Tag: safe halloween

The Not-So-Frightful Halloween

Is Halloween still on this year? Well, that depends on where you live. It’s still on the calendar and it’s still nationally recognized, and in my household, I will still be decorating and getting treats ready for us. We don’t usually get trick or treaters because we’re usually out and about, but this year we are playing it safe and not passing out candy or going trick or treating. Besides, my son has most likely outgrown trick or treating.

If you’re planning on staying home this Halloween, here are some awesome ideas and tips to keep it safe and fun!

Safe and Fun Halloween:

  • Look for drive-thru Halloween. In Southern California, there are many drive-thru Halloween events where you pay for the price of your car and drive through tunnels, mazes, and lots of spooky and fun props.

  • Safe, social distancing candy. If you’re still inclined to pass out candy, the internet has tons of ideas on how to safely give out candy. Some are putting candies on a string to slide down to the little trick or treaters. Some are leaving bags of candy on the porch. And some are even shooting out candy from a t-shirt cannon gun. Not sure how accurate or safe that will be, but it’s something to check out if that’s your preference.

  • Have a party with your immediate family. You, your kids, and your spouse will most likely have a great time just celebrating at home. While you’re at home, check out these wholesome and healthier snack brands: Beviva Foods (https://www.bevivafoods.com/), The Good Crisp Company (https://www.thegoodcrispcompany.com/), Kay’s Naturals (https://shop.kaysnaturals.com/), Home Free Treats (https://homefreetreats.com/), Love Corn (https://lovecorn.com/).

  • Halloween-themed movie night. Who doesn’t love a great movie night? In October, TV channels such as Freeform, CW, and ABC are showing great movies geared towards kids. If you want more of a scarier movie night, check out your paid premium channels such as HBO and Cinemax, and subscription services such as Netflix, Redbox, and Amazon Prime. Even Disney+ has some fun and nostalgic Halloween movies.

  • Bake-off. Have a baking night. Who doesn’t like some delicious homemade cookies, cakes, and pies? Get your kids involved and plan ahead early on. For some fun baking ideas, check out marthastewart.com.

  • Virtual Halloween. With virtual meetings and school occupying all of our time, why not also include a virtual Halloween party? Gather your friends, family, and classmates and get onto Zoom. This is a free platform and easy to get everyone all together for Halloween. Have some treats and beverages and dress up in costumes too!

  • Boo-grams. Feel like surprising your neighbors or your friends and family? Make some bags stuffed with Halloween-themed candies and treats. If you’re dropping off for families with children, add some fun DIY toys that are both eco-friendly and memorable.

  • “You’ve Been Booed!” Not sure when this tradition started or by whom, but if you live in a friendly neighborhood, you might try the “you’ve been booed” treats. These are basically treats inside a bag left at the doorstep of a neighbor with a tag that says, “you’ve been booed”. The idea is to leave some extra tags so that the recipient can refill the bag with their own treats to leave for the next neighbor.

  • Drive-by Halloween. You and your kids can stand outside your driveway or front door and have your friends drive by with costumes on. To keep this safe, make sure you do this during the day time and try not to honk your horns so you don’t disturb others. If you let your neighbors know ahead of time, they might even join in on the fun.

  • Safe, social distanced Halloween. If you still plan on hosting a party or attending one, make sure you know who the people are and how many are in the homes. Without safe social distancing or masks, it can be very risky for everyone. So plan ahead and find ways to make it safe for you and your family. Just remember that a Halloween mask is not typically a safe mask to wear. Most of them are a thin plastic material without enough barriers for protection.

Whatever your plans are for Halloween this year, know that there is always Halloween next year. With some careful planning, you can make this Halloween safe and fun for your family.

*photos from Pinterest and Martha Stewart blog.

Disclaimer: The product(s)were sent to the author for review by the manufacturer/PR. All reviews on “Happymomblogger” remain unbiased and unpaid and are the sole decision of the author. The opinions of these product(s) were not influenced in any way, shape, or form. As always, please read the ingredients carefully when trying new products.

