Halloween is considered one of the most wasteful and unsustainable holidays annually. Single-use items, such as decorations or candy wrappers, accumulate into large masses of plastic and waste. Along with this, costumes are often only used for one day and then are disposed of or never worn again.
Halloween costumes do not have to be bought from a big corporation to be great. There are many ways to make sustainable choices while still dressing up for the holiday.
Reusing or upcycling what you already own is a great way to reinvent a new costume. DIY has become huge over the past years. While simply reusing an old costume is a more obvious way to be more sustainable, you can also use materials that you already have to make something new. Your everyday T-shirts, dresses, or accessories can come together make a new look.
Another idea is to have a costume exchange party. Why buy a new costume when your friend probably has one that is almost brand new. Also, if you are making a DIY costume, chances are if you don’t have all the pieces, someone you know probably does.
Thrifting is not only a sustainable way to shop all year, but especially for Halloween. Many thrift stores accept full costumes, as well as have hundreds of pieces that can be used to make a costume. There are multiple places to shop second-hand in State College, such as Goodwill, Plato’s Closet, and Uptown Cheapskate.
This article refers to an article by SustainablyChic, found here.