Happy Green Halloween in NYC

Halloween has never been a favorite holiday of mine.  It falls smack in the middle of a very busy September/October and much preferred the November/December holidays. For the Freen however, Halloween is second only to Christmas. This year the Halloween books came out Labor Day weekend.  Seriously...

I'm not sure why Halloween was never my cup of candy corn.  I remember well wonderful parties at my old friend Ulla Johnson's where her mother would take a group of girls up and down East 86th Street trick or treating in every building that would let us in and even some that didn't.  Yet somewhere between the 6th grade and my twenties, I lost interest.  Of course as with all holidays, once I became a parent, Halloween became much more fun, especially when we moved to the country and I was able to experience trick or treating in a whole new way.

Regardless of where Halloween ranks in your Holiday favs list, it can no doubt be less wasteful and gluttonous.  I'm not going to suggest you hand out lightly used books or even recycled party toys because I think that is just mean....but I do have a couple ideas for how to minimize your Halloween foot/fat prints.

Green Halloween Costume Ideas

I tried the DIY costume thing for a couple years, even with clothes that the Freen could wear again but; it wasn't less expensive, the costumes weren't any cooler, and it took a lot more time to piece them together.  So after two years of that, I started buying Rubies Character Costumes which brought the Freen significantly more joy than the Cowboy and Diego costumes I struggled to piece together.  They are well made enough that he wears them for dress-up during the year and he has slept in his Spider Man costume more than once.

Of course if you are talented with a sewing machine go for it, but remember that just owning a sewing machine doesn't make you talented.  I remember my mother trying to be creative each year, but that creativity generally meant that I spent Halloween explaining who I was.  Remembering this and going through two failed attempts of my own at DIY, I eventually went back to buying. Besides, store bought costumes are much better than the colored garbage bags we had when we were young.  It is pretty hard for a home grown costume to compete now unless you have a real talent for it.

That said, they don't have to be brand new.  Start an exchange with your friends.  The Rubies deluxe costumes are well made enough and generally sized so they fit for a couple years. If your friends aren't game Craigslist and Ebay are both great resources for used costumes and I've also heard good things about the Green Halloween's online costume swap.



Trick-or-Treating

Finding an alternative to already overpriced candy isn't easy.  We live in a building with over 250 apartments, organic candy for 20 packs of greedy children would set us back quite a bit.  Last year a five pound bag of Yummy Earth lollipops set us back $30 and didn't make it through the night.  In general my thought process goes like this, don't bother with pretzels or raisins...that just isn't what Halloween is about, so if that is how you are going to be, just don't play.  If you really want to avoid giving candy, try a selection of mini plastic cookie cutters, pencils, temporary tattoos, or sticky hands and let the kids pick a treat. Note, while you can feel good about not contributing further to childhood obesity, you are still contributing to the growth of your local landfill.  Ultimately you have to pick your battles.

For your trick or treating skip the light sticks (they can't be good for the environment).  For the bag skip the plastic trick or treat buckets. They are never big enough. I purchased a nice $5 tote at the grocery store three years ago and it is ready to go this year.  If you are up for a project, purchase and decorate a reusable bag from ReUsableBags or Amazon.

If your children are old enough to consider sacrificing their Halloween treats for a charitable cause the 60 year old trick or treat for Unicef program is still up and running.

Pumpkin Carving

Easy - Save the seeds, roast them. Yum! For organic pumpkins go to Amawalk Farm in Katonah and since you're in the neighborhood be sure to stop at Muscoot Farm for a hayride.

Last year we saved the smaller sweeter pumpkins and baked them for homemade pumpkin pie.  It was fun but it was hard work and I'm not sure it was worth it.  The results were the very comparable to Farmer's Market Foods canned organic pumpkin which shaves about three hours off the prep time.

Eco-Halloween Parties

Pumpkins go a long way as do acorns, pine cones and leaves.  For paper decorations use your kids' school projects.  I save everything, so I still have the black cat the Freen decorated with glitter in nursery school. If you don't, go crazy with black and orange construction paper, glitter and cotton balls.

Instead of store bought cards, use Evite for your Halloween Party.

The Freen's Halloween Reading Recommendations

The Freen loves his Halloween books.  Here are a few of his favorites.

Room on a Broom
Hallow-Wiener
The Ugly Pumpkin
Rattle Bone Rock (no longer in print but by far his favorite so if you see it, be sure to pick it up)

Please share any other tips you have for a Happy Green Halloween!

We "know" HFCS Makes Rats Fat...So Now What Do We Put in the Easter Basket?

I was inspired to write when traffic spiked this week with the release of the Princeton Study on high fructose corn syrup. While the study only confirmed what I've thought to be true for a while, I was intrigued by Marion Nestle’s post on Food Politics. She took issue with many points in the study and then one of the investigators actually took the time to comment on her post and provides his explanation. In the end it left me more confused but still believing that there is a strong case for eliminating HFCS from your diet. In fact, I think Marion Nestle was only refuting the fact that sugar is any less bad for you…so she would ultimately tell us to skip the sugar, organic or cane or corn based and fill the basket with fruits, vegetables, books and maybe a little dark chocolate but being a bit more of a traditionalist I thought I would share some of my favorite ways to leave the peeps on the shelves. For more on this see 100 Ways to Kill a Peep.

Sjaaks has a good selection of chocolate bunnies and eggs although they are selling out fast. The Natural Candy Store has bunnies and jelly beans. Another easy favorite are Annie's Gummy Bunnies and a good staple for lollipops and hard candies is Yummy Earth. ...and if you just can't live without the annual cream egg here is a recipe for one you can make at home from Very Vegan Holiday.

