have a green halloween
Back in the day, Halloween was a pre-party for All Saints Day. Even before that, the ancient Celts celebrated a festival on this day called Samhain, where everyone dressed up in costume to ward off ghosts. So, how did we get from that to parading our kids around the neighborhood, asking for unhealthy handouts? Who knows?
I'm not sure what I'll do around Halloween when my little muffin grows up, but for now, these are some ideas I have for celebrating kind-style:
- Participate in a Costume Swap
- Talk with other neighbors who might be into a healthy Halloween and come up with a word or phrase that you can put on a sign in front of your house - that way, other kind parents will know that your house is serving healthy treats (check out the website Green Halloween for more suggestions about this)
- Have a party and invite all your friends and their kids. Instead of trick-or-treating, serve a kind buffet, and have a kiddie costume parade
- Make a Halloween pinata filled with healthy snacks or eco-friendly prizes
- Have your kids act out ghost stories in costume
Trick-or-Treating
If your neighborhood isn't down with a kind Halloween, but you still want to take your kids out, consider donating the candy they collect. Some people feel it's bad to donate candy to anyone, but if they are going to eat it anyway, isn't donating it better than wasting it? I do this with other items; for example, companies sometimes send me samples of self-care products that are filled with chemicals, and while I would never use them, I give them to someone I know is never going to buy kind cosmetics, ever. At least then I know they won't go to waste.
Another way to deal with Halloween candy is to unwrap and compost it. I asked Kitchen Gardeners International founder Roger Doiron about composting candy. He said you can, but just as you wouldn't want to feed it to your kids, it's not the best thing to put in your soil. Personally, I wouldn't mess up my beautiful compost with candy - no way! But that said, it's an option if you feel conflicted about donating.
Beyond the question of what to do with all that candy, I'm not sure I agree with the concept of trick-or-treating. Not to be the Halloween scrooge, but I have to ask, what are we teaching our kids here? Gluttony? Demanding handouts from neighbors? To me, the best part of trick-or-treating is seeing all the cute costumes. Anywho, I understand that if your kids' friends are planning to trick-or-treat, chances are your kids will want to as well. So, if that's the case for you, I hope you find some of these suggestions helpful!
I still dream that Halloween could become a kind holiday. What's your take on it? Tell me how you plan to celebrate in the comments below!
Photo Credit: ByStephanieLynn
29 comments
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I agree with you, Alicia. I'm not sure about gangs of kids knocking on strangers doors. It may be ok in some places, dangerous in other places. Halloween is heavily commercialized now, like Christmas. I do like some of the Halloween costumes out and about though. Have a good day, people, and of course, you, Alicia, xo! -
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This year we are handing out decorated pencils and fun erasers ,decks of card games (Go Fish, Old Maid, etc.), and organic fruit snacks. We feel so much better about it and hope the kids do, too! Don't want to get egged because there's no chocolate here!
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This year we are handing out decorated pencils and fun erasers ,decks of card games (Go Fish, Old Maid, etc.), and organic fruit snacks. We feel so much better about it and hope the kids do, too! Don't want to get egged because there's no chocolate here!
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This Halloween im giving out Yummy Earth lollypops, and fair trade chocolate (that unfortunately isnt vegan, but I had a hard enough time just finding fair trade!!) to the kids, and I feel good giving them heathier options that are still tasty! I have no idea what i'll do when I have kids though, but I definitely dont want my kids eating that garbage that most people give out just because its cheap...
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No need to ixnay Alloween-Hay. Trick or treating as we do it is a fairly new custom, and culturally we are trending away from it and back to more community minded events. The kids won't even miss the candy if they can enjoy hayrides, corn mazes, pumpkin carving etc in costume, and a vegan carmel apple never killed anyone.
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I think Halloween is fun. We have 3 small children. We don't want them to put all that junk in their bodies. We enjoy walking around the neighborhood in costume and seeing everyone else. When we get home, we let them pick 5 of their candies and we donate the rest.
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jacqui, hi! you've raised an extremely valid point. yes, "just because you have candy doesn't mean you will have an eating disorder." my memories of halloween during the bulimic years were very hellish, and the years before the eating disorder were characterised by overeating on candy (but in a normal, healthy, childlike way). because of my eating disorder life, i'm so overly cautious to prevent any child from veering down that direction. but, due to really kind counsel on my blog, i've decided that participating in this fantastic tradition definitely trumps preventing eating disorders because eating disorders can really stem from anything, not just from halloween candy. so i shall embrace the holiday! :) xxx
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1) Halloween is NOT about candy, it's just something that has evolved...like Easter is NOT about bunnies. As I've posted on here before, i'm a pagan and proud of it.
