by Corey

When I was five, my family went to a “haunted house.” It was supposed to be kid-friendly.

But just steps into the experience, I was so freaked out that my parents convinced a group of witches and ghouls to drop their act and show me that they were real (live) people. Nonetheless, I refused to go any further through.

That was the last time I set foot in a haunted house.

The occasion was supposed to be fun, but for me, it was just awful. I was too young and the acting was too real.

For many kids, the typical “spooky” themes of Halloween can be frightening: the un-dead costumes, the haunted decor, the creaky music, if you are looking for table runners for your Halloween then at CV Linens you will find the best cheap table runner. But there’s no need to limit the fun when there’s so many great alternatives that kids of all ages can enjoy.

Here are 3 not-so-spooky themes for your Halloween celebration:

Credit: Oh The Lovely Things

Harvest

Forget ghosts and goblins and think “Harvest” – perhaps a pumpkin or apple theme. For either, decorate the room with harvest items you have grown, picked or purchased (look for organic and locally grown). Stamp names on mini-pumpkins for place-cards. Turn apples into candle holders (keep out of the reach of children). Play pass-the-pumpkin or dunk-for-apples (or hang apples from strings and see who can get a bite). Turn last year’s saved plastic Easter eggs into little jack-o-lanters. Stuff with healthy goodies. Have a Halloween egg hunt. Roast pumpkin seeds or make pumpkin cookies. Make mini-caramel apples (using all natural/organic caramel). Make (upcycled) pumpkin or apple crafts. Press apples for cider. Send kids home with a packet of pumpkin or apple seeds.

Credit: Fiksd

Owls

Owls are a great nod to the season, without being too spooky. Send a paperless Owl e-invitation. Line the front walk-way with paper-bag luminaries with owl cut-outs, or owl-carved jack-o-lanterns. Decorate the house like a forest. Cover walls with recycled craft paper and paint trees. Make smaller “limbs” from crumpled paper bags. Download Owl calls and forest sounds and play during the party. Make a paper mache owl pinata and fill with healthy goodies. Invite an owl expert to attend. Play pin the owl on the tree. Paint owl faces using natural face paints. Make owl pompoms and send home as the gift.

Credit: Green Baby Guide

Bugs

Creepy crawlies can be – well, creepy – but they don’t have to be. Make giant spider webs with strips of old sheets or cheesecloth. Flatten large cardboard boxes and paint with chalkboard paint (black). Use chalk to draw on spider webs. Let the kids add spiders with colored chalk. Cut spiders out of recycled paper (like snow flakes). Make spiders from old bike tire tubes and hang on a Halloween tree. Serve buggy fare made from fruits, veggies and whole grain crackers. Play Bug, Bug, Spider instead of Duck, Duck, Goose.

Or forgo the “theme” all together and simply use colors to create a festive Halloween ambiance without the fear-factor.

Try black, green and purple for a twist on the usual orange and black. Serve foods in these color schemes, too.

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.

Meet the girls of Trash Mash-Up!  Bridget and Jessica McCracken are the brains behind this eco-friendly operation.  They reduce waste by taking refuse and transforming it into art and they love working with the community hands-on by creating theatrical productions that are based in the San Francisco area.  I had the opportunity to ask them a few questions recently and here is what they had to say about Trash Mash-Up, working together, and how they celebrate a Green Halloween every year!

How did the Trash Mash-Up idea and name come to be?

Both Jessie and I have been interested in theater and puppets since we were kids growing up in Michigan.  Our parents have always supported our creativity and encouraged us to give back to our community.  When Jessie moved to San Francisco in 2004 (I had been here since 2001), we wanted to establish a community based art project that built creative connections in neighborhood of need.  We saw a need for public space and parks to be fostered for children and families in the Western Addition.  Jessie and I both wanted to work with trash to discuss issues of consumption and environmental justice but in a way that was fun, creative and not didactic.  Trash Mash-Up brings all of these aspects together in a collaborative community art project.

The McCracken sisters: Bridget and Jesse

How do you like working together?

It is amazing to collaborate with my sister.  TMU is a family affair.  Our youngest sister, Kate and our parents, Bill and Louise are on our advisory board.  But it is Jessie and myself who are the teaching artists and Managing and Artistic Directors.  Being sisters we are able to communicate ideas easily and come for a similar art background, both having studied and worked for The Dell’Arte Company.  Although we share similar training, we each bring our own style and ideas to the table.

This little girl is all dressed up and ready for the show!

What is your favorite aspect of the business?

My favorite aspect is leading the workshops.  Theater and art improves students’ self-confidence, communication skills and builds empathy for others.  They transform the learning process. It is amazing the dramatic changes and positive effects of students collaborating in creative ways.  I am always surprised by their solutions and their ability to describe their process.

Recycle and Reuse seems to be the Trash Mash Up theme and we love seeing it turn into art!

What is Your future vision of the Trash Mash-Up idea?

We are hoping to bring Trash Mash-Up to communities across the United States and world.  We are working on revising our study guide in order to better assist the spread of creative reuse.  TMU has had the opportunity to mash it up in Costa Rica, New York, Portland, and even our hometown of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.  Jessie and I look forward to additional community partnerships from around the world.

Great costumes made from recycled materials to put on a show for diverse communities in the San Francisco area.

How do you plan on celebrating a Green Halloween this year?

Trash Mash-Up is thrilled to be apart of the Yerba Buena Garden Festival’s Halloween Hoopla : Dance & Parade for Kids. This is the 11th annual YBGF Halloween program and will featuring interactive performances and games for kids. The Unique Derique hosts, The Venezuelan Music Project plays live music, Preston folds origami and Trash Mash-Up will be creating masks, eco-warrior medallions, noise makers and a Trash Monster for the costume parade. Just before the hoopla ends, children under ten accompanied by adults are invited to parade in their Halloween finery!

