From Guest Blogger Izzie: Eco-Friendly Halloween Decorations

The disposable nature of our society is perhaps at its worst when the festive season rolls around. Halloween is the most pressing example of people buying a lot of expensive, environmentally harmful products, using them for a few days, and then discarding them, only to do it all over again next year.

But if you want to join in with the skeletons, ghosts and ghouls this October 31st, we have come up with a few options for you that mainly revolve around the practice of upcycling This is the process of using everyday items you have lying around the house that you might otherwise throw away, and turning them into something else (in this case, Halloween decorations).

Egg carton bats

A nice, simple idea to begin with involves turning egg cartons into little spooky bats. The three egg slots in a row can be inverted and painted black to represent the body and wings of a bat. Use non-toxic paint to decorate them with eyes and wing outlines, and you have a fun, quirky new addition to your house.
Old clothes Headless Horseman

Got some old clothes lying around you no longer need, and a deckchair doing nothing in your garage? With a little ingenuity, you can cobble together a Headless Horseman to sit on your front lawn. Stuff the old clothes with newspaper and other scrap material you have lying around, place an old plastic pumpkin in the lap, and prop it up in the chair. Quite the welcoming party!
Cardboard characters

With the leftover black non-toxic paint, cover a few pieces of cardboard you may have accumulated over the year. This forms the basis of different shadow shapes you can cut out and place around the inside and outside of your home. Crows, black cats, rats, spiders, and other gothic things can be easily cut out using templates, and can be reused for years if they aren’t damaged over the course of the festivities.
Net curtain cobwebs

For covering a lot of space, and turning otherwise everyday items into Halloween fixtures, nothing beats old net curtains. If you can fray them while keeping them connected, they make for great cobwebs, that can then imbue, mirrors, furniture, and windows with a little bit of the occult feel.
Potion jars

Left over jars are very easily turned into Halloween ornaments. Will them with water and a little bit of natural food colouring, and they become potions and poisons. You can go further by adding a few fake body parts and turn them into the jars of Frankenstein.

Hopefully, you’ll find inspiration here that means you can avoid the needlessly expensive and environmentally harmful Halloween decorations at your local supermarkets, while doing your little part for recycling.