5 Tips for a Green Halloween

1. Fend off trash monsters!

Goblins and ghouls aren’t the only monsters that come out on Halloween night. There could be little “trash monsters” about, littering the ground unknowingly with candy wrappers! Want to help keep your community clean? Clean up litter the day after Halloween and join Montgomery County’s #PloggingChallenge. Learn more about Plogging here.

2. Go big (or minimal) or go home!

Want to be the most popular home on the block and be more sustainable this Halloween? Give out full-size candy bars! A bag of full-size candy bars uses less packaging than a bag of smaller fun-size bars. Alternatively, choose treats with minimal and/or recycled packaging. You might not be as popular with your neighbors, but the environment will still thank you.    

3. Go vintage!

No need to buy a new Halloween costume this year, or any year for that matter! Put together a costume with things you already have at home, with recycled materials, or with items and clothes from a thrift store.

3. Turn out the lights!

Want your Halloween decorations to really pop? Turn out all the lights in your home except for those highlighting your decorations. Now your home is spookier and you’re saving energy! Or maybe you don’t really like Halloween at all. By turning off all your lights and not decorating, you will save energy and money on candy and decorations, and trick-or-treaters will know to steer clear!

5. Dress up your yard, naturally!

Halloween isn’t only a time for humans to dress up, it’s also a time for gardens and yards to take on a ~spooky~ appearance. As perennial plants turn brown and stop growing in the colder months, you might be tempted to cut them back. But by leaving these plants in place, and letting your yard continue to “dress up,” they provide much needed habitat and food for wildlife.