I’ve made pumpkin muffins before, but I’ve never been able to find a decent pumpkin cupcake recipe. Usually pumpkin cupcakes end up more like muffins – a bit stiffer and a little more heavy. But a decent cupcake should be lighter and fluffier in my opinion – more of a treat vs. a breakfast muffin.

Then finally, this year, I found a really good pumpkin cupcake recipe. Light, spicy and bonus, stands up well to glaze, which is a perk, because I’m not a frosting fan. Most cupcakes soak up glaze leaving the glaze uneven and sketchy, but these are heavy enough that the glaze coats them nicely, without sinking in. These are very easy and fast too.

However, they are very cupcake-like (i.e. sugar induced). The pumpkin helps offset the sugar nicely though, and these aren’t too sweet. Just letting you know ahead of time that these aren’t health-muffins, but if you need a fast cupcake recipe for a Halloween party, these are perfect. I made a few dozen for my son’s school Halloween carnival.

Organic pumpkin cupcake ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose organic flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 and 1/2  teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 and 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup packed light-brown organic sugar (I made some with dark brown sugar, and they came out okay)
• 1 cup granulated organic white sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted organic butter, melted and cooled
• 4 large organic eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 can (15 ounces) organic pumpkin puree or avoid BPA in cans and make homemade organic pumpkin puree instead

Mix your batter:

• Get your baking pans ready by coating them with a light spray of olive oil or lightly spray some reusable silicone baking cups.
• In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
• In a larger bowl, whisk brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter and eggs until smooth.
• Add dry ingredients to the larger bowl and mix until smooth.
• Mix in pumpkin puree.
• Bake in a 350 degrees oven for about 15-20 minutes or until the tops spring back a bit when touched.
• Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let them cool completely before glazing or decorating.

Decorate your organic pumpkin cupcakes:

• organic pumpkin cupcakes

   

  http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/organic-pumpkin-cupcakes3.jpg
  la

• decor ideas

   

  http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/organic-pumpkin-cupcakes2.jpg
  la

• organic pumpkin cupcakes

   

  http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/organic-pumpkin-cupcakes.jpg
  la

• organic pumpkin cupcakes - decorating ideas

   

  http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/pumpkin-cupcakes7.jpg
  la

• organic pumpkin cupcakes - decorating ideas

   

  http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/pumpkin-cupcakes6.jpg
  la

• It's a good idea to leave some plain for folks who don't like glaze - P.S the other cupcakes in this image are chocolate vanilla marble

   

  http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/pumpkin-cupcakes5.jpg
  la

• organic pumpkin cupcakes - decorating ideas

   

  http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/pumpkin-cupcakes4.jpg
  la

Note: You’re going to go through the glaze process twice. If you make too much glaze at once, it’ll get stiff and gloppy in the bowl. This recipe made me about 2 dozen cupcakes, so one batch of glaze works for about 12 cupcakes.

• To make your sugar glaze melt 4 tablespoons of organic butter in a small saucepan – don’t let it brown! Immediately pour over 1 and 1/4 cups of organic powdered sugar. Add 4-5 teaspoons of organic milk, a dash of organic vanilla extract and whatever food color you like, and whisk until smooth.

• Working VERY quickly, dip the top of each cooled cupcake into the glaze, swirl it a bit to let the glaze settle right and place your cupcake on a wire rack. Some of the glaze may drip off, so place a clean dishtowel under your rack.

• Repeat the glazing process with your other cupcakes.

• This glaze should be totally set in about a half hour to an hour. After it sets you can decorate your cupcakes with frosting if you like. If you want sprinkles or sparkles, add them as soon as you glaze.

To color your glaze:

I suggest using non-toxic, natural food coloring. I had a fit with this batch of cupcakes (shown in the gallery) because I ran out of natural food coloring, and although I checked about four stores, NO ONE had natural food coloring in stock. Annoying! This is a longer post topic, because you shouldn’t have to order natural food coloring online. It should be stocked in stores (right?) So, sadly, my lovely organic cupcakes have regular old food coloring in the glaze. I did use gel, because gel coloring goes further in my opinion, so you use less, but I was still pretty annoyed.

