Making Halloween more environment friendly – Trick or Treat Bags

Every year you can see lots of plastic bags and bucket for sale for Trick or Treating. When my children where younger the bucket had a triple use. The buckets would carry candy until I dumped the candy in to bigger bad, usually in the stroller. Then we would use them to hold little toys. Finally the bucket would be used to play outside either with water fights or down at the beach. Summer would usually sound the end to the buckets.

The problem I got with the bags and the bucket is that I would get stuck carrying most of the candy. When their bag or bucket got heavy we would poor them into an old pillow case. When the children got old enough to carry all of their candy themselves we just gave them the pillow case. I have still had to carry extra pillow cases just in case the bags still got too heavy or a hole happened. Those same pillow cases are used every year. A hole just meant another stitch in the pillow cases giving the pillow cases a little more of a Halloween look. My kids never did decorate their pillow cases, but you could if you wanted to.

If you don’t have old pillow cases you can make one out of Halloween fabric or out of old clothes sewn together. Making a pillow is fairly easy and a project that the children can help to make as well.

Another option is McDonald's kid's meal buckets. I love the McDonald's Halloween buckets because they have multiple uses. The buckets carry the kids meal to them, then is great for trick or treat night (although you will most likely need a 2nd bag to dump candy into), and the bucket is great for playing around the house, in the sandbox, collecting things outside, or playing on the beach. This is a wonderful option for younger children who can't the larger pillow cases or bags.

Making Halloween more environment friendly – Walking

Every year on Halloween you can see a lineup of cars following the children. In some cases this can’t be helped but cars can be dangerous to the trick or treat children. Children can be so small and we trick or treat when it is dark out in many areas. Walking is the best bet for everyone. It is healthier for the environment, gets exercise in for the whole family, and saves gas.

Reduce the number of cars driving around if you can. Walking with the children will add extra safety into their trick or treating. This will add more safety to your children and to yourself. I loved where my parents live when we lived near them. They live in subdivision which is one of the prime locations in that area for trick or treating. Most parents would park at the beginning of the subdivision. The subdivision went in three circles but had only the one in and out. This created the perfect trick or treat spot. Although some people did drive, many would walk with the children.

Walking on trick or treat night is a wonderful way to get exercise in as most of us are going to enjoy some candy in the end. A good walk can help us to burn off those extra calories we are going to eat. For the best reason to walk on trick or treat night is the money you can save by not using so much gas, which is also good for the environment.