Please read the labels and ingredients carefully and follow all manufacturer’s instructions (if any). The products selected for the giveaway were generously donated by the companies/PR to help readers learn more about their products. The winner’s choice in using/consuming these products are entirely up to the winner and will not hold the author and her family liable nor the companies/PR liable. These products are made with non-toxic ingredients but always be safe with what you use and consume.

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Yes! You can have an Eco-friendly Halloween!

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Halloween is THE favorite holiday of the year for me and my family. Is it a holiday though? I don’t care – we celebrate it no matter what! Much like a few other holidays celebrated in the US, Halloween is also a celebrated event in other countries such as England, Germany, Taiwan, and Mexico has something similar in their Dia de los Muertos festival. And the best thing about Halloween is that it doesn’t matter if you’re young or old – you can dress up, eat treats, and decorate to your hearts content!

But let’s pause a few moments and think about the environmental impact that this fun holiday creates. We buy bags of candy and treats, we wear store bought costumes, and we adorn the house with store bought decorations. Do you ever think about all those plastic wrappers that the kids throw away after eating the treats? Or the polyester materials that usually make up the costumes you find in stores? All those things will eventually end up in the landfill and they are usually not recyclable nor do they decompose properly. So how do we be more environmentally conscious this Halloween? Is it possible?

Yes! You can have an eco friendly Halloween this year and every year. Let’s start with these suggestions:

1- Choose Halloween treats with less packaging. Candies in individual boxes might be saved for recycling. You can also buy in bulk and choose the candy that has the less packaging.

2- Reuse plastic bags for trick-or-treating. Or better yet, cut out the plastic bag altogether and go for a reusable cloth bag or make your own from an old T-shirt or pillow case.

3- Avoid store-bought costumes. Costumes on the rack are often made of nonrecyclable petro-chemical based plastic and synthetic fibers. One of these plastics is polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is a carcinogen that releases harmful toxins in its creation and breakdown. Opt for an eco-friendly costume made of natural materials.

4- Create your own Green Halloween decorations. Make creepy ghosts by stuffing old bed sheets with leaves, newspaper or other filling then tie with a string to form a head and hang from your trees. Or, instead of buying synthetic spiderwebs that you’ll throw away after the holiday, make your own with shredded black pantyhose or cotton balls.

5- Know what’s in your Halloween face paint. Campaign for Safe Cosmetics sent 10 kid’s make-up sets to a lab and found all 10 contained lead, as well as nickel cobalt and chromium. These products aren’t listed on product labels. Look for organic non-toxic face paints that comply with Campaign for Safe Cosmetics standards.

6- Buy locally grown pumpkins. Sure, those plastic pumpkins can last for years as long as you remember to use them every year instead of throwing them out and buying new plastic ones. You can also make delicious treats from the large pumpkins buy, such as pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin pie.

7- Swap costumes. Costumes swapping is an easy way to reduce your waste on costumes that your child will likely outgrow next year. Find friends or family members who are willing to exchange costumes with you.

8- If you’re having a Halloween party, consider all the environmental impact. Follow the steps above as guidelines and help your guest be more environmentally friendly too.

9- Keep sweets at a minimum. It’s good for your health and the health of our planet too!

10- Remember to reuse and upcycle anything leftover from Halloween. Upcycling is a fun and creative way to reduce your waste.

So this Halloween, don’t let extra plastics and waste scare you from having a fun and safe Halloween. Use and buy consciously and enjoy!

*photos and content credits given to deliciousliving magazine.

 

Disclaimer: The product(s)were sent to the author for review by the manufacturer/PR. All reviews on “Happymomblogger” remain unbiased and unpaid and are the sole decision of the author. The opinions of these product(s) were not influenced in any way, shape, or form. As always, please read the ingredients carefully when trying new products.

Please read the labels and ingredients carefully and follow all manufacturer’s instructions (if any). The products selected for the giveaway were generously donated by the companies/PR to help readers learn more about their products. The winner’s choice in using/consuming these products are entirely up to the winner and will not hold the author and her family liable nor the companies/PR liable. These products are made with non-toxic ingredients but always be safe with what you use and consume.

http://www.topmommyblogs.com/blogs/in.php?id=storm

 

 

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Happy, Healthy Halloween

MINI HALLOWEEN CARVING - Copy

It’s no doubt that Halloween is one of our most favorite holidays of the year. Is it a holiday or a celebration? Either way, it is the best time of the year to go wild with your imagination or stick to something easy and uncomplicated. Regardless of whether you celebrate this fun holiday, one important rule to remember is to be safe! But here we’re also going to talk about how to “green” your Halloween this year and hopefully keep the tradition in your household every year after.