Tips:

• If your cupcakes are for a party, and you need liners for people to hold onto, aim for eco-friendly liners. Because mine were for a school party, I needed liners, so I used If You Care Unbleached Large Baking Cups, which are unbleached and chlorine-free. Normally, I’d skip the liners altogether.

• I left a batch glaze free for people who wanted only organic and/or no glaze.

• These keep well for a few days – even glazed.

• If needed, they could likely be frozen, but I would freeze them glaze-free.

These are wonderful warm, right out of the oven, but also taste good cooled.

More Halloween recipes:

• Organic Candy Corn Sugar Cookies
• Homemade Organic Caramel Apples
• DIY Healthy Organic & Fair Trade Hot Chocolate
• Homemade Organic Applesauce

Review summary: CLIF Kid Organic Full Moon Brownie ZBaRs are a healthy Halloween treat option that kids will actually enjoy.

Product: CLIF Kid Organic ZBaRs from Clif Bar & Company. This season, they’ve unleashed a new Halloween flavor - Full Moon Brownie ZBaRs.

Use: Created for kids. Good for a snack or when paired with fruit and milk can be a decent fast breakfast. This ZBaR flavor makes the perfect Halloween treat bag item too.

Cost: At my local grocery store zBaRs can cost $3.00-$4.00+ per box (6 per box). A better deal is to buy these in bulk, such as from Amazon or at the Clif Bar website, which works out to 78 cents per bar.

Ingredients: Organic Rolled Oats, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Cane Syrup, Organic Soy White Chocolate (Organic Dried Cane Syrup, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Soy Flour, Organic Soy Lecithin, Organic Vanilla Extract), Organic Oat Flour, Organic Fig Paste, Organic Soy Butter (Organic Soybeans, Organic Soybean Oil, Salt), Organic Cocoa, Organic White Coating (Organic Dried Cane Syrup, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Soy Lecithin, Organic Vanilla Extract), Natural Flavors, Organic Oat Fiber, Organic Milled Flaxseed, Organic Sunflower Oil, Salt, Baking Soda.

I already did a major review of zBars in general. Read that review to learn more about this healthy snack: CLIF Kid Organic ZBaR. You can also read my review of the company – Clif Bar & Company.

Green & healthy benefits:

The new Full Moon Brownie flavor is a delicious chocolate brownie with white chocolate chips – making this a treat that kids will actually eat and enjoy on Halloween. Each wrapper is Halloween-cute with autumn colors and spooky little trick-or-treaters. Plus, the white chocolate chips are drizzled on, creating a fun Halloween look. 

• Delicious chocolate brownie with white chocolate chips … a yummy and nutritious twist on a favorite treat.
• USDA certified organic.
• Each bar is low fat, made with whole oats, and contains 12 essential vitamins and minerals kids need every day.
• No high fructose corn syrup, no hydrogenated oils and no artificial flavors or artificial colors.
• Non-GMO sourced ingredients.
• Full disclosure – the company lists ingredients at their website, on the boxes and on individual bar packaging.
• Clif Bar & Company has many eco-friendly perks as a company and very few cons. Learn more about Clif Bar & Company in general.

What we thought: 

Cedar is no stranger to zBaRs – he eats them often. However, he was impressed with these bars due to the spooky packaging. He was equally enchanted with the creative white drizzle, and said he thought it was a fun new look for zBaRs. Flavor wise, he ate these up -quickly. I was a little surprised he liked them, because he’s not the biggest chocolate fan. In fact, in my first zBaR review, he flat out said, “The chocolate brownie zBaRs are too sweet.”

