern carving and most end up in landfill sites after October 31st. Halloween parties and festivities generate all kinds of waste, from leftover food and sweet wrappers to discarded costumes and decorations.

However, you don`t have to spend lots of money or fill up your rubbish bin this Halloween. Why not take back the night and create Halloween festivities your own way? It`s possible to enjoy parties with delicious food, fancy dress costumes, trick or treating and a festive pumpkin lantern without hitting the shops and help the environment too!

Halloween fancy dress is great fun and many charity shops and websites such as Freecycle have a selection of fancy dress costumes, as well as second hand clothes and other materials for making up your own outfit. Alternatively, hire a costume or organise a costume swap night with friends and family.

Decorating your home adds to the spooky atmosphere and making decorations from items found around the house is a fun activity for the whole family to enjoy, not to mention cheaper and more unique than shop-bought options. Paper chains made from newspapers and magazines are effective, as well as being recyclable. If you are tempted by Halloween decorations in the shops, choose items that will last and save them to use again next year, just as you would with Christmas decorations.

If you`re planning a party, search the internet for free Halloween-themed e-cards and send out electronic invitations rather than paper ones. E-cards are cost-free, paper-free and waste-free! When feeding your visitors, avoid disposable tableware and choose real, reusable options. You`ll save money in the long run, as well as reducing waste. Choose party nibbles and food with minimal packaging or avoid packaging altogether by making your own food and snacks.

You could also have fun making spooky-shaped biscuits instead of buying treats for visiting trick or treaters. Or give out little packets of seeds to plant in the spring.

If you`re carving a pumpkin lantern, remember that pumpkins are not just decorative items! Every part can be eaten or composted at home, so save the seeds and scooped out flesh to eat and when you`ve finished with your lantern, break it up and put it in your compost bin. Pumpkin seeds are delicious roasted or can be saved to grow next year`s Halloween lantern. Use pumpkin flesh to make pies, soups or even lasagne.