Every major holiday is a good time to think about how you can go a little greener. You just have to look at all the consumption encouraged at such times. Just think about how much simpler Halloween was in the past.

Now stores are selling more and more elaborate decorations for Halloween, lights and so forth. It’s quite a switch from the decorations we used when I was growing up.

I’m still prone to buying the usual candies to hand out… it’s once a year, and my budget really doesn’t allow for organic treats.

But as I’ve posted in the past, I’m a fan of homemade and/or reusable costumes. If I can make it, especially with supplies on hand or minimal purchases, I’d rather do that than buy a costume at the store knowing that several other kids will doubtless be wearing the same thing as mine in that case.

One of my other favorite tips is to just use a pillowcase to hold treats, rather than buying a bucket or bag for them, no matter how reusable. Certainly you can get some great themed ones if you buy a bucket or bag, but it makes so much more sense to me to just grab a pillowcase.

When I was a kid, my mom cut bats out of black construction paper. Those decorations lasted for years! She also made gravestones out of some styrofoam she had gotten someplace or other. I think it was from something shipped to her work. They’re still in her garage and get reused most years.

My husband and I do have some decorations we’ve bought in the store. Not a lot; we don’t go all out in Halloween decorations. But we don’t go buying new often, or really even over the past couple years. Saves a lot of money that way, not to mention waste.

For costumes, homemade is my own favorite, but thrift stores can be good too… if they aren’t sold out already. That’s also a nice way to get dressup clothes for kids into that.

As with many things, I think the simplest way to go green is to just go simple. Make do with what you have. There’s a reason why reduce and reuse are so very important!