Meet Griffin! An adorable 19-month-old boy from St. Paul, Minnesota.

His mother, Sarah, was inspired by Green Halloween® to make Griffin an eco-friendly “Griffin” costume for Halloween this year!

(Be sure to check out Griffin’s 2009 owl costume made from wool fleece and Eco Felt).

As you may or may not know, a Griffin is part lion, part eagle so what’s a Griffin mama and daddy to wear? You got it!

Sarah was a “Eagle Mother” and her husband, Andrew, a “Lion Dad”.

Each costume was made with either recycled materials Sarah found at Goodwill or from home, and Eco Felt or wool felt. One of her favorite transformations was using an orange bath mat for Andrew’s lion mane!

All in all, Sarah spent less than $15 on supplies, which also made it a thrifty Halloween!

Sarah, we love your resourcefulness and style; can’t wait to see what you come up with next year.

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.

Today Google Alerts delivered a series of blog posts into my in-box from the site www.TheAdventurousWriter.com.

(I’m so excited to know that other people are thinking about costumes in mid-July!)

The author made a few (creative and funny) lists I think you’ll be thrilled as I was to see:

• Halloween Costumes for Dogs and Cats
• Creative Halloween Costumes for Women, Girls, and Couples
• Easy Halloween Costumes for Men
• 30 Homemade Halloween Costumes for Couples

Of course, if you are going to make your costume/s this year, be sure to use “green” materials (used, discarded, recycled, sustainably sourced, etc.).

Stay tuned for some great pics of DIY costumes from Green Halloween 2008! (Feel free to submit photos or tell us about them, below).

I came across this website today: ThreadBanger.com. It’s to DIY for.

They’ve got wonderfully creative ideas (with an emphasis on “green” materials) with easy-to-follow pictures, too.

Now I’m all for letting our kids make their own costumes – when they can – but helping them with the process can be a cherished experience – one that will likely be remembered even more than the costume itself. So if you’re looking for some ideas and direction for what to make and how to make it, I’d say ThreadBanger is a great place to start.

Here are a few of my other favorites:

• Knitty.com’s knitted wig
• About.com’s DIY fashion
• Budget101.com (“frightening ideas that won’t hurt your wallet”)
• AllFreeCrafts.com

Of course, our new book, Celebrate Green! also has great DIY ideas, including a recipe for making your own face paints!

I know you’ll find this astonishing and sad (and you’ll be justified in thinking my parents neglectful) but when I was a child, I never once had a store-bought costume.

Can you believe how awful it must have been for me to hunt through my parent’s closets trying on over-sized shoes and hats, or rummaging through my mom’s art kit looking for paints and random bits of fabric? Can you believe how crushed I was having to dream up ways to actualize the costumes in my mind: an Ewok, a chicken, or a dragon? It’s true, I’m still traumatized…

Of course, you know me well enough to know that I’m only kidding. Creating costumes is one of Halloween’s greatest joys! It’s not only rewarding for children to strut around in something they made themselves, but the there’s also great joy to be found in the entire process – beginning to end.

Okay, so avoiding off-the-rack costumes puts some meaning back into the holiday, but how is it green?

It’s green when the materials you make it with are easy on the Earth, such as:

• Reused, vintage, recycled or reclaimed materials
• Fabrics such as Organic cotton, hemp or burlap

My #1 favorite? Wool. Not only is it non-petroleum based (like polyester is), it’s compostable, biodegradable and naturally fire retardant! Perfect for Halloween.