His reasoning behind the chocolate change of heart was…. the packaging. He said, “These are for Halloween right?” Then chomped it down and said, “Yum.” I asked if this would be a good treat to give out on Halloween over candy, and Cedar concluded that sure, he’d take them if they were being handed out on Halloween night.

I did think these were still a little sweet, but not TOO sweet and I think the sweetness will make them friendly for the typical kid on Halloween.

Were there any negatives?

• So far, during my grocery store sweeps, it’s been impossible to find this flavor at the grocery store. I’m guessing they’ll roll them out a little closer to Halloween (although, hey, stores, you’re cutting it close).
• These have more packaging than homemade bars. But on the flip-side, we recycle the packaging, homemade bars won’t have quite as many nutrients and it’s not a good idea to pass out unwrapped goodies on Halloween.

Overall score:

5 little trees out of 5. Normally, I’d have given these a 4.5, because I don’t advocate buying packaged goods over homemade. That said, at this time of year, when you’re looking for a super Halloween treat that’s not quite so sticky, surgery and sweet, these are perfect, so the Halloween flavor got a bump up score-wise. Cedar was perfectly fine about considering these bars over Halloween candy, so I’m guessing other kids will be as well.

• Buy Full Moon Brownie ZBaRs
• Visit the Clif Bar & Company website.
• Join Clif Bar & Company on Facebook.
• Read their blog.

See my green product rating system and green product rating criteria or read more green product reviews.

I think some super sweet Halloween treats are perfectly justifiable. However, it is nice to have some healthy options on hand as well.

Healthy halloween treats - better than candy corn

This first Halloween treat is an icy Halloween smoothie that I found a long time ago in Fitness Magazine. It wasn’t organic, but you can change ANY recipe to make it organic, so I did. Babies, kids and adults like this smoothie.

Halloween Smoothie:

• 1 cup organic canned pumpkin
• 1 cup organic milk (you can use soy if you like)
• 2 tablespoons real, organic maple syrup
• 1/3 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2/3 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pure Fair Trade, organic vanilla extract
• 1 cup ice

To make your smoothies (makes about 4 servings):

Blend everything, minus the ice until you get a nice smooth mixture. Add ice and blend until thick and creamy. If you want to get crazy, garnish with organic whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon or chocolate sprinkles.

The second treat of the day is a pumpkin seed bar I found in Taste for Life, many years ago. This treat is a healthy way to use up extra Halloween pumpkin seeds, and if you have leftovers of this treat, you can leave them out for hungry winter birds.

Pumpkin Seed Bars:


Mix 1 and 1/2 cups of organic pumpkin seeds with 1/2 cup of dried cranberries. In another bowl mix 4-5 tablespoons of organic honey along with 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla or orange extract. Mix the seeds and berries into the honey mix until well combined. Coat a basic loaf pan with organic butter or organic olive oil (just a little) then press the seed mixture in.

Chill in the fridge overnight. Cut into pieces and serve. This treat is tasty and very portable. You can also try it with other dried fruit instead of cranberries like apples or blueberries and even add a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.

You can serve both of these treats together at a Halloween party or as after-school snacks too.

Image via Spiders at stock.xchng

Normally, eco-friendly Halloween costumes are hyper expensive. But, what if you could get one or more green Halloween costumes for FREE!? Yup, free. If you’d jump at that chance, then you’re in luck, because not only does National Costume Swap Day spare you from purchasing new and expensive costumes, but it’s a great way to celebrate an eco-friendly Halloween.

National Costume Swap Day officially falls on Saturday, October 8, but swap events will be happening all October. The entire event is jointly sponsored by Green Halloween, Swap.com and Kiwi Magazine.

During a costume swap, green families come together to swap out, or trade previous year’s Halloween costumes, in exchange for new-to-you costumes from another green family. A costume swap need only be a few families getting together or it can be as large as a citywide event. Big or small though, a costume swap saves resources. It takes a ton of materials, packaging and shipping emissions to create new costumes.  A swap is more fun, less expensive (usually free) and totally green!