Halloween has always been a fun tradition for me while growing up. Realistically we all know that it derived from an older tradition that dated back hundreds of years ago but in this day and age, Halloween has become one of the most fun celebrations in the world. Some people plan months ahead on decorations, parties, and of course the costumes. But with so many possible haphazards out there, we have to be extra diligent during this much loved holiday. Safety for our children and other children are the top priority of course, but what about safety for our environment? Let’s talk about how to green our Halloween this year with the following guidelines:

***DIY Costumes or Costume Swap – First think of what you want to be for Halloween. Then find things you have in the house already. If not, then be sure to buy materials that are easily recyclable or reusable.  Making your own costumes can run from very easy to professionally done. Think of old bedsheets that you don’t want to throw out but don’t want to use either. You can make creative costumes with those or even a simple ghost costume would work. Costume Swapping is also becoming quite the trend. Start off locally with your friends and family. Organize a neighborhood swap. There is sure to be a costume a friend has that would fit your child.

***Organic Candy – If you must hand out candy this year for Halloween, try buying organic candy. They are made without any artificial ingredients and most are packaged in recyclable packaging. However, organic candy may still contain an abundant amount of sugar so be sure to watch out for the sugar content.

***Green Costumes – Many costumes that are sold in stores are made with some type of plastic. Not all plastics as you know, are safe. PVC, a type of plastic that contains phthalates  among other compounds have been found to be unsafe for prolonged contacts. So if you must buy store bought costumes made from plastic, check the labels to see what type of materials are used and if possible skip that costume. If you must buy something with potentially toxic plastics, air it out in an open room or outdoors for a few days to dissipate the fumes.

***Pumpkins and Decorations – We all love some kind of decorations for Halloween. Be it a fresh pumpkin or a plastic one, my advice is to buy the fresh ones. While plastic decorations may seem like you’re saving money and resources, it still takes millions of dollars and emission fuels to produce these types of plastic Halloween decorations. However if you still kept yours from last year, by all means reuse them or trade them with a friend or neighbor to freshen up your decorations. I personally feel bad for all the pumpkin farms that sell a whole yard full of pumpkins because really – who’s going to buy up all of those pumpkins anyway?

***Halloween Treats – Who can resist opening up that delightful package of M&M’s filled with colorful chocolate candy? Well, in our household we try to resist them mainly because of the type of ingredients used in those eye-candy. Thousands of pounds of candies are sold each Halloween and many end up in our trashcans or into our tummies which results in some uncharacteristically bad behavior. This year why not just serve one bar of sweets instead of a handful. Or hand out quarters or a roll of pennies. Remember that with anything you don’t use or give out on Halloween, they inevitably end up in the trash and that’s both wasteful and unnecessary.

***Halloween Parties – Whether you’re having a party at home or a party at your kid’s school, there are bound to be a lot of different views on what to serve, what to do, and what are allowed or not allowed. Remember that if you’re having a party at home, keep them safe with non-toxic toys, games, and food. Give out treats as suggested above. Play games that aren’t wasted later one. And make home made food and treats when possible.

***Recycling Halloween – We know that Halloween comes every year. So as we put away our decorations and costumes, let’s also remember to recycle responsibly. Use the pumpkin seeds in your pumpkins by baking them for a delicious and nutritious treat. Compost your pumpkins. Donate your costumes if at all possible or save them for next year’s costume swap. And if you have leftover candy, save the health of your children by either donating them to your workplace or turning them into valuable things at stores that offer a trade-in.

Remember that Halloween  can be both safe and fun for children and adults. As long as you plan ahead and consciously decide on making it a green Halloween this year it will be fairly easy.

Have a Happy Halloween!

 

 

 

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