5 Tricks for a 'Green' Halloween in Croton

Whether you will be be celebrating Halloween by visiting The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze at Van Cortlandt Manor (recently featured in a video from RNN TV), making yummy Halloween recipes, playing tricks, or all of the above, follows is a list of “Five Super-Simple Steps to green Trick-or-Treating” from Green Options, to help you keep it green while keeping it orange.

They say, “Getting your little ghosts and goblins ready for Halloween while attempting to minimize your impact might seem scarier than global warming, but it’s so simple: you’re probably already doing at least one of these things.”

1. Use reusable candy-collecting bags. Carrying a re-usable bag is a simple and easy while ensuring that large stashes of candy won’t end up all over the street from a less-than-durable plastic bag. Avoid those plastic pumpkins, too. They’re made of petroleum, and you can only use them once a year.

2. Give out candy alternative as treats. Kids will get enough conventional candy from others. Try healthier alternatives (for both kids and the planet) like honey sticks, fruit leather, granola bars, organic chocolate, or boxes of raisins. Or, avoid food altogether and give pencils, erasers, mini toothpastes, soy crayons, or stickers.

3. Walk. Don’t drive your kids around. Part of the fun of trick or treating for a youngster is the thrill of walking around the neighborhood at night. Save the gas and get your fill of the night air.

4. Make your own your costumes. Then, you can avoid the plastic and vinyl monstrosities at the discount store and create your own from things at your house or secondhand stores. Your costumes will cost less, look better, and your kid won’t be one of seventeen “Dora the Explorers” or “Thomas the Tank Engines” you run into.

5. Pick up after others. After trick or treating, bring a separate bag for your kids to pick up the inevitable candy wrappers left by less-savvy munchkins dressed as litterbugs.

We encourage our readers to leave questions, comments or thoughts about this article. By leaving a comment on Crotonblog, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.