Empowering the community through the arts!

Get in on the fun of Trash Mash-Up!  Here are the best ways to contact Bridget and Jesse:

Email: trashmashup@gmail.com

Website: http://www.trashmashup.org

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/trashmashup

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/TrashMashUp

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trashmashup/

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/trashmashup

Laurali Star can be found on The Damsel in the Attic!

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.

By Corey

My dear friend, Maria, recently posted this picture on her Facebook wall:

How CUTE are these family-made costumes (not to mention the kids!) ?!?

I just had to get the scoop…

Name: The Odyssey, Halloween Adventure!

Kids ages: Max 8, Dom 5, Sophia 3

Costume/s: King Menalaus (Max), Odysseus (Dom), Helen of Troy(Sophia)

Inspiration: We had read Black Ships Before Troy, a children’s version of The Odyssey that year and decided to play it up for Halloween!

Materials used: Cardbord and any clothes we had such as dress-up and old T-shirts along with markers, paint and a wagon.

Reaction from kids: They were thrilled to re-enact such a fun story, they were heros!

Family’s costume plans for this year: Rockstars using clothes and boots we have and some of moms make-up.

More from Mom: I love to incorporate things that the kids are learning/interested in to make a costume from so that it becomes a fun family project instead of just going out and spending a bunch of money on something new.

My husband is so creative that the kids end up winning the costume contests many years!

I like to turn Halloween into a time that the kids can join with us in being super resourceful and creative and see that we can use what we already have to make great costumes that are different than anything other kids have. It is such a great opportunity to teach and get creative together.

One year my son was so bummed that we were just making do, and he ended up winning the costume contest at school and becoming the true hero of all his friends. It was such a great lesson for him! Ever since, our kids ask, “what are we making this year for costumes” they don’t even think of going to buy anything!!

Is your family passionate about celebrating a homemade Halloween? Share your stories below.

How to Make a Fairy Broom

Feeling crafty?  Gather the troops together to create your very own witches broom decoration for your home or porch!  Who knows, maybe there’s a little magic in the broom after all (wink, wink).

The how-to’s:

More than just your ordinary sticks and twigs create this magic broom!

Choose your sticks wisely then bind together with waxed linen over and over.

Lavender at the head of the broom adds the finishing touch!

For more about brooms, please check out Fairegarden!

Check out blogger Laurali Star at The Damsel in the Attic!

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.

Last week, we created a post on how not to get your hands dirty while decorating your pumpkin.  This week, were going to cover five fun and creative pumpkin carving ideas that you can share with your neighbors and family.

Pumpkin Got  A Boo-Boo:

This pumpkin needs a band-aid and a kiss!

Materials

• 1 large pumpkin
• Carving tools

• Scissors
• White reflective tape

Instructions

1. Carve a pumpkin with a mouth resembling stitches.
2. Cut white reflective tape into thin strips of varying lengths.
3. Place the strips on the pumpkin as shown.

Vampire Pumpkins:

The adults can do the carving while the kids put in a new set of fangs!

Vampire Tools and Materials

Thumbtack or pin
Small white pumpkin (For a big bite, choose a small pumpkin so the plastic vampire teeth seem huge)
Miniature saw
Plastic vampire teeth
Small red map tacks
Mouth template

Vampire Pumpkin How-To

1. Print mouth template. Lay template on pumpkin, and poke thumbtack through, all along outline, to transfer design. Cut out with saw; remove excess flesh.
2. Wedge teeth into hole.
3. For eyes, pin map tacks onto pumpkin.
4. Fangs, partycity.com. Map pins, 1/8 inch, in Red; latitudesmapstore.net.

Zombie Pumpkins:

Easy white pumpkins with googly eyes and a crooked smile....too cute!

Tools and Materials

Miniature saw
Small pumpkin (For a petrifying pale complexion, look for a white pumpkin)
Plastic eyeballs
Thumbtack or pin

1. For the eyes, hold sharpened chain saw at an angle and cut 2 cone-shaped holes into the pumpkin. The diameter of the holes should be slightly smaller than the eyeballs’ diameter.
2. Print mouth template. Lay template on pumpkin, and poke tack through, all along outline, to transfer design. Cut along that outline with saw, and remove excess flesh.
3. Wedge eyeballs into holes.

Fishy Food Chain Jack O’ Lantern:

Carve a pumpkin top into a fish and bind it together with toothpicks!

Materials

• 1 large pumpkin
• 2 small pumpkins
• Carving tools

• Toothpicks
• 1 small gourd

 

Instructions

1. Carve the pumpkins as shown, cutting the mouths from the tops of the pumpkins. Break off the stems.
2. Cut a small piece from the large fish’s tail fin and secure it to the head with toothpicks.
3. Use toothpicks to attach the tail fins to the bottoms of the pumpkins.
4. Secure a gourd in the large fish’s eye socket with toothpicks.

Shish-Ka-Boo Jack O’ Lantern:

Feed this hungry pumpkin!

Materials

• 1 large pumpkin
• 3 mini pumpkins
• Carving tools
• Used work glove
• Old shirt

• Leaves
• Wire hanger
• Rock
• Skewer
• Black permanent marker

Instructions

1. Carve a pumpkin with an extra-large mouth.
2. Stuff a work glove and one sleeve of an old shirt with leaves.
3. Bend a support for the arm and hand from a wire hanger. Fit one end into the glove and feed the opposite end through the sleeve.
4. Sit the pumpkin on the shirt. Brace the arm from behind with a rock and cover the rest of the shirt with leaves.
5. Push a skewer through three mini pumpkins. Draw a face on each with black permanent marker, then set the skewer in place.

Blogger Laurali Star can be found on The Damsel in the Attic!

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.