So now you have your candy what should you put it in? We've been using a pastel metal bucket for a few years now and we just put it out at night and then the Easter Bunny fills it. If you don't have one on hand you can go eco and purchase Recycled Newspaper Baskets from Drugstore.com or if you have time and old magazines on your hands How About Orange has instructions for making your own baskets from recycled magazines. As for grass, colored construction paper cut into strips makes for great grass and you won't end up finding random pieces of it all over the place for the rest of the year.

We do always TRY to go light on the candy a heavy on the gifts so here are a few of my perennial favorites.

Stripes the Long Eared Bunny



Knuffle Bunny Plush and of course Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems.

Then this year I've discovered several cute Easter basket stuffers on Etsy. My favorite is Wool Crazy's Pocket Bunny.

Some old standards include Crayola Egg Crayons and The Velveteen Rabbit and finally if you are into the Easter Egg Tree here is another Etsy find by Drops Design.

For more on how to eliminate high fructose corn syrup read this post.

Tips for a more Sustainable Holiday Season

As our apartment slowly fills with Amazon boxes, I wonder if Sustainable Mom actually stayed in the country with Sophie and the snow blower. After a year back in New York, I am finding it difficult to live lighter in this mecca of conspicuous consumption...especially around the holidays.

In an effort to get myself back on track, I've compiled some ideas to help you and me have a simpler, lighter and more sustainable holiday season...or perhaps more accurately compiled a few ideas for how to avoid totally over doing Christmas on every level...

Sustainable Decorating

Although I bought a few decorations for the tree at the Hong Kong airport, decorations are better made and not bought. Since the Freen has been old enough to make art, I've been trying to save anything with a holiday theme and use it each year and now at five we've started to accumulate quite a bit. Even if your child goes to a school that refuses to give them a Christmas tree to color, you can use non holiday themed projects from the past year to make a collage on red or green paper.

If you are not lucky enough to have your own Kandinsky or if you prefer more traditional fare...Global Goods Partners has a great selection of silk ornaments including a Christmas tree and a Dove. Etsy also has great selection my favorites include the Bicycle Tube Snowflakes and this tin Christmas Tree.

According to Treehugger LED Christmas lights use 80% less energy than regular lights and last ten years or more. I have also read that like regular lights you can get bad batches which at the premium price can be frustrating. I didn't buy them this year only because I had some regular lights from last year left over and I wasn't sure about mixing. Regardless, for a single tree it may not be worth the investment, however if you are lighting the outside of your 7 bedroom colonial from top to bottom or a tree lined city block they may be worth the investment.

There is a lively debate online between real and fake trees but most agree that if you can have a potted tree this is your most eco-friendly option. We got ours at Stew Leonard's who tries to make you feel better about the freshly cut tree by printing on the tag that for every tree they sell, another one is planted. I have to imagine any self-respecting tree farmer does this since it takes seven years for a tree to become full grown, so while it helped allay any twinge of guilt as they tied the tree to the roof, it isn't much more the green washing by our everyone's favorite dairy farmer. That said, I can't with good conscience even engage in a debate about a fake Christmas tree because personally I would just opt out before bringing a fake tree into my home during the holidays, so all I can say is that if it is practical for you buy a live tree and plant it, do that. If not, then focus on recycling your gift wrap. Alternatively consider these other interesting albeit time consuming options. My personal favorite, a Christmas Tree made from plastic bottles.


Photo Credit Flickr by thefourthcraw


and by all means skip the inflatable plastic Santa for goodness sake.

Sustainable Gifting

Around 125,000 tons of plastic packaging are thrown away over the holiday season. Take your own reusable shopping bags when you do your shopping.

Make it yourself. If you have skills and time use them. Nothing is more special than a gift made by a loved one. My mother in law is talented at knitting, quilting and cross stitch and we are lucky enough to have a hand quilted Christmas tree skirt, personalized Christmas stockings and an Angle for the top of the tree so even though she can't always be here for the holidays we have her to thank for how warm and inviting our home looks around the holidays.

Keep it simple with one large gift instead of lots of little gifts. This is a tough one for me as I still equate how good a Christmas is with how long it takes to get all the gifts unwrapped. I've been known to wrap things that I've already used just to have more presents under the tree.

Shop locally from small merchants.

When buying presents, keep an eye out for those with minimal packaging, or items packed in recycled or recyclable materials (e.g. cardboard).

Another good choice is a Global Exchange fair trade store.

Give a membership or donate in the name of a friend to an organization working in a subject area of interest to them

Give a gift certificate for your time - child sit, or pet sit. Offer your talents, such as photography, financial planning, or hairstyling. Make dinner for someone or cook and deliver it to them.

Give an experience such as tuition for an unusual class. For kids, consider giving an environmental excursion, like a whale-watching or camping trip.

One of the best gifts I received in sometime was an Epicurious Tastebook. My mother in law made one for every woman in our family and it was a collection of all of our family recipes.

Collect photos and put together a photo album. Make a calendar for the coming year using your own photographs.

Give the gift that keeps giving a Community Supported Agriculture membership - Visit the Local Harvest site to find a CSA near you and purchase a share for a friend or family member.

Wrapping

Buy recycled wrapping paper, vintage or use Lucky Crow gift bags which offer a sustainable alternative to disposable gift wrap.

Reuse boxes when I packed up Christmas last year, I saved almost every box, ribbons and and reusable tags.

Buy cards made from paper and without lots of added decorations, as these cards cannot be recycled or just go electronic.

Then be sure when celebrating and entertaining buy organic, local and seasonal foods and avoid non-recycled disposable serve ware.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Healthy Sustainable Holiday Season!