Easter symbols (bunnies, chicks, eggs, etc) are pagan symbols that were taken and adapted to coincide with Christian beliefs. It's about spring, renewal, planting, and fertility for us - hence the bunnies and eggs.
Same thing with Halloween...although christians haven't taken this, they hate it it seems...but it has been americanized. And even though it started out as a celtic tradition, its mostly thought of as an american thing. it's the time of darkness, harvest, dark times mean no magic, a time for reflection and remembering things past. it is also our New Year's celebration..because our calender goes with the harvest season. Now we harvest, the earth gets darker and colder. Its a time to start a new. It's also a time to set the table for loved ones passed on and to remember them and their spirits. it's a time for reflection and to make wishes and resolutions for the new year. it's also said to be the time when the veil between living and death is the thinnest, so the dead can roam the earth. and we wear masks to hide our true face in order to confuse them.
2) TY - LOVE that you were married that way! I wanted to do that as well..but my parents weren't having it...so frustrating when everyone else seem to think they can dictate your life!!
3) I'm not sure that just becuase you hand out candy means you are forcing children to be bulimic...I understand it's a touchy subject but it's not up to us to decide on that for others. its parents who run their childrens lives and good or bad, it's up to them to decide if they can have candy. and just because you have candy doens't mean you will have an eating disorder. i'm confused about that post.
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We bought Annie's fruit snacks and are passing those out, along with some endangered species chocolates. My daughter is 2 1/2 and loves to go out and see all the people. We also buy sugar pumpkins and put them out for the night then I cook with them. Made the pumpkin bread into muffins for her school party today and they were a big hit.
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Yummy Earth lollipops are organic; even though they have cane sugar, they are more 'clean' than most candy and really do taste good. The kids in my neighborhood seemed to love them last year. Also considering handing out favor-size cans of Play-doh as an alternate to candy.
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i've never heard of composting candy - it doesn't seem like an entirely good idea considering a lot of crummy ingredients that candy has today.
-Caitlin
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Sjaaks has some really good vegan chocolates and they even carry 2 holloween ones (peanut butter as well as orange). They sell this big tub that is great for those Trick'r Treaters.
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@jillian michele, thank you so much for your feedback! i am most likely going to take your advice! i wrote a blog entry on my thoughts this morning. here it is! it's called, "the worst witch."
http://nicoleandgwendolyn.com/2011/10/26/the-worst-witch/
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P.S.: I will make some kind cookies for the children who are coming by; or grissini sticks or unsweetened Brezels...
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Hi!
The Halloween-thing is tricky - we start having it here as well. When I was a kid, I would only get candy at Easter, Christmas and St. Nicolas and I was allowed to eat it all. When my sissy was little (we are 8 years apart), she would get about double as much candy as I used to get so my mum and dad reduced the amount of candy.
As I wasn't used to chocolate, I found it awfully sweet and didn't like it that much. Personally, I would have preferred to get a lemon or grapefruit for Christmas! So chances are that your kids won't like the ususal candy anyway.
I could imagine that they ask for money for a charity. I'm not sure if this is possible/legal; but you could think of a charity that needs it and have your children collect some pennies. Another solution would be that your children bring the candy to school and share it with the others that actually DO eat it.
Or that your children stay at home, dress up and hand out kind candy themselves.
Personally, I wouldn't feel too bad to throw at least some of the candy away considering how badly it can affect your system.
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Hello!
I did buy a bag of candy, I do every year even though I know none of the kids go trick or treating in our neighborhood. The left overs will go to my fiance - he's on the Evil Diet lol (whatever is the opposite of Kind Diet). I just got a small bag though!
What I do kind is use funkins. Instead of getting pumpkins each year and just wasting them I bought fake ones. I got them at Michaels, they have several colors and sizes. I carved really awesome scenes in them. Best part, I can pick and choose which I want to display each season (fall is different than halloween for me) and then I just put them away and reuse them year after year. :-)
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I love costume swaps. I have purchased waaaay too many costumes in my lifetime! So I always offer them to friends who don't have the time or money to find a costume on Halloween. It just makes sense to share them when it's the type of thing that a person only wears once, twice max! (I feel the same way about wedding dresses...after I get married I will let any of my friends borrow the dress!)
