When organising any kind of themed party there are a few things that are absolute essentials, and that applies to eco-friendly halloween parties as well:
- Halloween Candy
- Food
- Drink
- Decorations
- Fancy Dress
- Entertainment
You’ll probably have to include face paints as well for a Halloween party, especially if children are involved. So here’s how to hold an eco-friendly Halloween party for family and friends.
Eco-Friendly Halloween Party Ideas
Halloween Candy
My apologies for using the American term for sweets, but Halloween sweets just doesn’t sound right! Whether you’re buying sweets for all the neighbourhood children that might knock on your door, or just buying them for your own children, eco-friendly Halloween candy should be as plastic free as possible. Unfortunately this is pretty difficult because most sweets come in plastic wrappers. However there are alternatives available.
One of my favourite companies to use when I want to treat myself is ‘Oh My Gosh It’s Vegan‘. Not only are all the sweets they sell animal friendly but they are plastic free as well. You can either buy a glass jar filled with sweets (perfect for Halloween), or buy massive paper bags full of them (500g or 1kg). The packaging is recyclable or biodegradable, or reusable in the case of the glass jars.
I can confirm that their fizzy sweets are absolutely delicious (and non-vegans won’t know the difference). They even sell vegan smarties now!
If you’re concerned about numerous hands touching all the sweets you could make small party bags. Either purchase some small paper bags, or use some old cloth you have to make custom bags. You can use a square of cloth, put some sweets inside and then fold up the corners and tie around the top with some jute string or old ribbon or something else you have in the house. (I assume everyone has loads of old bits of cloth, ribbons, buttons etc like I do?)
Halloween Treats, Food not Sweets
To be properly eco-friendly you’re probably going to have to provide home-made food, vegan preferably. To keep it simple you could go for finger food so people can just carry on nibbling throughout the evening, but I have included a few things that would work just as well for a sit down meal. Click on the links below the pictures to be taken to the recipe.
Halloween Drinks
Any drink can be made to look a little more spooky with a few additions. Green drinks are good, as are red ones (so if you like red wine you’ll have no problem)! Or consider some multi-coloured ones. The best way to make something look a bit more spooky though is what you serve the drinks in and with. Don’t forget that straws are an absolute no-no (unless you’re using reusable straws) so think about ways to decorate the drink.
*Just replace the single cream with alpro soy single cream or another vegan brand for the Grasshopper Cocktail.
There are quite a few drinks called Vampire’s Kiss around too, with numerous different recipes. The ones I like the look of, and which look suitably spooky for Halloween, consist of a green spirit like Midori (mixed with others) and then grenadine drizzled around the rim of the glass. The video below shows one of the many recipes for a Vampire’s Kiss cocktail that I’ve found. Either omit the cream or use a vegan squirty cream (which my local supermarkets don’t sell sadly!). He’s a bit shouty so lower the volume if you’re at work!
Eco-Friendly Halloween Decorations
To have a really eco-friendly halloween party you should limit how much you buy just for the purpose of decorating for a one-off party. If you do buy some decorations make sure they can be re-used for other parties or for future Halloween parties. A good thing to do though is see what you have around the house and get a bit creative.
The best thing about Halloween parties is that low lighting makes everything a little more spooky so you might not need that many decorations – just add a red bulb and some pumpkin lanterns for the simplest way to decorate!
Cobweb decoration
Do you have an old net curtain that you’re not sure what to do with? If not you can probably pick one up from a charity shop. Cut the lace curtain to make it look like a big cobweb and hang it in a corner of the room. Some net curtains will be better than others for this, but if you have low lighting any old net curtain will give the right effect. Use the image to the right as a guide to how to cut the main shape – you only really need to cut the outer part of the net curtain. Adding a few homemade spiders will finish it off nicely.
Alternatively you can use an old white sheet (the thinner the material the better) and either cut it or use an eco-friendly fabric pen to draw a web pattern on the sheet.
Spiders
SpidersNo Halloween party is complete without spiders. There are several different ways to make homemade spiders, my personal favourite are bottle top spiders.
Use your imagination and get the kids involved. Black pipe cleaners are the most useful craft material for making spiders but you can just use stiff black card.
Skeletons
What Halloween party is complete without a skeleton or two? The simplest way to create a skeleton is again to use a fabric pen on an old white sheet.
Pumpkins
Carve some pumpkins and use tealight candles to create a spooky atmosphere as well as having something traditionally Halloween in the house. In an ideal world you’d buy a pumpkin, carve out it’s insides to be used to make a pumpkin pie or something else and then use the shell for your Lantern. It’s not always that easy though as the varieties which taste good won’t necessarily be that great for carving. I reckon it’s worth a try though!
Balloons
Don’t you know me at all? Never buy balloons for any purpose, there are plenty of eco-friendly alternatives to balloons!
Halloween Fancy Dress
Buying an outfit that will only be worn once is not a good idea when you’re trying to lead a more eco-friendly lifestyle, so try to avoid that wherever possible. You’ll get far more comments and kudos if you make your own costume anyway. You can literally be anything at Halloween these days so put your thinking cap on and consider what materials you have at home that could be ‘upcycled’ into a fitting outfit.
Eco-Friendly Face Paints
Children in particular seem to enjoy painting their faces, but let’s be honest if you’ve decided you need some realistic injuries or just want to paint your face to really make your outfit memorable you can buy, or make, eco-friendly face paints as an adult as well.
To make your own face paint, keep it simple and use a natural moisturiser mixed with a natural food colouring.
There are several people who now produce ‘natural’ face paints, the only thing you need to consider is the packaging they use and how big the carbon footprint will be if it needs to be sent to you internationally.
Halloween Party Entertainment
Let’s be honest, most Halloween parties are adults having a few drinks, so make an appropriate music playlist with all the spooky songs you can think of. Classics like Monster Mash have to be included of course! Have a look through this playlist for some great tunes!
How to Have an Eco-Friendly Halloween
Whatever eco-friendly celebration or party you’re planning, you just have to consider the 6 basic rules of eco-friendliness…
Refuse – Reduce – Reuse – Repurpose – Recycle – Rot
- Refuse – don’t buy something if you don’t need it.
- Reduce – don’t buy as much as you normally would or reduce the amount of packaging your items come in.
- Reuse – whenever you can reuse something you already own or make sure that what you buy can be reused in the future.
- Repurpose – almost anything can be repurposed with a little bit of imagination.
- Recycle – once something has come to the end of its life make sure it’s recyclable.
- Rot – hopefully what isn’t recyclable can be composted instead!
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