Three Fun Ideas for Halloween with the Kids

Halloween is arriving shortly, and all of us eco-friendly parents want to be prepared as best as possible. Here at Kangovou we already have the year round packed lunches sorted, but what about eco-friendly tips for having fun with the kids at Halloween? Well, luckily for you, we’ve done the work for you. Here are three fun ideas for Halloween with the kids compiled from the best eco blogs and best blogs for raising healthy kids. Prepare to be inspired!

Halloween Wreath

This idea is brought to you by Back to Calley, a green living blog by a Tampa mom that we absolutely love. Calley’s green living tips help parents do things more naturally in many areas including cooking, cleaning, and crafting. Her Halloween wreath, inspired by Pinterest, is a cheap and cheerful idea that you can do along with the kids when you’re getting the house ready for the annual Halloween party.

We all have old t shirts, bedding, and curtains hiding away at the back of the closet. It’s time to put them to use. All you need are scraps in an many colors and designs as you have, a wire wreath form, and scissors. Try to opt for orange, black, green, and purple if you can to make sure your wreath is in keeping with the color scheme of a Halloween theme.

It’s so easy. All you do is cut the fabric into strips that correspond with the size of your wire form and tie them onto it. The more eclectic, the better. You and your kids will love sitting down and crafting this recycled wreath together at the dining room table!

Recycled Mummy Jar

The recycled mummy jar is a really neat idea and will look great as a spooky addition to your house decor. We found this crafting gem on Crafting a Green World. This site is great because not only do the editors make sure to include a wide range of handmade items, they also assess the eco-friendly aspect of the materials they use. Crafting at home with the kids is great, but sometimes it’s difficult to tell if the items you craft are any kinder to the planet than something you buy at the store.

For the mummy jar, you need a clean, dry jar, some black paper, tape, scissors, googly eyes, and gauze (bandage). Most of the items are already in a drawer at home, and the black paper and googly eyes can easily be purchased at a bargain store or craft shop.

After removing any labels from the jar, you simply tape some black paper around it. Next, you wrap gauze around most of the jar. Be sure to leave a gap for the mummy’s eyes closer to the top, though! Tape or secure the gauze, stick on the googly eyes, and presto! You now have a scary mummy ready for Halloween. This idea is so creative and makes decorating the house even more fun. If you’re having trick or treaters around or a party, it’s the perfect container to stock candy in.

Who of us doesn’t have spare jars lying around or being thrown out every week? Now you can recycle them and have fun craft time with the kids!

Non-Toxic Face Paint

Kids and parent alike really like to get into the spirit of the season by having their face painted. A painted face really adds finesse to a Halloween costume. Dressing up as a cat? Face-painted whiskers are a must. Vampires, witches, and cartoon or comic book characters all require some face paint to turn a mediocre costume into a fabulous one.

However, sometimes eco-friendly parents are wary of using face paint because they’re not sure about the chemicals in them. Standard face paints can be made using truly horrifying ingredients including lead and other toxic metals. This is not something we want to put on the faces of our kids.

Thankfully, Big Green Purse has useful advice about non-toxic face paint. The site is run by Diane MacEachern, an award-winning entrepreneur and best-selling author. Is there anything this woman can’t do? She is passionate about showing people how to simultaneously shop green and save money. Choosing eco-friendly products is often wrongly assumed to be the more expensive option. In reality, Diane shows us how we can save thousands a year just by making more environmentally friendly choices when we go to the store!

Non-toxic face paint comes in many forms. First and foremost, metallic glitter of any kind should be avoided as this almost certainly contains some of the scary ingredients. Next, it’s entirely up to you whether you want to choose the convenient option and buy some organic face paints or make your own. If you are too busy to do it yourself, simply check out the ingredients lists in the face paints you buy. Organic ones will contain natural colors that occur in nature and botanical extracts. Another tip related to this is to make sure you buy paint that is actually suitable for the face.

When trying to save money, it’s tempting to opt for cheap acrylics or watercolors, but these are not suitable for a human canvas and will likely cause a skin irritation!

If you’re keen to try out making it yourself, it’s really easy. You can either create the quick and easy version that simply means adding some natural food coloring to your normal face moisturizer, or you can get really innovative in the kitchen. Organic makeup and beauty product recipes are easy to find all over the internet, and most use a generic formula.

For example, most organic colored eyeshadows and lipsticks are made from a mix of shea butter, olive oil, beeswax, and mica powder. The mica powder is the ingredient that adds the color you desire, and the other ingredients are easy to buy at the supermarket. They’re so handy to have in the bathroom cabinet, because they can be used to make anything from lip balm to hair conditioner to moisturizer.

So, getting organized early and ordering anything not available locally should be done now (mica powder might be best purchased online, example) so that you and your kids will be ready for a Halloween to remember!