Lean, green, and fit to scream

What’s scarier than a not
having a costume idea yet for Halloween? How about the fact that most costumes
found in stores are made of junky plastics and non-recyclable stuff you won’t
be caught (un)dead in next year.

This year, reduce, reuse,
and recycle your way to a greener Halloween. We found these sites helpful.

The Dollar Stretcher lists
nearly a dozen classic costumes that you can make from sheets, old clothes,
makeup, and accessories. Black stretch pants are the basis for a ninja.
Sheets become angels and ghosts. You get the picture.

Feeling
a little craftier? Check out the DIY
Network’s video how-tos. Click the “Make a Costume” tab and learn
how to fashion fairy wings out of a coat hanger and old hosiery, make balloons
into blueberries, and use makeup for all kinds of spooky disguises that don’t
require a ton of wasteful materials.

There are several toddler-friendly
paper-and-glue-gun ideas to be explored at Paradise Found, the
“ramblings” of “an eclectic home-educator” living in Hawaii. Our favorite: an adorable yellow
duckie costume made out of paper plates. Unlike store-bought plastic, paper
can be recycled after the holiday. This same paper-plate technique can be used
for kiddie armor, too.

If you sew, your kid is in
for a real treat.

Instructables, the
“world’s biggest show & tell,” details a five-step Jedi
Knight costume that’s better than the pre-packaged kind. Plus, this one
recycles old clothes, and I bet your kid will wear it for dress-up until it
falls apart. (And speaking of “Star Wars,” it’s probably a bit late
to start, but maybe you can knit Bleu Arts’ Princess
Leia wig hat for next year.)

Something for the adults?
Try this squid
head made out of office supplies. If you have some brown paper, file
folders, binder clips, and old CDs lying around, this one’s perfect for the
company Halloween party.

Zombies are trendy these
days. And, hey, they’re the ultimate in

reuse. You’ll find plenty of ideas for
the undead at 365 Halloween. This costume is
super-simple: wear any old clothes—a little dirty, maybe splattered with fake
blood—and paint your face to look dead and gruesome.

Sail the seven seas with a
sexy pirate costume for the ladies, recycled from common thrift-store goods.
ThreadBanger has a handy video that shows you how to sew up a cool tricorn hat and
leather corset with dental floss, and turn an old button-down shirt into a
sweet peasant blouse.

Love a bad pun or a visual
joke? Check the Costume
Idea Zone for a list of costumes that can be assembled quickly from things
you already own. How to be an iPod commercial? Dress
in black, carry an iPod, dance! Static cling? Mismatched clothes and dryer
sheets. “The Catcher in the Rye“? Don’t ask.

Don’t forget the
accessories. You can easily find a plaid shirt and cowboy hat at a thrift store
(or in your closet), and throw on some jeans and boots for a Wild West costume.
But you gotta have spurs on them thar boots. Grab a cardboard box that’s headed
for the recycling bin, and cut yourself out a pair of spurs using these handy
instructions on Flickr.

Halloween is almost as big
a consumer holiday as Christmas in the U.S., but that doesn’t mean we have to
shop like crazed fiends and create piles of garbage in our wake. In the time
you’d spend scrounging for parking and hunting for your child’s exact size in
plastic at the mall, you can make your own awesome costumes that are treats for
the environment.

In addition to saving time,
getting creative this Halloween may save money, too—so you can buy plenty of fair-trade
and organic candies
for your favorite ghouls and boys.

Read the entire Yahoo!’s Green Picks Blog post at http://green.yahoo.com/blog/greenpicks/13/lean-green-and-fit-to-scream.html

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