1. The Recycled Alien!

A colander mixed in with some recycled plastic cups and plastic plates make for an awesome recycled alien!

2. Plastic Bag Monster and his nemesis Captain Recycle Bin

These two ancient foes meet each year at Halloween to do battle, will the plastic shopping bag monster win or will Captain recycle bin prevail?

3. Newspaper Boy

Newspaper boy, he crafts his costume from all the promotional fliers and newspapers that are discarded each year.

4. Recycled Cardboard Dalek

Dr. Who would be hard pressed to battle this enemy, the cardboard box Dalek has a death ray nozzle crafted from an old toilet plunger!

5. A Cleaner Planet Lady

Armed with her eco friendly cleaning products and some tempting Halloween candy, “A Cleaner Planet Lady” can clean up and stay green.

6. Awesome-O the Sad Robot!

You may recognize Awesome-O from a popular TV cartoon, he is looking rather sad in this photo….

7. Turn it Off!

That’s right, celebrating Earth Hour all year round, Turn it Off reminds us to switch of lights when they are not required.

8. Happy Eco Astronaut

A little home crafting and we have a happy eco astronaut! This was one of our favorites.

9. Recycled Slinky Dog

Need a simple costume? Have an old slinky? You can quickly turn yourself in a recycled slinky dog.

10. Cute Viking Costume

Lots of work went into this cute viking costume including use of an old rug as a cape, recycled cardboard turned into a shield and a sword and a home made knitted chain mail along with a re-used paper helmet.

Gruesome Severed Jalapeno Fingers!

We recommend buying between 10 to 20 jalapenos from your local farmers market, a couple of packets of reduced fat cream cheese and some low sodium turkey bacon.

The first steps are to cut the tops of your jalapenos and carefully remove all the seeds (leaving the seeds in would make these super spicy!)

Step 1: Chop the tops off the Jalapenos

Step 2: Remove all the seeds for a little less spice!

Gruesomely clean and free from spicy seeds

Once your collection of severed jalapeno fingers have been cored and seeded lets get some of that delicious low fat cream cheese and add the grizzly white bones inside the severed fingers;

Step 3: Stuff the severed Jalapenos with Cream Cheese

What a grizzly spectacle!

We can now place some turkey bacon bandages on our severed jalapeno fingers, we like to wrap our jalapeno fingers with a piece of turkey bacon and then skewer them with a sharp stake!

Bandaged and then Skewered, Mwah ha haaaaaa!

Arrange the Fingers on a Roasting Tin

Now just bake at 350 – 400 F for about 20 minutes….

The Finished Severed Jalapeno Fingers

ENJOY YOUR SPOOKY SEVERED MONSTER FINGERS!

How to Make Your Halloween Green

Here are our top five ways to make your Halloween Green;

1.       Decorate Naturally

Instead of buying plastic decorations that will only languish in a landfill after Halloween, try your hand at natural décor.  Stuff some old clothes with fallen leaves to create a creepy scarecrow, hang old bed sheets from the trees as ghosts, and grow a few pumpkins organically in your vegetable patch (and use the innards for oven-roasted pumpkin seeds and pulp for pumpkin pie).

(P.S. Check out our guide to the Top Ten Pumpkin Carvings for some inspiration too!)

2.       Sew Your Own Costumes

Does it get any worse that those cheaply-made, polyester costumes and rubbery masks from the costume shop?  Skip the holiday aisle at the drug store and head to the fabric store instead.  You can pick up all the warm fabric you’ll need on a chilly autumn night and whip up a far better costume from organic cotton, hemp, or bamboo, all of which are sustainable, recyclable, and probably more comfortable. If you haven’t already seen it we thoroughly recommend our Top Ten Homemade Halloween Costumes Article.

3.       Go Organic

Yummy Earth Organic is a USDA certified company that makes all kinds of organic treats, from hard candy to gummy bears to lollipops.  The pops in particular are individually wrapped, organic, and free of allergens, nuts, soy, casein, dairy, gluten, and egg.  They also lack artificial dyes and flavors.  They come in a variety of natural flavors and best of all, you can order them on Amazon.  While other companies offer similar organic fare, many products can be hard to find.  If you don’t like the idea of ordering online, simply shop your local Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.

4.       Support a Cause

Endangered Species chocolates are likewise organic (although they do not appear to be certified).  They also support a worthy cause.  With an eye on social responsibility and conservancy, they endorse ethical trade and natural products, as well as spreading awareness of species endangerment and donating 10% of their net profits to habitat conservation efforts.

5.       Set the Mood

You may think that having an eco-friendly Halloween means cutting out a lot of your favorite tricks and treats, but nothing could be further from the truth.  Once you’ve got your green costumes and candy in place, consider the atmosphere of your home.  By setting up some organic beeswax candles, you can save on electricity all night long while you fill the house with flickering shadows.  As for mood music, hang a mobile of hollow reeds outside for a little mournful moaning.  With just a few simple touches, you can have a magical Halloween night without the frightening specter of global warming haunting your thoughts.

