How To Host An Eco-Friendly Halloween Party: 11 Ideas + 2 Activities For An Ethical Extravaganza

Does throwing an earth-friendly Halloween party (or any eco-themed-party for that matter) feel a bit daunting? No worries. I’ve been there.

Every year my mum throws a Halloween event for her kids, grandkids and all their friends. It’s amazing! This year she asked my sister and I to help turn the party into an eco-conscious extravaganza.

It took some Pinteresting, Googling and some late-night laughs, but we were able to put together an eco-chic plan. Here are 11 ideas + 2 activities to help you throw a spooky farm (and oh-so-green-friendly) Halloween party too.

IDEAS

Idea 1: Go Paperless in the Prettiest Way

I designed our party invites out via Paperless Post using their new “Flyer” tool. I swear by Paperless Post for three reasons: First, RSVPs are a breeze. You just copy your newly-created flyer link and send it to guests via text, it’ll automatically update each invitee’s calendar-of-choice with all your party details. Second, you can always update the invite at anytime (with new details) without having to resend out a new invitation-link. Third, everything from Paperless Post looks lovely and is paper-free.

Idea 2: Real Greenery Is A Great Way to Go Green

Hazel’s friend from high school is wonderful (and sustainably-inspired) local florist. She put together this gorgeous bouquet and included these pumpkin look-alike Solanum integrifolium accents. I loved how it turned out!

If you need help finding a local grower of ethical/organic bouquets in your area, you can always use SlowFlowers. Another alternative is ordering your greenery via Urban Stems.

Urban Stems is an online flower delivery service that only works with Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms. It’s a far more ethical way to purchase flowers, especially since Urban Stems pays employees above-average wages, provides access to healthcare, and ensures good working conditions. The bouquets are lovingly designed in collaboration with the farmers themselves. I also appreciate how the bouquets are completely on trend.

Idea 3: Invest In Reusable Decor

I read somewhere that the best party decorations are the ones that won’t end up in a landfill. So, I invest in decorations that I can use again-and-again for future parties/events. Here’s a list of what I ordered:

• Paper Rosettes: I love reusing rosettes because they bring such a pop of color all without adding extra waste. Before this party, I already had a bunch of mint-colored rosettes (we used them during this eco-chic unicorn party) so I just added the orange and black rosettes to my resuable collection. PS to keep my rosettes in perfect-reusable-shape, I use velcro instead of tape to keep the edges together. I also created a pretty nifty way to keep your rosettes all organized and easy to find. I’ll upload a blog post on that soon.

• Burlap Banner + Twine: I purchased a fair-trade burlap pendant banner ages ago. I just keep tweaking the banner to fit just about any party theme. For this party, I just cut out a few pendant shapes of cow-print and added it to my collection of reusable burlap-decor. I think I’ll reuse the cow-print in my Easter decorations and during some July festivities too. You can find similar ethically made banners here on Etsy or you can make your own via this neat DIY video.

• Animals-In-Costume Photos: I printed these photos out at home using GreenPix Matte photo paper. It’s made from 100% post-consumer recycled elements and looks lovely. Our party theme was “Quack, Meow, Moo. Farm Animals Dress Up Too.” Blush, if you are wondering where the “meow” fits in, my mum has a hairless sphynx cat and we thought the kids would get a kick out of meeting. Needless to say, mom’s sphynx (who we lovingly call Cleocatra) got extra kisses during the party.

• Clothespins: I just upcycled some clothespins I had on hand by painting them black. I used some left over ecofriendly black Milk Paint I had on hand from a previous DIY project.

Idea 4: Upcyle or Rent to Enhance your Whole Vibe 

Since this party was partly outdoors, I knew we needed some larger, more substantial elements to help keep things feeling farmy and spooky. My mom had previously, purchased a ton of skeleton decor (she’d been using these skeletons in her halloween decorations for the past six years), so we decided to give each skeleton a farm-feel by dressing them up in items from our own wardrobes. After the party was over, we just washed the shirts and pants and put them back in our closets. Easy peasy and reusable decor!

Aren’t these farmer skeletons just oh-so-cute. I just want to smile every time I see them. My sister, mom and I each brought our own collection of cowboy hats to help cover their little hairless skull-heads and make them more farmer-esche.

