Seattle

October 23rd’s Issaquah Highlands Green Halloween Festival was a spooktcular day, indeed!

About 5,000 attendees enjoyed hay rides, mazes, mad scientists, DIY face painting, bounce houses, and green goodies galore. By all accounts the event was a smash hit.

Despite the weather forecast, participants stayed (mostly) dry!

Early birds received free ParentMap reusable shopping bags with goodies inside.

The event was also a food-raiser for the Issaquah Food Bank and Seattle Humane Society. By the end of the the day, these bins were overflowing!

Kids trick-or-treated for healthy, eek-o-friendly goodies from Larabar, Cascadian Farm, Stretch Island Fruit Co, Glee Gum, Recycling is Cool and more.

The do-it-yourself face painting (featuring Lyra pencils) at the Green Halloween booth was a HUGE hit for kids (and some parents with a good sense of humor)

HAPPY HALLOGREEN!!!

For more Seattle-are Green Halloween events, click here.

Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood is Zillow’s #1 rated local trick-or-treating destination. (Seattle was also rated as the #1 city for trick-or-treating in the nation.)

But now Wallingford is Seattle’s must-attend Green Halloween trick-or-treating location.

With 14+ participating trick-or-treat stops along the trail (on 45th and inside Wallingford Center) there’s plenty of healthy and EEK-o-friendly fun to go around. Molly Moons is also participating but joined in after the map was created; don’t forget to add them to your own map! Green Halloween and Whole Foods Market will also have booths.

Featured goodies from Larabar, Cascadian Farm, Stretch Island Fruit, Glee Gum, Revolution Foods, Plum Organics, Recycling is Cool and more.

Join us on Halloween day (10/31/10) from 3pm-5pm.

{Don’t forget to wear your DIY (or swapped!) costume and non-disposable treat carrier.}

More info can be found here.

Whole Foods Market, Bellevue is going to be ROCKIN’ their costume swap!

Why? Check out CostumeSwapDay.com for the astonishing amount of waste that can be saved from landfills by swapping costumes instead of buying new.

When? Saturday, October 16th – noon to 3pm (THIS WEEKEND!)

How? Drop costumes off this week (or arrive early on Saturday) and get a ticket for a new-to-you get-up.

Cost: None. Zip. Zero.

Questions? Call 425-462-1400 or connect on Facebook.

All left-over costumes will be donated to a local charity, TBD.

Thanks so much to Whole Foods Market, Bellevue for hosting this event and to Whole Foods Market Interbay and Whole Foods Market Roosevelt Square for hosting their wildly successful swaps on the 9th!

Last year, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics released a report stating that 10 of 10 face paints tested contained lead (a powerful neurotoxin) and other heavy metals. These findings fuel mounting concerns over the safety of numerous chemical fragrances, artificial colors, preservatives and other ingredients in body products (for children and adults).

But kids wear face paint, they don’t eat it, right?

Wrong. What’s applied to the skin is absorbed into the body. Think of body products (face paint, included) as “skin food”.

So what’s a parent to do?

Make you own, as we did today with New Day Northwest’s host, Margaret Larson. It’s super easy (and FUN!) and can be made with ingredients you likely already own and trust.

(Not sure if you do trust the products you own – like diaper rash cream, or lotion, the “base” ingredient in our face paint recipe? Be sure to check out www.CosmeticDataBase.com).

Not the DIY type?

Purchase mineral-based makeup from EcoMom.com or TerraFirmaCosmetics.com.

Segment links:

Non-toxic nail polish:

www.hopscotchkids.com

Safe Face Paints (pre-made):

www.ecomom.com

www.terrafirmacosmetics.com

All-natural food coloring:

www.wholefoods.com

Non-toxic diaper rash cream:

www.weleda.com

Get the {eco} Look: Corey’s dress from Issaquah-based sustainable-designer, Lizzie Parker. Lynn’s artisan-designed, reclaimed felt necklace from Digs.com.

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Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.

National Costume Swap Day was featured on Q13 (FOX) in Seattle!

How CUTE are these little costume swappers? Watch the video above, and click here for the whole story.

… And don’t forget that while National Costume Swap Day has officially past, there are still local swaps happening all month long! Whole Foods Market in Bellevue, WA is hosting a HUGE swap, THIS Saturday the 16th from 12-3pm.

Thanks so much to Macaroni Kid (Snoqualamie Valley) and friends for helping us to get up this “mock swap” for the shoot.

Have photos or video from your costume swap? Send them to us via e-mail and we just might feature you on GreenHalloween.org!

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Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.

Welcome back NW Families!

We’re so thrilled to announce that Seattle’s Green Halloween 2010 is off to an incredible start. With partners Whole Foods Market, Overlake Hospital and ParentMap magazine, the “dream team” from the inaugural year (2007) is once again back together.

And we’ve got awesome events in store for families this year.

Check out our events page for more on Seattle & Eastside events including:

• * Small Threads & Macaroni Kid’s COSTUME SWAP for National Costume Swap Day. October 9th, Issaquah
• * Holli Dunn Photography‘s COSTUME SWAP for National Costume Swap Day. October 9th, Bellevue
• * Whole Foods Market’s COSTUME SWAP for National Costume Swap Day. October 9th, Bellevue, Interlake & Roosevelt stores
• * Issaquah Highlands’s Green Halloween event (October 23rd)
• * Wallingford’s Green Halloween trick-or-treat trail (October 31st)
• * Green Halloween at Seattle and Tacoma-area zoos & aquariums

… and much, much more!

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date for NW local events. Or subscribe to our blog, follow us on Twitter an/or follow us on Facebook.

Here’s to a healthy, EEK-O-friendly Halloween and beyond!

Best WITCHES,

Corey, Lynn & the GH Team

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.