24 October 2022
It’s October and that means Halloween is right around the corner. Are you already contemplating the best ways to dress up or decorate your house?
Sadly, Halloween is one of the holidays that has a very large plastic footprint.
We think consumers shouldn’t be tricked into using more plastic, that’s why we treat you with some nice plastic-free tips. So, are you looking for a plastic-free Halloween? Let’s get this spooky festivity going and dress it up plastic-free!
1. USE NATURE’S GIFTS AS PLASTIC-FREE HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS
Early fall is a real feast for the eye: orange, yellow and red leaves are hanging from the trees like gemstones in jewelry. Would be a shame to waste such colours, don’t you think? Do you want to know how to make colourful confetti from them? Gather leaves and use a perforator to punch holes in the leaves. You can also dry them first. The rounds you can use as confetti and decoration around the house. Or punch a hole at the top of the leaves and use rope to make them into garlands.
And, to spice it up, don’t forget real pumpkins as decoration! Carve them up nicely to create a face or leave them whole and use, edible, ones to make soup or pie from after Halloween! Don’t wait too long though to eat them, and make sure they are meant to be ingested.
2. GO FOR PLASTIC-FREE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES (OR BORROW THEM)
You know what’s truly scary? Breathing in microplastic fibres made from plastic. About 70% percent of all our clothes are made from plastic.
We fear that in the case of Halloween costumes this number is even higher. A survey by Fairlyland Trust found that a whopping 83% of Halloween Costumes or other items presented as wear for Halloween was made from plastic (69% of which was polyester).
A snapshot taken from Halloween costumes in 2021 showed a slight progress, now three quarters were made out of plastic, and those of cotton about 22%.
Join this trend! Try making your costume out of old clothes or cardboard or refurbish your old cotton clothes or tablecloths. Old pillowcases or tablecloths can easily be made into a ghost costume, for instance.
3. CREATE SPIDER WEBS MADE FROM YARN OR COTTON BALLS
Itsy bitsy spider climbed up the plastic web. Halloween decorations aren’t complete without an appropriate amount of spiderwebs. Oftentimes, these are made from yarn. But did you know that a lot of yarns are made from acryl, which is 100% plastic? Draping your house with threads of plastic might seem like a good haunted house idea, but we’re sure there are more environmentally friendly ones out there.
Luckily there are many other materials you can use for a plastic-free web, like rope or good old cotton balls. Try making spiders from paper or from felt (which is made of wool).
4. SAY NO TO HALLOWEEN PLASTIC WASTE
Don’t change your house into a house of plastic horrors this Halloween. Reduce your plastic usage by providing plastic-free re-usable cups and cutlery at your party. These are one of the most polluting parts of parties and easily avoidable, so you have a as little as Halloween plastic waste as possible.
5. GIVE OUT PLASTIC-FREE HALLOWEEN CANDY
Are you giving out candy at the door during Halloween? Or are you serving a buffet full of treats for your guests? Try buying items without packaging or wrapped in paper. Experiment by making your own plastic-free Halloween candy, or get your goods at Pieter Pot (for the Netherlands), to get your items plastic-free.
Let’s make this Halloween a treat, and not trash our world. And it goes without saying, after the party, don’t forget to get your broomstick out and get to cleaning.
Want more tips for a plastic-free parties? Go on a plastic diet by downloading our My Little Plastic Footprint app.
