Halloween costumes are a great way to foster a child’s creativity, but a costume can quickly become excessively wasteful or costly for a single night’s excitement. Instead of purchasing a ready-made Halloween costume, encourage your child to make part or all of her costume in an eco-friendly manner.
Today, Americans spend about 12,500 tons of landfill waste a year on Halloween costumes alone. It is about the weight of two full grown elephants. It is about 5 miles in length. It is roughly the size of 104 football fields. In total, it is 250 million tons. While it’s a lot of waste to imagine, it is possible to reduce that amount of waste by half if people follow up on more eco-friendly tips and tricks this Halloween season.
There was a time when Halloween was more organic. Children used materials and objects around the house to make their own costumes. Parents spent hours making their own treats to give out to their visitors and pumpkins were sometimes even grown at home. This is all a thing of the past, but it doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.
Make Your Own Costume
Use materials such as card board, paper and foil. These materials can be reused again and again or just as easily recycled. Many awesome costumes can be made from these materials. Use old clothing to create era related costumes. This helps to recycle old, out-of-style clothing that is probably sitting in your closet, waiting for another chance at life. Use materials around the house like bed sheets, table cloths and pillow cases. This helps to re-use old house hold items that are meeting their final days of use. If you don’t want to make something of your own then buy something from an ethical costume company.
Splurge a little while staying within your eco-friendly boundaries and buy a used costume from a thrift store. Try this new and fun social activity that can help make a difference and save resources. Get together with your friends, neighbors or community and gather a group of people and trade costumes. This will ensure the full life of a costume and continuous use. Invest in props that can be reused for multiple costumes over multiple years. Swords, capes and belts can be used to complete multiple costumes as your children grow. Look for costumes that can be altered from past Halloweens and other projects.