It’s very easy and 100% free to set up and host a Halloween Costume Swap in your community. Bonus - registering a Costume Swap is an excellent way to encourage media sources, both local and national, to support greener Halloween events. Head to Costume Swap Day to find local swaps you can attend or even register your own event. New swaps can register every single day right up to Halloween. To learn more you can also participate in the National Costume Swap Day Twitter party on Tuesday, September 27, 9 p.m. EST #CostumeSwap or join up with Costume Swap Day on Facebook.

Will you be doing a costume exchange this year?

]]> http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/green-national-costume-swap-day/feed/ 4 http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/hyper-cute-eco-friendly-halloween-goodies/ http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/hyper-cute-eco-friendly-halloween-goodies/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 05:00:00 +0000 Jennifer Chait http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/?p=6188

I thought I was done with Halloween posts actually, but then I saw these…

Tovolo Spatulart Printed Cupcake Molds, Halloween! – How cute right? You may remember that I have a little obsession with Tovolo popsicle molds, but I had no idea they made reusable muffin cups with designs on them. I have a ton of normal reusable silicone baking cups, which are good in terms of reuse but aren’t so festive. These are way cool for Halloween, without having to use disposable paper muffin cups.

Then I remembered that I hadn’t posted these little Halloween gems yet…

Organic Halloween Marshmallows by Have It Sweet. This company makes the most gorgeous marshmallows with hand blended all natural colored sugars and 100% organic colors. All of their packaging and shipping material are recyclable and biodegradable too. My favorites are the square colored marshmallows, because they’d make awesome Halloween s’more but they also have adorable Halloween ghosts and pumpkins.

PS – you have to see their beautiful harvest marshmallows!

Organic Cotton Frog Hat – too cute! Nora & Finn has some other cute hats too, but sadly, not organic.

Lastly, for some DIY cuteness, how about these adorable Pumpkin Cakes. I saw these at Country Living, and they seem fairly easy, but would make a big splash at a Halloween party. To make them, it says you can simply trim the bottoms of cakes baked in mini Bundt pans then join two cakes together so that the fluted tops are at either end. Drizzle with chocolate or vanilla glaze and sprinkle with coarse colored sugar or nonpareils before the glaze sets. Top with a Marzipan Pumpkin Stem. Don’t forget to use organic ingredients for your cake and glaze.

The other day we looked at edible green Halloween treats. If you don’t want to hand out candy there are some affordable options you can choose from.

A word about baggies. If you go with non-edible Halloween treats, it’s way cheaper to buy in bulk and divvy items up. Some items don’t require baggies, but others will. If you need treat baggies I personally wouldn’t go out of my way to find biodegradable baggies. Not only do biodegradable baggies cost more but there’s a good chance they won’t biodegrade anyhow.

I’d go with something cheap like Halloween Cellophane Baggies (11¢ per bag) or you could look for recycled plastic baggies at your local grocery store. Mainly, I wouldn’t stress about baggies. If you stay clear of plastic bags, plastic wrap, paper towels and other disposables all year round, your footprint is going to be lower than normal anyhow. If you need Halloween treat bags try not to freak.

SAFETY NOTE: Not all non-edibles are appropriate for all ages of kiddos. Use smarts when handing out treats. Also, if you hand out a questionable treat, such as soap or play dough, I’d highly suggest you label the treat baggie so kids don’t attempt to eat the item.

Now about the goodies. It’s tough to find non-edible green Halloween treats for 50¢ or less, but it’s not impossible. Here are some options…

20¢ each – Usually I’m not on board with pencils for Halloween (boring!) BUT I found the most adorable Dr Seuss Lorax Project Pencils the other day. These are recycled and way cuter than most pencils.

25¢ each – Make-A-Jack-O’-Lantern Stickers

50¢ (or less) each – Earth Laughs in Flowers Mini Wildflower Seed Packets or sunflowers.

