Halloween is one of the most festive holidays of the year, but there are plenty of reasons to rethink traditional decorations. Making your own decorations cuts back on plastic and other materials that can harm the earth. Get your home Halloween ready with these eco-friendly crafts and accents!

A few tips on sourcing your supplies 

Forgo expensive Halloween pop-ups this season and shop local. Farmers markets usually sell gourds, mums, and pumpkins for cheap. Thrifting is a fun way to find unique accents and fabrics. Antique shops are another resource for old picture frames, bottles, candle holders, and lamps to recycle into eerie Halloween decor.

10 craft and accent ideas for a green Halloween 

1. Before you recycle your old black trash bags, check out this adorable spider web craft. Unlike fake spider webs, trash bag webs don’t pose a threat to owls, bees, and other wildlife. Love to knit? Repurpose extra thread into webs on bushes and trees.

2. If you’re hosting a Halloween party, give your guests a cute and creepy pour with jack-‘o-lantern wine bottles. Make the table even more festive by repurposing small pumpkins into sparkly place cards. For an understated look, find supplies to make this eerie centerpiece at the Dollar Store.

3. Evoke the chilling atmosphere of haunted hayrides by decorating stacked hay bales with gourds, mini-pumpkins, and corn stalks. Cut up old autumn-colored flannels and drape them over single hay bales. After the season ends, you can recycle your hay into compost.

4. Bright orange, green, and purple might not mesh with your home. Hang up a black twig wreath to keep it chic and make it spooky. Collect branches in your neighborhood to make this no-fuss craft.

5. Save your old sweaters from the donation pile—cable knit pumpkins are chic, eco-friendly accents for the patio and the dining room.

6. Transform old tin cans into spooky luminaries by following this easy DIY tutorial. This craft is a great alternative to paper bag luminaries, which are more likely to fly away and turn into litter.

7. Black cats are a Halloween staple. This black cat carved from recycled wood by SoAddictDecor will charm trick or treaters and guests alike.

8. Ring in the season of the witch by hanging witch hat luminaries around the front door. The tutorial recommends buying cheap hats, but making your own out of cardboard is even more Earth conscious.

9. Set out soybean skull candles by StoryofTheScent to create a chilling atmosphere. Halloween stores sell candles made from paraffin wax, which emit chemicals that pollute the air. (If you don’t like skulls, decorate your end tables with sweet pumpkin head candles by Hickoryhillcandle.)

10. Mason jars are so multifunctional — you can even use them to make a ghoulish apothecary in your kitchen. Simply fill your mason jars with a combination of moss, glycerin, or vinegar mixed with food coloring, and throw in creepy items like doll parts and old toys. To go the extra mile, decorate your mason jars with authentic looking labels.