Get creative and make your own costumes. Cat Up a Tree, Spaghetti and Meatballs, and Aquarium costumes can be made for less than $20.

Participate in a costume swap with friends or other families in your neighborhood. See if your friends have some costumes they don’t want to use this year.

Avoid Halloween-store makeup kits. Use real eco-friendly makeup that mom can use long after the holiday is over. Zinc oxide is a great option to use in place of white face paint and can be used as the base for a number of costume make-up ideas. Brown, green, grey and blue eyeshadows, and dark eyeliner can be used to create ghastly-looking scars and bruises.

Encourage your family to hand out candy made with organic sugar or fair trade chocolate. Natural foods stores will often carry individually wrapped candies including lollipops, chocolates, and toffee. And it’s still sweet enough to not get tricked for handing it out.

Decorate a pillowcase or reusable canvas shopping bag to carry the trick-or-treating haul. Don’t buy a new plastic pumpkin this year, go old-school and decorate a pillowcase or canvas shopping bag.