22¢ each – OUCH! skull & bones bandages

40¢ each – handmade glycerin Pumpkin Patch Halloween Soap.

About 20¢ each – Silly Bandz -  silicone rubber band bracelets that come in various shapes including basic, zoo animal, pet animal, dinosaur, sea creature, holiday, alphabet, princess, western and more. These bracelets pop on your wrist then, when taken off, pop back to their original shape.

Crayons are always good, although you will need treat bags, or they may break or get messy. Good Halloween crayons…

• 39¢ each – Crayon Rocks
• 45¢ each – Crazy Crayons Eco Stars (100% Recycled Crayons)
• 50¢ each -Recycled Crayon Rings

Under 50¢ each – Mary’s Natural Softdough Tub – Orange – create little balls of dough and place them in a treat bag. If you want to go less expensive, take an hour and make homemade organic play dough or homemade goop instead.

25¢ each – OWLoween Stickers

42¢ each – Halloween Cookie Cutters

31¢ each – GREEN PUMPKIN Halloween Pencil-top Erasers

9¢-18¢ each – Eco-minded Temporary Tattoos

Under 50¢ each – Buy a pack of Iron-on Cool Transfer Paper. Head to Family Fun and print out their Halloween T-shirt Iron-ons onto your transfer paper. Cut iron-ons into single sizes and hand out. It’d be nice to include some directions too – which you can easily type up on the computer. Find directions here (pdf). Really, for more fun, your child could draw a Halloween design, scan that into your computer, and print that out.

Handing out eco-friendly Halloween candy and other edibles seems like a good plan (if you’re rich). However, those bulk bags of candy at the store cost SO much less than green treats and when you’ve got 80+ trick-or-treaters arriving on Halloween night, it just seems insane to pay a $1 or more per trick-or-treater.

That said, it’s still doable to hand out greener Halloween treats, even if you’re not rich. Here are some good, less expensive green treats along with a cost break-down so you can see how affordable green Halloween treats can be. The ONLY way I’d pay more than 50¢ per treat is if I saved money on the costume and wasn’t having a party. Then I might splurge a little, but overall, I don’t think it’s necessary to go over 50¢.

24¢ each – Fair Trade, Organic Dark Chocolate Minis – if you need a TON for say a party, you can also go major bulk and score these organic Fair Trade chocolates for just 20¢ each.

25¢ each – Mini Glee Gum Mix.

40¢ each organic honey sticks or the vegan honey stick alternative for 18¢ each -Organic Pomegranate Agave Nectar Sticks. Remember – babies cannot have honey, so be sure to set aside another treat for wee trick-or-treaters.

45¢ each – Annie’s Homegrown Bunny Graham Friends (Honey, Chocolate & Chocolate Chip).

8¢ each – YummyEarth Organic Lollipops.

35¢ each – Organic Fair Trade Vegan Chocolate Orange Bites.

25¢ or less – Stretch Island Original Fruit Leather – DO NOT buy these online – I placed the link so you could see them, but I know you can get them cheaper at your local grocery store. Most online stores sell these (even in bulk) for about 35¢ each, but I see them at my local grocer on sale for 4 or 6 for $1.00 often.

Yummy Earth Organic Candy Drops in various flavors, like…

• 5¢ each – Sour Apple Tart
• 5¢ each – Roadside Root Beer
• 5¢ each – Hopscotch Butterscotch

46¢ each – Franny’s Organic Select Raisins – personally I find raisins super dull, and likely would not pass these out at Halloween. However, I know some kids who love them… so, to each his own.

I’ll be back with some less expensive non-edible green Halloween treats soon.

I’m not a huge candy fan unless we’re talking about chocolate candy. I don’t do fruit candy, tart candy or mint candy.

That said, once in a while I do like caramel (usually with chocolate) or since the season is right, with apples! Ready-made caramel apples can cost a lot and they don’t taste that good. You can make some homemade organic caramel apples for much less plus it’s a fun Halloween cooking activity for you and the kids.