This skeleton bird was SUCH a great find from my mum. She originally purchased it for last year’s Pirate Skeleton Halloween party (alas, I didn’t post about that party—it wasn’t super ecofriendly) but it was fun reusing the skeleton bird as the farmer’s new feathery friend.

I also put a few skeletons out in my mum’s garden and had them hold various garden tools—like a shovel. PS Did you notice those little bare skeleton toes in the photo? So cute!

Idea 5: Greenify Any Printed Materials Via GreenPix 

When I found these gorgeous farm animals painted in costume creations from Yago Partal, I knew they needed to be part of the decor. So, I downloaded the images and printed them out on some photo paper made from 100% post-consumer products. Basically, it’s made of tons of different recycled woods and papers. Even though I used a green-paper, I needed to compensate Partal, so I purchased the equivalent amount of images from his postcard store. You can do the same here.

Idea 6: Use biodegradable, ethically-sourced Qualatex Balloons

Sometimes it’s hard to quit cold-turkey on balloons. If you are trying to make a transition to fewer balloons (or none at all), then these adorable cow-print ones are a great first step. They are 100% biodegradable and sustainably harvested from rubber trees and ethically manufactured in the USA and Canada.

FYI these balloons are a bit smelly though when they arrived. So, I was glad I had time to air them out.

Idea 7: Serve Some Organic Farm-Themed Snacks

If’ve read some of my other posts, it’s pretty easy to see I’m a big fan of Annie’s Organic—which I lovingly refer to as AO. When I found out that AO had both farm shaped pasta and farm shaped animal cookies I was ecstatic.

Above I included a few close up images of what the pasta looks like both before and after boiling. I grabbed a couple of boxes of pasta to make an easy-peasy side dish that is oh-so-kid approved. Oh, and I also appreciate how transparent Annie’s Organic is about their sustainability efforts. The pasta box was made from 100% post consumer waste and is re-recyclable as well.

Most of Annie’s Organic products are certified organic. They are free from artificial flavors, synthetic colors, and synthetic preservatives. Annie Withey (the founder of Annie’s Organics) believed that a truly successful business was also equally socially conscious, here’s a neato timeline of the causes the company supports. If you’re looking for a fun activity with your little one, you can apply to AO’s Grants for Gardens program.

These USDA Organic farm animal cookies from Annie’s Organics were also a big hit at the party with the kiddos. They were a bit hard to find at my local health food store but then Target (as always) came to the rescue. Hopefully, you can find them (or get them shipped in) to your local Target too. Here’s a link that can help you search. The crackers are delish and I appreciated the art on the panel of the box talking about how to help conserve biodiversity. Nice touch AO!

Idea 8: DIY Organic Spooky Ghosts

So this idea is all over Pinterest, it’s wonderfully simple but still so cute. Just grab a bunch of organic string cheeses, and color faces on them with this eco-friendly sharpie-alternative. Viola!

Idea 9: DIY Pumpkin-Faced Mandarins

This is also a pinterest-classic and fun to prep with any of your kiddos too. Keep your marker out and draw jack-o-lantern faces on bag or two of organic Mandarins. These were one of the first snacks that we ran out of during the party. It was a total hit!

Idea 10: DIY Mummies On Screw-Top Pouches

I grabbed a bunch of seasonally-themed Happy Baby Organic Pouches to keep our younger baby and toddler attendees happy and feeling full. To make these mummies, all you have to do is grab some reusable washi tape, your ecofriendly-marker and a roll of some biodegradable white streamers. Wrap each pack and mark up their face. I ended up making two versions. One with a ghost-face to match the string cheeses (top picture) and some pouches with more detailed orange-faces as well (bottom middle). Which one did you like best?

There are so many reasons to love Happy Baby Organics. Think: organic ingredients, vegan options, gluten free snacks, No GMO's & their also allergy conscious (no soy, gluten, dairy, or added sugar, and processed in a nut free facility). The best part is the BPA-free packaging (Even Gerber & Earth's Best have bpa in their baby food lids.) From “Project Peanut Butter” to supporting “The Small Things” non-profit, the Happy Baby brand is making social goodness waves. They are a Certified B Corp too! Yes, Please!

Idea 11: Opt For Eco-Friendly Tableware. Get your plates from Preserve, Your cups from Repurpose, and your cutlery from Woodable.

