Here are some ideas to help you get started:

 

 

Your baby will look so cute in that chicken costume from Old Navy but then again, so will everybody else’s baby. Use your imagination and construct a truly unique costume for your child. Make use of household items, old fabric, and your local Thrift shop. Turn an old baptism gown into a fairy princess or a corpse bride. Sew animal ears onto a simple winter toque. The possibilities are endless. If you’re pressed for time, you can buy second hand costumes from consignment shops, or sites like eBay, Craigslist, or Kijiji. Keep in mind; second-hand costumes have likely only been worn once. It’s worth it to recycle!

 

Poor Jack. He always gets left out on the porch to either rot away or be used as a football by the older kids. It’s time to raise his self-esteem and make him feel more appreciated! Instead of buying large carving pumpkins, try using smaller sugar pumpkins or squash for your carving creations. Scrape out the flesh with a melon scoop and use in a delicious recipe. You can make a spicy pumpkin curry, pumpkin soup, pumpkin muffins or a classic pumpkin pie. Eat your pumpkin inspired meal on Halloween night and make it a family tradition! For a nutritious snack, roast pumpkin and squash seeds. Just toss with oil, salt, and spice of your choice (we recommend an All-Purpose Curry Powder).

 

 

After Christmas, Halloween is the biggest holiday for consumer spending on accessories and décor. Mass-produced Halloween products have been found to contain lead and phthalates, as well as synthetic plastics and PVC. Natural materials will serve you well in your decorating, and will look more charming and authentic than cheap store bought items.   For Halloween displays, make use of corn stalks, dried leaves, acorns, and other fall wildflowers. To achieve the look of tattered curtains, fray the edges of cheesecloth and spray with black tea. Carve out gourds and place candles inside. Use hemp fabric or burlap as tablecloths and runners. Again, a little imagination can take you far. Do it yourself!

 

No, this does not involve doing the moonwalk up your neighbour’s driveway. Reverse Trick or Treating is a new social phenomenon sweeping the country. As your little one scurries or totters from house to house, she will reverse the tradition and hand adults a sample of fair trade chocolate with information about poverty and child slavery in the cocoa industry. Fair Trade chocolate guarantees a sustainable livelihood for cocoa farmers, as well as better conditions for labourers. Through Global Exchange, you can order your free Fair Trade chocolate kit. Each kit contains 20 pieces of Fair Trade Certified chocolate, 20 information cards, and one Fair Trade cocoa information sheet. Food for thought! 

 

When I was a kid, I would always roll my eyes when an adult had the audacity to give out raisins or toothbrushes. Come on! Show me the sugar! I didn’t care about rotten teeth or refined sugars. But now that I’ve weaned myself off Fun Dip and Pop Rocks, I see that those adults only had our best interests at heart. Junk food is exactly that: junk, and we should promote healthy eating habits for our children as much as possible. Call me a Halloween Scrooge, but this holiday try to resist the urge to give out foods with enough sugar to require a stint in detox. Here are some clever alternatives that won’t be met with a roll of the eyes:

 

Granola bars

Halloween pencils or erasers

Coins for the piggy bank

Yogurt-covered raisins

Pretzels

Goldfish crackers

Fruit leather

 

The individual packaging of treats is wasteful, but this ensures that food has not been tampered with. If you are having a Halloween party with close neighbours and friends, feel free to serve warm apple cider, and bake homemade Halloween treats for sharing. Homemade baking allows you to control the amount of sugar, or replace with healthier alternatives such as agave nectar, molasses, honey, maple syrup, or raw cane sugar.