We hope our top five list has given you some inspiration to make this years Halloween green? We’d love to hear from you so please leave a comment with your own ideas for a more eco friendly Halloween…

Sarah Danielson writes for a website that specializes in audiobooks where you can find audio book reviews and read the latest industry news.

Help us pick the best of the bunch by taking our Top 10 Halloween Pumpkin Carving poll… First, let’s check out the entries…

Spooky Pumpkin Carving #1

Our first pick is a spooky pumpkin with a very “Day of the Dead” feel to it, we loved the intricate carving and details in this one!

Pumpkin Eating a Pumpkin! #2

A popular trend in 2009 is the “pumpkin eating a pumpkin” design and we especially liked this one, there is even some pumpkin pie in the background!

A Pair of Carved Pumpkins #3

This pair of carved pumpkins shows how a family can take on different levels of carving, the spider was fairly simple but has lots of impact whereas the face is more detailed and subtle.

Pirate Pumpkin #4

Everyone likes pirates, right? This pirate skeleton is ready to set sail…

Wild Eyed Pumpkin! #5

We loved this wild eyed pumpkin design, he is smiling big but with a very sinister twist!

Starry Eyed Pumpkin #6

Another big smile but this time with some very detailed starry eyes… We can’t even imagine how long this took.

LED Symbol Pumpkin #7

This is definitely a pumpkin for all of us nerds out there! It represents the electrical symbol for a Light Emitting Diode and instead of a candle it uses, you guessed it, and LED!

Wordpress Pumpkin Design #8

We just had to include this one! Blogging is such a great pass time and this pumpkin celebrates the “WordPress” blogging software…

I Want My Mummy Pumpkin! #9

We loved how clean and crisp this mummy looks, I might try this one myself.

Celebrity Pumpkin #10

Our final entry, can you guess who it is? Doh!

My wife (Katie) came up with a great idea, we could make creative homemade Halloween potions from our old lightbulbs! Here are a few that we made;

Creative Homemade Halloween Potions!

Here are the simple steps to follow (Please be careful when handling old lightbulbs as they may be sharp or easily broken);
1/ You will need the following materials;

• An old burned out spotlight bulb
• Some black electricians tape
• A used wine cork
• A permament marker pen

The Creative Hallowen Potion Materials

2/ Start to wrap the black electricians tape around the stem of the old lightbulb to cover the metal threaded part;

Wrapping the Recycled Light Bulb

3/ Once the metal threaded portion is covered you can add the old wine cork and continue to wrap the black tape until you have covered half of the cork;

Add the Wine Cork and Tape it to the Bulb

4/ Use your permament marker to write a spooky message on your Halloween potion! We chose labels like “Poision” or “Deadly Nightshade” but our favorite was our “Witches Potion” shown below;

Our Homemade Witches Potion!

So there you have it, get your creative side out and make a batch of creative homemade Halloween potions! You can use different sizes of spotlights to create some variation.

Our Green Halloween Potions

Do you have a creative Halloween idea? Share it with us today, we’d love to hear from you…

#10: Captain Recycle!

We loved this idea, he’s a mean green recycling machine and the streets will be a cleaner place with him around! Captain Recycle starts our top ten list…

Captain Recycle!

#9: Dusty the Recycling Bin

“Dusty the Recycling Bin” is a cool creation which simultaneously spooks us and reminds us to recycle!

A Spooky Recycling Bin!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/larimdame/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

#8: Intergalactic Spookiness

This wonderful scout trooper Halloween costume was made from Foam Core, PVC pipes, lots of hot glue and other recycled knick knacks!

Scout Trooper Recycled Creation

#7: Earth Heads Costumes!

These guys may be a little blurred but that’s because they are so earth friendly, they’re literally orbiting in a greener dimension!

Earth Heads Costumes!

#6: Green Baby Tree Frog

OK… This one isn’t that eco friendly, it’s not made from recycled material, but it is extremely green and cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!

Green Baby Tree Frog!

#5: Intergalactic Bounty Hunter!

This one is pretty awesome, made from recyclable he found in his garage!

Bounty Hunter Recycled Costume

#4: Recycled Robot…

This is one is simple but totally cool, it’s a super cute recycled robot made from cardboard boxes, drier duct and old electronic circuit boards. We love this one…

Recycled Robot

#3: This Guy is Simply Nutty!

Made entirely from natural products, yes, you guessed it… He is nuts!

Simply Nutty Costume

#2: Green Monster Costume

We’ve featured this guy before but we still love it, made from recycled egg crate and foam

Green Monster Costume

#1: Boxes Transformed!

This was our favorite purely because of the effort that went into making it, it’s made from recycled cardboard boxes and it has the biggest IMPACT of our top ten… Who knew boring cardboard could be transformed into such a cool halloween costume!

Cardboard Boxes Transformed!

SO there you have it, that was our top ten list, do you have any green or eco-friendly halloween costume ideas? Leave us a comment with your hints and tips…