Half Term Pumpkin Carving workshops AND Stylish Sustainable Halloween Ideas.

Halloween is a bit thing in our house, I love the styling of the house and although my girls are now getting a bit big for the spider jelly and amputated frankfurter fingers, I’m still hosting a party for them this year and I will be making all my favourite spooky favourites. As much as I love Halloween decorations and party ideas, I am keen that as little is bought new as possible and that waste is kept to a minimum. As with most of the styling I do for parties or celebrations the first places I look for things to decorate with is always the great outdoors, nature has so many beautiful free things that can be used to decorate, we just need to get out foraging.

So I thought I would pop down a few of the things I do each year to give you a few creative ideas, this year it will be a very different Halloween where heading out with our friends looks unlikely so styling and bringing the party to our homes is all the more important . Everything I do takes very little time but looks super effective and has a sustainable Halloween in mind. I know busy Mums hardly have time to go to the loo when we need it, let alone construct a cake that resembles a vampire castle and order dry ice to create a spooky mist from our front doors.

I love to decorate my porch/front door, this can be done by just buying an array of different pumpkins and displaying them nicely along with a few candles. Lidl supermarket do lots of unusual small pumpkins that you can mix in with the larger ones. After Halloween, make soups, pies or risottos with them so nothing gets wasted and be sure to leave the pumpkins out in the garden after you have finished with them as wildlife love a pumpkin picnic

Pumpkin carving is always a win with the kids as an activity its actually always my most popular Warriors on Waste Workshop of the year. Make sure all digits remain intact by investing in some proper pumpkin carving spoons etc for the kids. you can get great ones here. I always cut the top of the pumpkins off with my saw for the children and then leave them to scoop out the seeds, drilling holes in the pumpkins can also turn them into really nice lanterns.

Save the seeds in one bucket as you can roast them for a tasty snack Click here for Jamie Olivers Pumpkin Seed Recipe.

I love to get hotdogs and carve them to look like amputated fingers, pop them in a bread roll with lots of blood (ketchup) and you have an instant win, another fun idea is making a cake,icing it and trickling red food colouring all over it, finish the spooky effect by popping a knife in the top giving the illusion of a murder scene. When the kids were smaller they totally loved the horror jelly, and it’s so easy to do. I just layered different coloured jellies ( greens and reds look best for that authentic slime look) and added in spider sweets and any other halloween jelly sweets that I could find.

This year I know we are all thinking a little bit more about sustainability so when you pop out to the shops to get those sweets for the trick or treaters ( if we are allowed to do that-its looking unlikely ) maybe go for the small cardboard boxes of smarties rather than lots of single-use plastic packets. Buying in bulk so only one large package is also a better way of doing things, make newspaper cones and pop the sweets or treats in them for all the children that come to the door. I love the idea of baking a cookie for everyone, no packaging, cheaper and much nicer than just some shop-bought sweets.

Another area at Halloween that we can be a bit more sustainable is the costumes, how much money do we waste on cheap costumes that are not only highly flammable but only contribute to landfill and cost you a blooming fortune, When I was little a bin liner with a hole for my head and fastened with a bit of string was good enough for a witches dress, these days I see children in costumes that would not look out of place at Universal Studios on the set of ‘The walking Dead’!!

Look in secondhand shops as there are lots of outfits that children have grown out of for sale so you don’t need to buy new or just make your own. I made this Halloween Bride costume for Kate a few years ago, it’s just an old T-shirt and a skirt we found in the charity shop covered in fake blood. We added a bit of old netting to her alice band and finished the look off with some white face paint and more fake blood, it took hardly any time to make and cost very little.

Well there are a few Lambo ideas for you, have a great night with your little ones and most of all remember it’s not about having the best outfit, most stylish porch or the best supply of sweets in the neighbourhood, its about making memories and having fun. Stay safe, stay warm and try to be as sustainable and zero waste as you can be.

Obviously, with COVID it continues to be tricky for me to pop on my Warriors on Waste workshops with the full capacity..I will be running a reduced COVID safe programme for Half Term as I know how much the children enjoy the Pumpkin carving so I have the following dates so far… if you have a bubble from a class at school or family and want to get in touch about your own private booking then please let me know and I will do my best to accommodate. The workshops will be mainly outdoors and will be socially distanced.

Build a Base in the woods Day 19th October -10.30 am- 3 pm…. Click here

Make a Sealed Terrarium Afternoon. 27th October -1.30pm-3pm ..Click here

Pumpkin and Fun Halloween make day 27th October - 10.30am- 3pm …Click here.

Halloween Pumpkin Carving Workshop 31st October 10.30am- 12.00pm …Click here

A big old spooky BOO to you all and hopefully see you over half term.

Lynne x