Halloween is all about the candy, costumes, and pumpkins. But the scary things lurking behind the fun are the tantrums, upset stomachs, and one rather huge environmental impact!
This year, I’m encouraging everyone to have a more ‘Holistic Halloween’. The holiday can be fun as well as green and healthy, especially when we embrace some of the traditions behind the holiday!
Here are some tips and ideas for celebrating a Holistic Halloween this year:
Although National Costume Swap Day has passed (definitely check it out for next year!), you can still reduce and reuse by arranging a swap in your neighborhood or with your friends, or look to gently used options such as those from thredUp (www.threup.com). If kids swapped half the costumes they wear on Halloween, we would reduce landfill waste by 6,250 tons! You can also think of it more than just a ‘swap’—have each of your friends bring over a box of ‘dress up’ clothes and let imaginations run wild.
If you prefer to buy new, you can still embrace green, non-toxic principles. Stay clear of soft vinyl in costumes, which likely contains Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), a chemical linked to cancer, asthma, learning and developmental disabilities, obesity and reproductive disorders. Also be wary of Halloween makeup, which can contain dangerous heavy metals such as cadmium and tin.
What would Halloween be without candy? We may not be able to avoid sweets on this particular holiday, but what we can avoid are the unhealthy ingredients, such as artificial sweeteners, GMOs, artificial food dyes and hydrogenated oil, which can lead to behavioral reactions and tantrums, and may negatively impact health over the long term.
Here are some tips:
- Set ground rules with your kids before you go trick-or-treating, how much candy can they eat on Halloween? And after?
- Have a ‘candy swap’ by replacing the unhealthy candies in the trick-or-treating bag with kid and parent-approved healthier ones, or invite your kids to trade in their candy haul for a special prize or outing. Many different organizations will take donated candy for our troops overseas or other good causes.
- Leave home will full bellies all around to prevent snacking along the way!
- Give out great candy! There are wonderful fair trade, organic, healthier versions of sweets out there. If you stock the good stuff, you can encourage your kids to indulge more healthfully!
After giving myself a brief history lesson, I discovered that there are many interesting things that I didn’t know about this holiday. For example, Halloween actually began some 2,000 years ago as a festival commemorating the end of harvest season and the beginning of winter.
Early Jack O’Lanterns were once made from turnips, gourds or rutabagas. Also the Irish myth around how Jack O’Lantern got its name is the perfect spooky story to share while carving pumpkins. Spend a few minutes discovering some Halloween traditions and trivia, and you’ll have all the kids entertained and begging for more!
Instead of just the more obvious activities (trick-or-treating, parties, hayrides, haunted houses), try something a little different to make the holiday memorable:
- Camping: If you can afford to take the time off, opt out of the hullabaloo and throw your own spooky night around a campfire. It’s also an excellent way to avoid the candy overload and the foliage is gorgeous this time of year!
- Museums: Spiders, snakes, bats, oh my! These creatures can all be found at your local museum and sometimes nearby zoos. Discover what is real AND scary out there.
- Pumpkins: For a serious plan-ahead activity, start a pumpkin patch! You can teach your kids about gardening and nature, and then harvest your own pumpkins next season!
Crafting with my kids is a great way to celebrate any holiday! While it’s much easier to buy decorations, it is also much more expensive and less fun. Try breaking up the crafting into much smaller projects, especially with younger kids with short attention spans! Even if you don’t get all the decorations done, at least you’ll have some personal creations to share. Here are a few links to some homemade decorations:
a. Country Living (http://www.countryliving.com/crafts/projects/craft-ideas-for-halloween-1009)
b. HubPages Top 10 Halloween Decorations: http://iblue.hubpages.com/hub/Top-10-Halloween-Homemade-Decorationsc. Martha Stewart: http://www.marthastewart.com/274345/your-handmade-halloween-decorations/@center/276965/halloween
It’s easy to give Halloween a healthy, holistic makeover! What are your tips?
Interested in learning more about nontoxic, healthy, holistic living? Join us for Holistic Living Month, http://www.holisticlivingmonth.com/, through the month of October! Find a chapter in your area or join us online for one of our many events scheduled throughout Holistic Living Month –we’d love to meet you!
Nancy Massotto is the Founder and Executive Director of the Holistic Moms Network and mother to two boys. She founded the Holistic Moms Network to meet other parents who shared her passions for living healthy and living sustainably, and to help raise awareness about natural living options. Before becoming a mom, she completed three graduate degrees, including a Ph.D. in political science, specializing in gender studies and feminist theory and spent several years working for non-profit research institutes, including the Women’s Research and Education Institute (WREI) and the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), while residing in the Washington, D.C. area. As a mom and community leader, she is dedicated to empowering women, supporting mothers, and raising her two sons as naturally and sustainably as possible.
Environmental News from Living Green Magazine – Where Green Is Read