• Plates: Guys, I’m recently obsessed with Preserve Compostables. Specifically, their compostable plates, are hands-down the BEST eco-friendly party plates I’ve come across yet—and I’ve tested a lot of plates. The only downside is that so far, these plates only come in four colors. So, I hope (with all my heart) they start carrying a bit more color variety. Anyway, for the party I grabbed a few sets of the 10” and 7” ones.

  I love that the plates are backyard compostable, once the party was over I tossed them into our compost pile and they’ll eventually return back to mother nature and my mum’s garden soil. You can grab your own Preserve plates here. 

Preserve Compostables was started in 1996 by Eric Hudson. He noticed a big missing link in the recycling world: more people were recycling, but very few manufacturers were actually putting those recycled materials to use. Hudson found a unique recycling stream to create his first product—a toothbrush. I love these plates because they are Non-GMO and manufactured in the USA. The raw materials come from sustainably harvested trees and plants, including bamboo and cassava.

• Cups: This was my first time trying out repurpose cups. The cups are both BPA-free, and 100% made from annually-renewable plants (not petroleum) and are compostable in an industrial composting facility. The ecoflex packaging the cups are packed in also uniquely made from recycled polymers—although it in itself isn’t recycle-able.

  The company does use a combination of GMO and non-GMO corn to create their plant-based cups, but they participate in a GMO offsetting program called Working Landscapes, which I think is pretty neat. Currently, all of repurpose’s products are manufactured in Asia but they are trying to shift the manufacturing process back to the USA. Overall, I really like these cups and that they are more affordable than many other plant-based cups if your ecofriendly budget is a touch tight. The cups look really pretty and I didn’t notice any warping.

• Cutlery: On Amazon, I bought some compost-ready wooden cutlery from WoodAble. They take about 90 days to compost. WoodAble’s products are disposable, recyclable, biodegradable, compostable, renewable, and sustainable. The company is rather incredible and they have a legacy of caring for their land for over a century. You can read more about WoodAble here.

ACTIVITIES

Activity 1: Make Edible Take-Home Party Favors

As both an activity and a party favor, we premade some spooky sugar cookies (in the shape of a pumpkin and the shape of a cat) and had them on hand for kids frost. Then we put the cookies in a cute (plant cellulose bag) from Good Start Packaging and let each kid take their handmade creation home.

Activity 2: Ignite A Love of Animals

Our main party activity involved letting kids (supervised by their parents, of course) interact in a safe space with some unique critters. We had everything from a blue-tongued lizard (oh-so-spooky), to an alpaca, a turtle, a hedgehog, a chicken and more!

This activity fit in wonderfully into our eco-friendly spooky farm party because it let kids spend some time farm animals (and other animals too). Hopefully, this experience ignites their empathy and stewardship for all of earth’s creatures.

We did some serious searching before we reached out to Bridget at Taylor’s Traveling Troupe. We choose Bridget because she is has a degree in animal science and worked as a veterinary technician for 15+ years. She is USDA licensed and almost all the animals that we visited with were either rescued or adopted from shelters.

There were so many great discussion points for kids with this animal party and Bridget’s loving, ethical care. Here are a few important ones we brought up:

• Why adopting animals from the shelter is a wonderful thing to do.

• Why we have to be super gentle to our pets. Bridget had to nurse some of the animals she rescued back to health. So, it was a neat opportunity to chat about why we help nurture animals—especially when they are sick or hurt.

• Why space is important for animals. Bridget maintains plenty of room for all of her animals on her farm.

Here is Harry Potter snuggling up close to a blue-tongued lizard. One of Bridget’s helpers was holding on the the lizard’s body just in case Potter got a bit skiddish. Ha! Unfortunately, the party was rained out, so we had to move some of our animal friends indoors (in our garage)—so space was a lot more tight then it normally was. Even so, it was a blast!

Here’s Batman checking out a goat. Plus, a close up of a gorgeous alpaca and a chicken with a killer hairdo!

Here are a few more photos I wanted to include as well. The last picture is of Rosie feeling a bit concerned about meeting a piggie for the first time. So tender! Rosie’s favorite animal to meet was the lizard—she even felt it’s spines with one finger and made all sorts of fun noises.

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Hope this post makes your own eco-chic halloween party come to life! My sister and I love to see pictures from your own parties too. DM us on instagram to share your own experiences.

Cheers,

Lemon