@Nicolemarie-I think that you are totally justified in sitting out on the trick or treat festivities this year! You are recovering from such a difficult illness, it is smart of you to think of yourself, and also quite thoughtful that you don't want to promote unhealthy habits..congratulations on your strength and recovery!! :)
Jillian
ladolcevitavegan.wordpress.com
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i'm so glad that you posted this entry. i've been fretting this particular halloween because the kids in the neighborhood luvvv my dog, and they've all questioned, "will gwendolyn be handing out candy?"
i hate to disappoint the children, but being an 11-year bulimic (recovered by 1 year and 3 months, 21 days), i do not want to promote unhealthy bulimic worthy habits (i remember the time when i returned home from college and stole my sister's candy because i needed a binge fix).
in addition to the bulimia factor, i do not eat dairy (clearly, i am one of your biggest followers!), and i don't want to spend a fortune on vegan chocolate!
so, i will be looking forward to the commentary on this post. i think that i might just sit out the trick or treat festivities because to me, the risk versus the reward is just too much. what does everyone think? xx
nicole of www.nicoleandgwendolyn.com
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My child's school is accepting donations for Halloween candy and they're sending it overseas to troops. We're Muslim so we don't trick or treat or celebrate Halloween, but we do have harvest activities at home, which include "slaying" our pumpkins that we get from visiting the nearby organic farm on a hay ride and drop-pick (picking drop apples). We make it into pumpkin dishes, it's great!
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We also have a dentist that buts the candy and ships it overseas and in the past my 2 oldest would donate to Oceans of Love (a charity that then delivers it to kids in hospitals for cancer treatment - but hello!). My kids go to a Christian school so luckily, we don't have the peer pressure of trick or treating. My ex loves Halloween so I have conceded and allow them to go with him and they love making their costumes with me but after a few neighbors, much to his chagrin, they've had enough. And because they have allergies, they don't eat the junk anyway! To my 2 youngest, it's all about spending a Saturday sewing a costume (which has been donated to the school's drama dept every year so it gets put to good use) and showing it off to the neighbors. My youngest's bday is Thursday and I so wanted to do a mad scientist party b/c there's just so much fun stuff around at this time of year but he wasn't into it. I'm bummed but my 8 year old wants sushi (super veg rolls!) and vegan cheesecake for his bday. I guess I did something right!
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We are hosting a Virtual Book Launch Party online for one of our new titles, a YA paranormal romance novel called OUT OF BREATH (featuring not only a main character whi is vegan but -- get ready -- vegan vampires, too). As part of the online party (all day Halloween on the blog), we'll be hosting book giveaways and sharing recipes for vegan Halloween treats. All are welcome -- link below!
@Nic & Abby: I love Endangered Species chocolate! A Seattle-based company called Theo Chocolate also makes a few bars that are vegan...and they're delicious!
Here's the link to the ACP blog for the online Halloween party:
http://www.ashlandcreekpress.com/blog/2011/10/03/a-virtual-halloween-book-launch-party/
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I'm a young mom of four, my oldest is 7, youngest 18 mos, and in years past I'd let them trick-or-treat and then we'd let them each pick a piece and we'd buy the rest of the loot for $5(to ea. child) which they could spend on whatever they pleased. My husband would take the candy to work and share with coworkers.
This year we decided to try something new. I asked my kids if they'd rather have us all dress up(including mom and hopefully dad :)) and go out to dinner and a movie(or bowling if there's no good kid movies out). They are SO excited to do this and my 7 year old even commented, "good. I don't even like going out in the dark, cold anyway." Yay! Perhaps a new family Halloween tradition in the making :)
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A dentist in our town will buy the candy by the pound and then ships it to the soldiers! I love this! Then I take the kids to the store where they can spend their money on healthy treats or something fun. The other idea I've heard of is having a trading bag. You buy/bake some of the kids favortie healthy treats or toys and have them swap out candy for stuff from the trading bag. This seems like a great option as well!
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I don't have kids, nor do I give out candy to the neighborhood but we are having a potluck at work. I thought I would try out the chocolate cupcake recipe I found here and see if I can convert any of my work buddies to a kind-er life.
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