Halloween Magic Wands and More Fun and Plastic-Free Treats
It's almost Halloween, and we are ready for trick or treaters! We are trying handing out magic wands this year to try something different. I mean, if kids are getting hyped up on candy, they obviously needs to run around with pointy sticks while they are at it!
I think these magic wands will be so fun, and they were so easy!
1. We collected extra takeout chopsticks from our Buy Nothing Group and from our own old takeout orders. We always keep the silverware and chopsticks we get with take out (even though we ask for none), and we find a way to use them later. It turned out, lots of people in our Buy Nothing group do the same thing!
2. Added some hot glue for texture. We tried dots, stripes, and just about any texture we could think of. It was fun to try different ideas. If you need hot glue, try Goodwill or a creative reuse store! I always find big bags of them there.
3. Paint! We are using black, white, silver, purple, green, and orange to have that Halloween feel, but you could really do anything.
We just used things we already had, and we could avoid any plastic wrapping or supporting a terrible company like Nestle.
As a bonus, we avoided a bunch of single use plastic waste, which I am pretty excited about. But this isn't the only way to do it! Here are some of my other favorite ideas-
🎃Dum dums are our go to. Paper sticks and wax paper wrapping, but you can't avoid the big plastic bag they come in. It's the best of all of the bad options.
🎃 Clementines with Jack o lantern faces drawn on. So easy, and really cute!
🎃 Bulk candy. You could get jelly beans or yogurt covered pretzels at your favorite bulk store, wrap them in paper, and hand that out.
🎃 Local chocolate. If you are feeling fancy, you can often find local candy wrapped in foil, not plastic.
🎃 Monster rocks- paint rocks to look like monster buddies to take home- so fun, and kids freaking love rocks.
I have a ton of ideas on this blog post- I actually felt inspired reading it again! My other favorite is baked goods... but that is so freaking tricky. This only really works if you know your trick or treaters.
Halloween makes me feel scared because it shows how much we trust plastic over each other. Plastic is loaded with all sorts of nasty chemicals, but we barely notice it (myself included, my kids are so excited for that candy). But we worry about what someone could potentially have put in a Halloween cookie.
I don't know the solution to this (and covid hasn't made it any easier). And I don't think our trust in store bought candy is exactly right (if you want a scary story, I can tell you about a maggot kit Kat), but we can all do our part to normalize other stuff too. So, even if you are in a last minute shuffle to get candy together, think about how you can eliminate plastic from your Halloween this year.
What are you handing out for trick or treaters this year?
1 comments
These would be great for elves and fairies as well. Fun!
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