Eco-Friendly Halloween for Busy Families
Halloween and Bonfire Night are two of the brightest moments in our autumn calendar, but they can also be some of the most wasteful. New costumes worn once, decorations that don’t survive the season, piles of sugar wrappers, it all adds up. Add to that the cost of fireworks and endless party supplies, and it can pull on both budgets and the planet.
The good news? You don’t need hours of spare time or a craft cupboard worthy of Blue Peter to keep things fun. Eco-friendly doesn’t have to mean complicated; it can be about making small swaps that reduce stress and waste, while keeping the magic alive for your children.
Start with costumes. Instead of buying something brand new, raid the dressing-up box or the back of wardrobes. A witch’s cloak can be a black school jumper and an old scarf, a pirate an oversized shirt with a belt and tea-stained “map.” If you’ve got friends with children of different ages, a quick costume swap is the easiest way to breathe new life into old favourites.
Decorations don’t need to come in plastic packaging either. Think seasonal and simple: a few pumpkins, a bowl of conkers, or leaves gathered from a family walk. If you’re short on time, one or two statement pieces, like a pumpkin lantern in the window, can feel just as magical as decking the whole house. The beauty of natural décor is that once the celebrations are over, it goes straight into the compost, not the bin.
Food is often where Halloween runs away with us, both in sugar highs and in waste. Instead of a mountain of plastic-wrapped sweets, try a “spooky snack plate” with things you already have in the cupboard: apple slices become “fangs” with a smear of peanut butter, breadsticks turn into “witches’ fingers” with a blob of cream cheese, and popcorn is always a winner. If you’re carving pumpkins, roast the seeds with a sprinkle of salt for an instant crunchy snack.
For family fun, keep it low-prep and high-impact. A “wishing wall” works beautifully, cut out paper stars or leaves and invite everyone to write a wish, a hope, or a kind thought for the season ahead. Stick them on the wall with blu tack or string them up with pegs and fairy lights. It’s a gentle way to weave gratitude and reflection into the celebrations.
And if your children get overwhelmed by the noise of fireworks or the excitement of Halloween night, have a ready-to-go fallback plan. A cosy indoor “festival of light” can be as simple as pulling the curtains, dimming the lights, and turning on torches or fairy lights. Add blankets, hot chocolate, and a story, and you’ve got all the magic without the overstimulation.
Celebrating in an eco-friendly way isn’t about doing everything perfectly. It’s about small, thoughtful choices that save you time, money, and stress, while also showing your children that celebrations don’t have to cost the Earth to be meaningful.
Anisa is an accredited and certified Positive Parenting Coach, mother, and ex-deputy head teacher, with 25+ years of experience working and supporting children and families. Anisa specialises in empowering and positively transforming lives of parents and children, who are facing stress, anxiety, or just day-to-day challenges of parenting – working with them directly, in group environments, and through corporate channels. Anisa is hugely passionate about using her coaching skills, and educational background, to find ways for parents and children to move through the challenges they face in life, together.
Anisa is here to help bring about multi-generational change as she believes we often get stuck in the patterns from the past, following the path we ourselves tread, which isn’t always the right one to support our children and she is here to help families work things out, so they get to know that parenting does not have to be hard.
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