Halloween is one of America’s favorite holidays of the year. The time where you can be anyone you want to be, eat loads of chocolate and Swedish fish, and be with people you love! How can Halloween be sustainable with new costumes each year and plenty of packaged goods being given away?
- DIY/thrift/swap costumes!
New and trendy costumes each year can be costly, but it can also be wasteful. Most costumes are used once and never worn again! This year, make your own costume with secondhand clothing. DIY costumes are a fun way to be creative and it can be even more fun with a group of friends! Take an article of clothing and “fancy” it up!
2. Being conscious with your candy & chocolates.
At the end of a long night of trick-or-treating you are left with an overfilling bag of gold. The amount of chocolate and candy in that bag would last till next Halloween. But I knew as a child that I couldn’t eat my entire pillow case of yumminess. Instead, make a pile of (1) candy I will eat (2) candy I know that someone I know will eat (3) donation pile. You can even take the candies and make something else with them! Use the M&Ms for M&M cookies, make your favorite chocolate ice cream at home with your favorites, or even melt your lollipops and turn them into fun shapes!
3. What to do with all your pumpkin?
Halloween and pumpkins just go together, but to ensure that there isn’t much waste produced, compost your pumpkins when they are ready to go! There are plenty of options when it comes to composting; local farms and composting organizations are a great place to start if you don’t have your own compost bin at home.
4. Up-cycled decorations!
Take common items around your home that you would normally throw away and turn them into spooky decorations! Turn milk jugs into ghosts or toilet paper rolls into cute bats. No need to buy those expensive decorations, save the planet and your wallet!
5. Spend Halloween indoors this year.
With our second year into a global pandemic, instead of going out, invite a small group of friends and spend the night baking Halloween cookies, drinking hot cocoa, and watching your favorite Halloween movies . . . even if they’re the spooky kind.
6. Give yourself a wardrobe cleanse.
Halloween is the time to dress up as anything you could ever dream of, but what if you used the day to clean out your closet full of monsters. Look for clothes that might be turned into a good Halloween costume, make a pile of clothes you absolutely do not wear anymore to be sold or donated, and go into November feeling clean!
14 comments
Thank you for the tip about the DIY/ swap costumes! It gave my boyfriend and I the idea to swap work clothes and dress as each other- I went as an electrician while he went as a dental assistant, all while not wasting time (and money) on a costume you’d buy and only wear once!
Something that I’ve done for the past few years has been creating my own costume with articles of clothing I already own (with one in particular that I wore for two Halloweens in a row); if I need something not in my closet, I purchase from small businesses and artists. I take a lot of inspiration from video games and TV shows, with the exception of last and this year, where I was inspired by a song and a K-POP group member respectively.
My process is as follows: I choose a character or concept that I resonate with and look to my closet to see if I can replicate it with what I own, which works well if you happen to have more versatile basics in your wardrobe.
For funsies, I wanted to list out who/what I dressed up as and what I used to make the look:
2017 – (Aged Up) Louise from Bob’s Burgers (Green Blouse and Jeans because I didn’t own a green dress and a homemade pink bunny ear headband)
2018 and 2019 – Joseph Oda from The Evil Within (White Quarter Sleeve, Black Slacks, Red Tie and Boots)
2020 – Cat Girl, as I was addicted to the song “Cat Girls Are Ruining My Life” by Corpse Husband at the time (White Quarter Sleeve, Cat Headband I purchased from Lotte World when I was studying abroad in South Korea (Summer 2019), Choker, Black Plaid Skorts and Boots)
2021 – (Loose Adaptation) Yeonjun from TXT in “Nap of a Star” (White Quarter Sleeve, Thrifted Gingham Pants & Boots with an antler headband made by a small business)
Thank you for reading and have a safe Halloween!
this halloween i decided to make my own costume and invited all my friends to my house and we are watching movies and doing fun halloween things
For me, I still love to get dressed up but I try not to buy any costumes from stirred. So I will be making a costume out of the clothes in my closet and if I do need to buy anything I will be going to a second hand store like goodwill! I hope some of you do the same as well!! I love you Sea Seven
For me, I still love to get dressed up but I try not to buy any costumes from stirred. So I will be making a costume out of the clothes in my closet and if I do need to buy anything I will be going to a second hand store like goodwill! I hope some of you do the same as well!! I love you Sea Seven