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Writer's pictureAlex Eaves

13 Ways To Celebrate Halloween That Aren't Scary... For Your Wallet OR The Planet

Updated: 5 days ago

A skeleton sits inside a rotted boat with a shark in front of him.
This rotted out boat in front of a house gets decorated for each holiday. Halloween is my favorite.

I love this time of year in New England. The colors of trees are changing. It's a little cooler. Hot coffee seems to taste better. And I really like Halloween decorations. But what I don't like is the mass amount of new plastic and disposable decorations that I see. For example, those ginormous plastic skeletons look cool, but they also take a ginormous amount of resources to make, ship, etc. And at their end of life (pun intended), they'll be looking not cool in the landfill for years to come, as plastic recycling unfortunately doesn't work. I'm also amazed at how much money people spend on decorating their house for a few weeks at a time, especially with an economy like we have now. So, as I was going through various neighborhoods recently, I felt inspired to write about some ways to celebrate Halloween with reuse solutions. But I also wanted to hear what some of my creative reuse and Halloween-loving friends had to say. That said, here are 13 different ways to have a killer Halloween, save a lot of resources and save a lot of money. I hope you get inspired by one or two. And let me know in the comments if you have any ideas of your own.

KEY FOR BELOW

(👤) Benefits the People - can still fit your interests and tastes, custom, personalized, fun (🌎) Benfits the Planet - save resources, keep items out of the landfill (💰) Benefits the Wallet - save money 1. Pet Semetary (👤 🌎 💰)

from Jeff at Give Up Trash Bag Cycling Club in Pittsburgh, PA


"The Pet Sematary sign is an old saw horse that I let sit outside behind the house all year every year so it stays good and dirty looking. The big black coffin is made from leftover / unused / reclaimed wood. The Cujo headstone is a repainted plastic headstone I've had since I was like 6."

A wooden sign that says Pet Sematary, a black wooden coffin in the grass, and a dog skeleton with a gravestone that says CUJO RIP
Jeff's DIY Pet Semtary decorations

2. Bloody Sheets (👤 🌎 💰) - Grab some old sheets from your house or a thrift store and use paint, ketchup, tomato sauce to make some bloody sheets. Here's a good tutorial that I found.


3. Bottle Decorations (👤 🌎 💰) - from Julia at Four Corners Supply Co. in Marshfield, MA

"A few years ago, we painted a bunch of bottles with leftover black chalk paint and then modge podged silly labels on them. Use for decorations or candles."


Used glass bottles painted with black chalk paint and modge podged with an invisibility potion label.
Julia's son painting used glass bottles and one of the finished pieces at her shop.

4. Buckets of Blood (👤 🌎 💰) - Collect rain water in buckets, add red food coloring and make "buckets of blood." This is something that I've thought about for a while, but never tried. I think this is the year.


5. Color ANYTHING Orange and Black (👤 🌎 💰) - With a specific color scheme for Halloween, it's easy to create all sorts of decorations with cardboard, scrap paper, wood and any coloring utensils or paint. You can also just buy used orange or black sheets, T-Shirts, etc and make things.


6. Costume Creation (👤 🌎 💰) - from Chris at The Capable Carpeneter in Taylorsville, NC

"A rocket and spaceman! The space man is an old snow suit that is spray painted, a broken bucket for a helmet, and a cardboard backpack with 2 liter jets! The rocket man is a leftover round concrete form from my house build. The rest is just cardboard."


Kids dressed up in Halloween costumes as a spaceman and a rocket,.
Chris' sons as a Spaceman and a Rocket

7. Costume Swap (👤 🌎 💰) - from Yasemin at Reboot Eco in Middletown, CT

Clothing swaps are always a great idea and this time of year is perfect. Someone might have that perfect "1990s Mom" look that you're going for.


An ad for Reboot Eco's Halloween Swap Party in Middletown, Connecticut
An ad for Reboot Eco's Halloween Swap Party

Here's an example of a temporary clothing swap that I did with my brother. A few years ago, we decided to mess with our family and dress up as each other for a Halloween party. Fortunately, we're roughly the same size and simply borrowed each other's clothes.


Two men wearing Halloween costumes of a skateboarder and a business man.
My brother as me and me as my brother.

8. Custom T-Shirts (👤 🌎 💰) - I find a lot of Halloween shirts at thrift stores, because people buy them new for 1 day. You could save some money and make your own with pre-owned black or orange shirts. You can also find plenty of used Halloween shirts like I do at thrift stores, or online outlets.


With my clothing brand STAY VOCAL, I offer an entire series of Halloween themed 1 of a Kind Reuse T-Shirts, so you can clearly celebrate Halloween and the planet. Plus, you'll have a shirt that nobody else in the world has.



9. Eyeballs (👤 🌎 💰) - Draw / paint eyeballs on golf balls and put them in random locations around the house. Here's an example of some.


10. Movies (👤 🌎 💰) - Your favorite Halloween themed movies are not only fun to watch, but can make for fun decorations too.


A copy of Halloween on VHS with a Michael Myers action figure.
My minimal Halloween decoration in The REUSE! Box Truck Tiny House

12.Pumpkins (👤 🌎 💰) - from artist Derek Diedricksen in Stoughton, MA


Instead of spending money year after year on pumpkins, he makes completely unique pumpkins out of scrap wood.


Monster and Pumpkin Halloween decorations on pieces of scrap wood.
Deek's Halloween decorations made with pieces of scrap wood.

12. Tombstones (👤 🌎 💰) - Tombstones are an easy shape that can be cut out from wood, cardboard, paper, etc. They're easy to customize too. Here's a collection of tombstones that I made with broken skateboard decks. They're a perfect fit for The REUSE! Box Truck Tiny House.


Broken skateboard decks decorated as tombstones.
The skateboard graveyard on the back of The REUSE! Box Truck

13. Trick or Treat Bag (👤 🌎 💰) - And lastly, one of the most classic reuse ideas at Halloween. Instead of buying a new Trick or Treat bag or container, just grab an old pillow case or any bag from around the house. We all know that it's what's IN the bag that's most important. If you want it more "on theme," you can decorate the bag or find something like an orange pillow case at a thrift store.


A child with a Halloween monster mask on in the 1980s.
My friend Gage in 1989 ready to fill up his duffle bag.

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2 Comments


Guest
Oct 05

My mom used to make my costumes from old clothing every year and we had a “Halloween trunk” of items we’d reuse and get creative with to make new costumes each year. Thrifting is the perfect thing for Halloween and you can do so much with a needle and thread, black markers, some duct tape and chocolate syrup/corn syrup/red palm oil for blood. Making organic decorations from pumpkins you’ll later use for food is good, as well as local finds like bittersweet or gnarly looking branches and twigs. Using ornate thrifted candle holders with candles and glass “potion” bottles is also fun. Don’t forget animals like rats, ravens/crows, owls, cats, wolves and spiders can also give a spooky but not…

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Guest
Oct 02

Awesome ideas! I have one ghost decoration and one light up green skull that I will put out from 10/1 to 10/31. I have used both for years. I will get a pumpkin or two but they are really for our squirrels! 😂

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