Elena's Sharebook 

10/25/2007  - You won't see too much green on trees nowadays, but that doesn't mean you can't have a very green Halloween. Here's a short list of simple and easy ways for you to lighten the footprint you make this Halloween.

1. Pass on the plastic bags for trick-or-treating and use a pillowcase or other reusable bag. Not only is this a more sustainable solution, but a pillowcase or canvas bag is more durable and less prone to tearing than a plastic bag.
2. Make full use of your pumpkins! Seeds can be roasted and turned into a tasty snack or fed to the birds. Pumpkins can be turned into pie or soup or a well-used jack-o-lantern carcass can be composted.
3. Terror-iffic decor can be easily made from stuff lying around the house. You can use bedsheets to make ghosts to hang from trees (shove a pillow inside and tie it off) or hack up some cardboard boxes to populate your front yard with gravestones. Complete the look by adding piles of leaves to make the graves appear freshly dug. You can also stuff some old clothes with newspaper and make a scarecrow to stake in your front yard, hang from a tree, or sit next to your front door. For more low impact decorating ideas, a look at this page on Green Living Online. There's a good list of ideas over at care2.com as well.
4. Don't put away the old clothes yet. Get creative and use old clothing or materials from a thrift shop instead of buying pricey vinyl costumes made from petroleum products that will probably be worn once or twice at most.
5. Skip the expensive and chemical laden Halloween makeup where possible. Some household basics like cornstarch, syrup, shortening, cold cream,and food coloring and even ketchup can make convincing blood, bruises, wounds and other afflictions. For more ideas, visit dltk-holidays.com's page about homemade makeup for Halloween.
6. Throw coloured shades over your light bulbs (or complact fluorescent lights!) for some moody lighting instead of buying coloured bulbs.
7. Don't forget the little things like using rechargeable batteries instead of alkaline batteries in flashlights.
8. There will be a whole lot of candy wrappers on the ground for a while. While we're sure you're not a culprit, go the extra mile and make sure your family and friends aren't littering.

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