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Halloween might be a relatively new tradition in the UK, but it's rapidly grown to a £160 million a year holiday, second only to Christmas and Easter. The problem is that people don't wear those witch costumes and werewolf masks much during the rest of the year, so there's a huge amount of waste associated with the spookiest night on the calendar. Here are five tips to help you have a green Halloween.
1. Grow your own pumpkins
Because of the wet weather this year, many pumpkin crops didn't ripen properly and farmers had to use heaters to do it artificially. Although it's too late for this year, why not grow your own for next October? Plant them in summer, and they’ll be ripe in plenty of time to become a Halloween lantern. Just remember to plant seedlings in pairs so that they can pollinate, otherwise you will have plenty of flowers, but no pumpkins!
2. Try out pumpkin recipes
When you hollow out your pumpkin to make a lantern, don’t throw out the flesh. While it may look unappetising, there are lots of tasty recipes you can try. Pumpkin soup and pie are the obvious options, but pumpkin lasagne is delicious and the seeds can be caramelised to make a sweet snack which is perfect for trick-or-treaters.
3. Make your own decorations and costumes
It's estimated that the UK will spend £160 million on Halloween this year, much of it on disposable plastic decorations and costumes. Making your own costumes is far cheaper, better for the environment and guarantees you a unique costume. Corm syrup with a little water and red food colouring makes perfect fake blood as well.
4. Buy Faritrade goodies for trick-or-treaters
If you're going to be handing out goodies, then try to choose Fairtrade options. There's a wide range of delicious organic and Fairtrade chocolate bars, sweets and snacks available. You could even try giving out healthy options like fruit, but this may mean that you spend the next day cleaning egg from your windows.
5. Compost your lantern
Sure, you spent hours hollowing it out and carving it, but your masterpiece will be pile of goop by mid-October. Instead of throwing it in the bin, make sure you compost it - it might even help to fertilise next years pumpkins.
31 October 2007 06:19pm
I've never understood why people in the UK don't eat pumpkin. Roast it, steam it, make soup from it, make pie... it's great
08 November 2007 04:19pm
The commercialised/Americanised version of Hallowe'en may be relatively new to the rest of the UK, but in Scotland (and, I guess, Ireland) we've celebrated it for hundreds of years as it is a Gaelic festival.
When I was little (only about 15 years ago), we used turnips for our lanterns ("neepy lanterns" to scare away spirits, as tradition dictates). When Scottish and Irish immigrants arrived in North America they found the pumpkins easier to carve, so switched to them, this idea has then come back across the Atlantic. Hallowe'en isn't Hallowe'en without the smell or burnt neep (and a sore arm from scooping!)!
We also always had to make our own costumes for going out "guising" (in dis-"guise", rather than "trick-or-treat"ing), as there were not aisles of costumes in the supermarket imported from China. More imagination required!
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