Beginner’s Guide to an Eco-friendly Halloween

Intro

Not too long ago we talked about how to get our asses outside this Autumn instead of staring at Instagram pictures with envy. BUT we didn’t exactly address how to do an environmentally friendly Halloween.

Halloween is great, but it comes with environmental issues too (sadly.) Shopping too much, toxic as hell costume paint, and candy that’s origins are not so sweet is only a handful. We get that it’s supposed to be scary, but let’s draw a line at screwing the entire planet over, shall we?

Maybe making your Halloween COMPLETELY green is just too much straight out the gate. So we’ve got 3 baby steps you can take to start your sustainable All Hallow’s Eve Journey.

Palm Oil Free Candy

A while back we wrote about a new ecolabel that can help you distinguish Palm Oil Free products from their conventional counterparts.

If you missed it and you’re still oblivious to the palm oil issue though, the rundown is that harvesting lots + putting it in almost every product we see on the shelves (including Halloween candy) = no forests for animals like Orangutans and elephants to live (Shout out to CIFAE).

Are we making you cry yet? Fret not! You can still eat an asinine amount of candy (or give it to trick-or-treaters) on Halloween without a guilty conscience.

• For the god of all candies (Chocolate of course), check out:

- Chocxo, Cocomels, or Sjaak’s

• For the inferior but still yummy candies (like gummies, for example) check out:

- Surf Sweets Gummy Bears, YumEarth, or Stretch Island

• If you’re still not convinced, or think it’s too inconvenient, you can always use The Natural Candy Store as a one-stop shop for your eco-friendly candy shopping. Who shops in-store anymore anyway?

As a bonus, these are all vegan. No bone sugar here, despite the skeleton themes of some of these candies.

P.S. for an even longer list check out Selva Beat’s Palm oil free & Vegan Halloween candy list.

Non-Toxic Paints & Masks

You may have heard through the grapevine about how toxic makeup can be, and Halloween makeup isn’t an exception.

Ingredients like lead, parabens, and phthalates are linked to that good ol’ cancer that seems to be taking over. Not only bad for the wearer, but also for whoever comes in contact with it when it gets washed down the drain.

Yet apparently these ingredients are commonplace in cosmetics, including Halloween face paint. The real plot twist here is that weird ingredients like this are also known to be in other types of costumes, like plastic masks.

Since death by face paint — or mask — is a little TOO scary for us (not to mention ironic), we’re gonna have to pull a hipster move and go alternative this October 31st:

• The first and most obvious option is to find non-toxic Halloween makeup brands.
• If you wanna go REALLY hipster, though, you can DIY your own makeup.
• As for masks and other such costumes, you’re gonna want to keep reading…

Rented, Thrifted, or Repurposed Costumes

Okay, so now you know to avoid toxic costumes. But then there’s the tricky situation of buying one in the first damn place.

Maybe you’ve heard about the connection between consumerism and the environment. If you haven’t, basically the idea is that the less we buy the fewer resources we need to make shit and the less waste we have to address.

It’s the first R in the 4 R’s. REDUCE. Don’t forget it, we’ll have a pop quiz later. (jk those were the worst in school)

A big part of major American holidays is about shopping though, Halloween included. You can still celebrate Halloween with a minimal shopping footprint though.

• Rent a costume

- You can check local listings (e.g. check if your town has something like Chicago Costume) or just shop online like a normal person who lives in 2018.

• Put something together with stuff you find at a local thrift store

- The items are being passed to another owner, rather than you buying something completely new, so it’s a similar concept to renting. Just that you get to keep the stuff afterward. And hey, DIYing a costume from a thrift store is waaaaay cheaper anyway.

• Swap costumes

- Still got one hanging around from last year? Got a friend in the same situation? Switch em out for 2018! It’s the easiest and cheapest way to go about it.

Conclusion

We’ve already covered on the Wild Thoughts Blog that weird, unpredictable things can have shitty environmental impacts. Our favorite holidays are no exception, but that doesn’t mean we have to renounce them to live more sustainable lifestyles.

Make some tweaks here and there to what you do during your holiday, and you can celebrate them but #protectyourwild at the same time.

TLDR

• Protect your genetic cousins (also known as Orangutans) by going for palm oil free candy this year

- Chocxo, Cocomels, Sjaak’s, Surf Sweets Gummy Bears, YumEarth, and Stretch Island are all safe brand

- BUT The Natural Candy Store is a one-stop shop for your eco-friendly candy shopping

• Toxic masks and face paint are just TOO spooky, y’know?

- Treat yoself to some non-toxic Halloween makeup, or DIY your own if you’re the ambitious type

• Consumerism itself is a huge sustainability issue, but there are greener AND cheaper ways to get a costume
• Rent one, swap last year’s with your bestie, or buy stuff from a local secondhand store

Originally published at alda.life.