Comments on: Hallo-green?

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:54:33 +0000

Superballs are awesome, though not eco friendly, I imagine. They are those tiny, super bouncy rubber-like balls you can buy for 75 cents in the supermarket toy/candy vending machines.

Good ideas all around as homemade treats are a no-go for most treat-or-treaters, as you mentioned. I get so frustrated every time I see some blogger recommend it. It’s like, hello, I don’t live on a commune where everyone knows each other, I live in a city!!!

By: nomoregarbage

nomoregarbage — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:07:47 +0000

That sounds great. What’s a superball though?

By: Lynn

Lynn — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:22:00 +0000

This year we gave out fun Halloween pencils (with big pumpkin/witch/bat/ghost erasers) and superballs. We gave the kids a choice and it was pretty much 50/50. No complaints at all.

By: nomoregarbage

nomoregarbage — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:34:25 +0000

Thanks for the comments everyone. Ryan, I hope you are joking, but I am thinking about it. Not about actually doing it, but it troubles me.
Our pop didn’t go over well. Lots of kids don’t drink it (yaaaaay). I was glad that I had bought some candy at the last minute. I did give the choice of stickers too, but they are really not less packaging-better for your health though-unless you eat them. Another weird thing-lots of trick-or treaters skipped our house. It seems all the other people in the neighbourhood sit on the porch with the candy. We had 2 lit pumpkins and decorations (paintings by Aurora that I cut into spooky shapes) and the outside light on. I know the previous tenants here had two nasty dogs and were evicted, so maybe they gave this place bad rep.
As for costumes. We borrowed a sheep costume for Aurora. I put my hair in pigtails, painted my face and stuck a sock in the back of my pants as a tail. I was her sheep dog. She kept looking at me and saying “doggy”. Kyle was also supposed to be a doggy and for his ears he was to wear Aurora’s tights on his head, but things got to hectic and he didn’t have time to dress up. It wasn’t the best year for costumes but the only garbage was the container for the face paint. We will use the face paint again.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:26:49 +0000

People by my house used to give out bible stories. Recyclable, and too guilt-inducing to lead to eggings. Think about it.

By: Jen CleanBin

Jen CleanBin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:08:07 +0000

Well, well, Halloween is also my birthday – dress up birthday party anyone?

Since beginning to try to live waste free this year, Halloween has been looming like a black cloud. We usually spend a month on our costumes which generally involve masses of paint, duct tape, fabric, and cardboard that later get trashed. It was a challenge this year.

Halloween candy was the other problem. I like your idea of pop. Cheap adn obviously recyclable. I also thought of boxes of smarties (you can get them in bulk so no plastic) and attaching a little “recycle me” note. I also thought of mini organic chocolate bars which are $2 each. I thought we could afford it since we usually only get about 20 kids. In the end it looks like we won’t actually be home between 5 and 8, so we’ll miss the problem altogether.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:38:49 +0000

I hear your dilemma. Pop cans are an interesting option, our kids received some last year. They actually said “no thanks, we don’t drink that” which made me proud. They also really weigh down a bag. But, its still a good idea.

How about juice boxes? A bit better for you and most municipalities recycle tetra packs.

We have also received apples in the past, with a standard return sender address sticker (the ones you put on envelopes you send) so you know who it came from. Not a hit with the kids but another interesting idea.

Or stickers. Kids love stickers and they will get used (although ultimately disposed of at some time) but perhaps better than other forms of packaging.

On a side note, and only vaguely related, there are groups supporting Reverse-trick-or-treating as well, where they encourage halloween goes to give fair trade chocolate door to door with a small flyer talking about the realities of chocolate industry. These groups offer free sample packs available by mail and are encouraging people to track how many they give out hoping to reach 250,000 this year. Doesn’t solve any packaging dilemma but thought it was worth sharing as well.

We also make our costumes each year, then they go in the dress up drawer after for years of fun.

Great post as always, happy halloween!

By: kimberly

kimberly — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:59:28 +0000

i was actually going to suggest giving out some sort of drink/pop. the houses that gave out cans of pop were my favourite as a kid! plus, it’s a welcomed change from all the candy. eventually you start to get kinda sick of all the chocolate…