Don't miss a trick, reuse to treat your Halloween decorations to eliminate scary waste
Shauna Coates
October 26, 2022
3 Spooktacular tips for reusing your Halloween decorations and costumes
Halloween is celebrated by millions worldwide and whilst it is a fun holiday to participate in, it produces more than 2,000 tonnes of plastic waste each year… scary stuff! But fear not, as reusing your Halloween decorations and costumes reduces the amount of waste generated and can give you fun projects to work on too! Read our top 3 tips for reusing Halloween decorations and costumes below… or else!
Reuse old costumes to make into decorations!
Reusing old costumes and turning them in to decorations is a 2 in 1 Halloween hack that saves you binning old costumes and buying new decorations! You could pad out an old costume with hay to make a scarecrow or hang costume accessories such as witches’ hats outside your home as decorations. You could even cut up spooky costumes into spooky shapes and hang them up as bunting, which can be reused year after year. Why not use old costumes and sew them together to make quilting to keep you warm during the winter months. You can search upcycling tutorials on Pinterest and YouTube.
Host a fancy dress party
Make the most of your Halloween costumes by hosting a fancy dress party! Saving your Halloween costumes could help you to create a gory character, should you get an invite to a birthday party or any other special occasion, that specifies fancy dress! This way you can get as many wears as possible out of your costumes. You could even consider hosting a fancy dress swap party, whereby people bring along their old Halloween costume and swap them with others such as friends, neighbours and family, to save throwing them out. You could host these annually just after Halloween and you will have next year’s costume already sorted! Read this handy guide on how to host your own costume swap party.Upcycle decorations into year - round decorations
Decorations such as trick or treat buckets are often round in shape, making them easy to upcycle and turn into home decorations or even plant pots that can be on display all year round. Try painting them with different colours and patterns or stick fabric to them to create something completely unique. You could even turn your candy buckets into decorations for Halloween celebrations for years to come, by coating them in rust effect paint – find some spooktacular inspiration by using Pinterest.You don't even have to got out and buy any new decorations. Reuse household recyclable items, such as toilet roll holders and decorate them them to look like bats, ghosts, witches etc. These can then be recycled after use, if you chose not to use them each year.
In conclusion, reusing costumes and decorations can save you time and money in the long term and allows you to enjoy Halloween whilst limiting the frightening environmental impacts of the millions of costumes and decorations that are consumed each year.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this blog represent those of the author, Shauna Coates, and are not those of recycle-more, Valpak Limited or any other organisation.
