Treat yourself to a green Halloween

Make your own sweets

Making your own sweets is a great way to save money and packaging. Homemade sweets taste delicious and are surprisingly easy to make, so grab the family and spend an afternoon turning your home into a sweet shop. You can find loads of good recipes online, from peppermint creams to boiled sweets, fudge to coconut ice. Here are a few of our favourites:

How to make lollies, raspberry humbugs and dipping cherries >
How to make chocolate truffles and marzipan fruits >

Pick up a pumpkin and use it all

Hollowing out pumpkins to make lanterns is fun for the whole family. Separate the flesh and seeds as you go, and use the flesh to make a warming winter soup or pumpkin pie. The pumpkin seeds can either be roasted or eaten raw as a light snack. After Halloween, put your hollowed out pumpkin lanterns on the compost heap so they can be later used to fertilize your garden.

Recipe for pumpkin pie >
Recipe for pumpkin soup >

Be creative with costumes and decorations

Use old pieces of cloth from around the house and charity shops to create costumes for the kids. The good thing about Halloween is that the more ragged the cloth, the better. Try stitching strips of white or grey rags onto a black t-shirt for a spooky ghost costume. Or dye the cloth black for a witch. Decorations and props can also be made at home. Have a go at paper mache monsters, use red dye to make fake blood, or freeze water-filled latex gloves to make mummy hand ice cubes. Don’t forget to decorate an old pillow case for your child to carry their treats in.

The light way to enjoy Halloween

Create a gloomy glow and waste less money and energy by switching to candlelight or solar powered lighting. If this isn’t possible, dim your lights for a spookier atmosphere. When you’re out trick or treating, use a wind-up torch or one with rechargeable batteries to light your way.

Share your car but keep your rubbish

If you have to use a car to trick or treat, contact your neighbours, friends and family to arrange a car share. It will be fun for the kids to go with a group of friends, and will save petrol money and reduce your carbon emissions. Take a black bin liner and keep it in the car boot for any litter collected along the way. Recycle as much as you can of this when you get home.

Keep doors closed

Reduce heat loss from your home by keeping the front door closed between visits. To maximise your home’s heat retention, step outside and close the door each time a trick or treater comes knocking. Just remember to keep your keys on you.

Useful links

Sweets recipes
Lollies, raspberry humbugs and dipping cherries >
Chocolate truffles and marzipan fruits >

Pumpkin recipes
Recipe for pumpkin pie >
Recipe for pumpkin soup >