Julie Finn
Halloween is the BEST holiday, but don’t get tricked into thinking that you’ve got to throw down the bucks in order to celebrate it in style. The truth is that too many store-bought Halloween decorations and accessories are made with unsustainable materials and practices, shipped long distances, and include too much packaging–and I’m not even going to get started on what they’ll do when they inevitably end up clogging the waste stream.
These eco-friendly Halloween crafts, however, have NONE of that nonsense. You’ll love how awesome and unique your Halloween decorations are, and the environment will thank you for not adding one more sweatshopped plastic piece of junk to the landfill in November.
Check out this list of my own favorite eco-friendly Halloween crafts, and get inspired!
1. Upcycled sugar skull candle holder. I used empty Crystal Head vodka bottles (hiccup!) for this project, but your thrift store or local Freecycle might have other options for skull-shaped glass bottles.
2.Bleeding candles. This is a great way to liven up and get some more use out of partially-burned white candles. For an even easier method, use red crayons to make the blood drips.
3. DIY candy holders. Party favors are easy to pass out when they’re popped safely into these DIY candy holders, decorated to look like funny monsters.
4. Jack-o-Lantern string art. Don’t let string art be a forgotten hobby–it’s super fun!
5. Monster headband. Maybe you’re more into a low-key Halloween costume, and I get that. In such cases, might I recommend the simple, upcycled monster headband?
6. Flashlight projector. Make trick-or-treating even spookier with these DIY filters to make Halloween-themed flashlight projections.
7. Ghost tassels. This is a terrific way to use up stash yarn, and bonus–you’ll learn how to make tassels!
8. Milk jug skulls. These skulls are a LOT of work, but they look amazing, AND they’re made from plastic milk jugs!
9. Recycled jar mummy. Looking for some Halloween decorations that are a tad spooky but won’t scare the snot out of your kids? It’s the recycled jar mummy to the rescue! For even more fun, turn it into a candle holder!
10. Halloween cootie catchers. Need a quick craft for a children’s Halloween party? Try making Halloween cootie catchers!
11. Mason jar luminary. You can also use spaghetti or jelly jars for this craft.
12. Magazine collage Jack-o-Lantern. This is a great way to use up those catalogs that you’re somehow still getting in the mail, grr.
13. DIY chalkboard mask. Not sure what you want to be for Halloween? Be something different every time with this handmade chalkboard mask!
14. Halloween-themed pallets. There are SO many ways to decorate pallets for Halloween.
15. Scrap yarn pumpkins. Orange scrap yarn can be hard to find a use for… unless it’s Halloween!
16. Upcycled thrift store Halloween figures. Hit up your local thrift store for tacky figurines, and transform them into the stuff of nightmares.
17. Frankenbottle. It’s a chilly, rainy, miserable day outside today. Wouldn’t it be nice to stay snuggled up inside, raid the recycling bin, and make some fun Halloween decorations?
18. Faux taxidermy. My kids have grown out of playing with their billions of plastic toy animals, but they still don’t want them gone. I wonder if they’d mind if I turned them into taxidermy?
19. Spaghetti worms. Remember that old game where you’re blindfolded and have to reach into a bowl of worms? Yeah, there’s a whole new generation that needs to be freaked out by that one…
20. Pillowcase ghost dress. White pillowcases are a dime a dozen (literally!) at many thrift shops, and they’re perfect for making pillowcase dresses embellished to look like ghosties.
21. Upcycled tin lanterns. Just as fun to carve as pumpkins, and yet way less messy, these tin can lanterns are a great way to light the path for trick-or-treaters.
22. Cereal box tombstone. Upcycle a cereal box into a creepy tombstone.
23. Head in a jar. This is my favorite kind of Halloween craft because when you’re done, all you have to do is pour out the water, toss the photo (or save it until next year), and put your big jar back into service!
24. Book page and bat Halloween bunting. I LOVE to craft with old book pages, and their black-and-white beauty is especially suited to Halloween crafting.
25. Porch scarecrow. Kick your Halloween decorations old-school with your very own porch scarecrow. For bonus points, stuff it with fallen leaves from your yard!
26.Dryer lint funeral moss. This is so weird and gross, but dryer lint DOES make great moss for decorating fake tombstones, so there you go…
27. Scrapbook paper pumpkin garland. Have too much stash scrapbook paper? Give it a new life in this fun and festive pumpkin garland.
28. Upcycled Halloween village luminaries. Put all of your old spaghetti jars into service to make this spookily beautiful Halloween village.
29. Paper luminary covers. You can turn any tealight into a Halloween luminary just be adding a perforated paper cover.
30. Decoupaged Halloween blocks. Remember how much I love to decoupage blocks? Here’s a great method for adding some Halloween theming to them.
31. Spinning cardboard ghosts. Use cardstock to make this easy and fun Halloween spinning ghost, then hang it up in a drafty corner.
32. Witch’s broom. Aren’t you happy that you haven’t cut your grass all summer?
Do YOU have a favorite eco-friendly Halloween craft? Share it with me in the Comments below!