Ingredients you’ll need to make homemade organic caramel apples:

Apples - I like red delicious or honey crisp apples for caramel apples. Once in a while I’ll use granny smith apples. Most people make candy apples with the tartest apples they can find, which helps offset the overly sweet red candy coating. However, with caramel apples you don’t always have to go so tart, because caramel is more subtle than candy coating. Basically, you can choose any firm organic apple you like. Note: Softer apples (like gala) don’t work as well IMO because you want a crisp texture to match the caramel flavor.

Caramel – You can make homemade organic caramel – for dipping or pouring but it’s a lot of stirring.

Here’s one easy homemade caramel recipe. You need 1 cup heavy organic cream, 3/4 cup light corn syrup (or corn syrup alternative), 1/2 organic cup butter, 1 cup organic brown sugar, 1 teaspoon Fair Trade, organic vanilla extract. Before heating, whisk together all the cream, corn syrup, butter and brown sugar in your pan. Slowly bring this to a boil over medium heat. You have to stir the WHOLE time.

After about 8 minutes or so you’ll see that the caramel is starting to look ballish (what’s commonly called the soft-ball stage). To be sure it’s ready to coat, drop a tablespoon of the mixture into a cup of icy cold water. If the caramel forms a solid, but flexible ball, it’s done. At this point stir in vanilla. At this point you can also add a different, additional extract if you like, such as orange or lavender. Get the pan off the heat and let it cool a bit before dipping your apples. More on the actual caramel apple making process below.

See one homemade option sans corn syrup – I have not tried this on apples though.

You don’t have to make homemade caramel though. There are a few organic ready-made caramel options on the market.

King’s Cupboard makes a certified organic caramel sauce that’s good for pouring over already sliced apples. Nature’s Flavors offers a caramel dip for apples on a stick or sliced, that’s 100% organic, lactose-free, gluten-free, vegan and kosher. There’s also another vegan caramel, which I haven’t used, so I can’t speak for their consistency melted, but may be a good option for, yup, vegans.

Toppings (if wanted) - such as chopped, Fair Trade nuts (unsalted), candy sprinkles for the kids, small chocolate dots, piped chocolate designs and so on. For Halloween you can really get creative with your toppings if you choose or go plain (I like plain). If you like toppings you may want to try:

• Crushed up Newman’s Own Organics O’s – basically organic Oreo cookies – very popular at my house.
• Toasted organic coconut.
• Ground or chopped up organic, Fair Trade chocolate or organic chocolate sprinkles.
• Carnival Sprinkelz – These colorful sprinkles contain organic evaporated cane juice, organic corn malt syrup, water and natural colors made from extracts of seeds, vegetables or fruits.
• Chopped organic nuts – it’s nice if you can find Fair Trade nuts too, but in the USA, a good variety of Fair Trade, organic nuts are extremely difficult to hunt down. Sun Organic Farm offers many organic nuts as does Tierra Farm.

Tools you’ll need:

• Saucepan
• Ladle
• Recycled content foil or a silicone mat
• Some sort of sustainable stick – try bamboo skewers or real twigs (fallen and clean of course). If you make a little hole with a knife first, a reusable ice pop mold stick will even work – and it’s easy for kids to hold.

Making your homemade caramel apples:

Wash your organic apples. If you’ve made caramel apples in the past, you may notice that caramel sometimes slides off the apple, not sticking. This is one, because your caramel is too hot, too watery OR it’s the wax on the apples. With organic apples you shouldn’t have the wax issue but if your apples are very clean and dry, you’ll have the best results with the caramel sticking correctly.

After cleaning your apples, stick them with whatever sticks you’re using.

• If you’re making homemade sauce, do that now.
• If you’re using organic caramel candies to make your sauce, you need to place about 12-14 oz caramel candies with two tablespoons water and 1/2 teaspoon organic vanilla extract into saucepan. Melt it down slowly, on low heat, stirring the whole time until a saucy consistency is reached.
• If you’re using jarred sauce heat it up.

Once your sauce is ready, it’s time to dip. I’m notoriously good at NOT being able to make candy anything look right. I want to make pretty caramel apples and organic chocolate covered cherries, but I just suck at it (really I don’t know how Martha Stewart does it). My candy items taste good, but never look picture perfect. Hopefully, you’re more graceful than me.

In any case, you should carefully but quickly dip the apple into the caramel sauce. I’ve had pretty good luck when I move fast, however, it’s hard because you’re working with very hot caramel and fast + careful don’t go together. After dipping, try to scrap any excess off the bottom of the apple using a knife or the side of the pan. Place your apples on a sheet of foil (on a pan) or on a silicone mat.

Another option is to sort of hold and twirl an apple over the caramel pan, while ladling sauce onto the apple.

If using toppings here’s a tip – don’t dip apples into a bowl of toppings (like sprinkles). I did that once and the apples were WAY too coated in sprinkles. Instead pour the topping lightly onto a dinner plate and role the apple around the plate.

Chill and then eat or cut and eat. Chilling helps the caramel to set, but you can store finished caramel apples at room temp. I think they taste better at room temp too. If you’re wrapping them for a party, I’d wait for the caramel to set entirely before wrapping them, or the caramel may become a drippy mess.

There’s not a great eco-friendly way to wrap caramel apples which is why I’d never make them to go – just at home. However, if you do need them to be transport friendly, Sugarcraft has many apple wrapping options.

Bowl-style caramel apples:

Personally I always cut up caramel apples as I don’t like to try to chomp a whole apple. In fact, in my opinion a better way to make caramel apples is bowl-style. To make caramel apples in a bowl, cut your apples first, dip them in lemon juice, place in the bowl, pour the hot caramel over them and then whatever topping you choose. You can chill apples in a bowl, but I like them served warm. This is MUCH easier than eating off a stick. Plus, you don’t have to worry about making them look pretty!

Extras:

• Tricked out caramel apples
• Caramel pears
• Carmel, chocolate apples

Oh, and by the way, I don’t like candy apples. I only like the caramel ones, so I don’t ever make red candy apples. However if cinnamon-minded apples are your deal, I’ve posted some homemade options below. Just remember to switch out conventional ingredients for organic.

• Homemade candy apples
• Perfect candy apples (with video)

Before you purchase a brand new costume, what’s best is to reinvent an old costume, swap with someone, buy recycled or used (say, at a thrift store) or make something amazing on your own with materials you’ve got laying around. Here are some helpful links:

• Costume swap! Green and less expensive (free in most cases).
• Recycled costume ideas.
• It’s very tough to find an eco-friendly tutu, however, you can easily make one yourself, which allows you to choose the material (used or sustainable).
• Costume tips from Green Halloween® – some cool DIY eco-minded costume ideas.
• Homemade cardboard box fire truck costume.
• 25 Frightfully Fun Homemade Halloween Costumes Made from Recycled Materials.
• Halloween costume patterns – just pick up thrift store or sustainable fabric and sew up a costume.
  

After that look for costumes…

• Made with eco-friendly materials such as organic cotton, wool or hemp.
• Made by decent Fair Trade or sustainable companies.
• That can be used more than once.
• That are recyclable – for example, for accessories, such as a sword look for felt or cardboard vs. plastic.

If you need safe baby Halloween costume tips read choose a safe and fun Halloween costume for baby. Below are some good eco-friendly Halloween costume ideas.

Oeuf Eco-friendly Mask and Tail Set

Oeuf offers a wide array of cute costume ideas from Oeuf Eco-friendly Mask and Tail Set to Eco-friendly Angel Slippers and angel sweater.

Tom Arma Halloween Costumes

Tom Arma partners with the National Wildlife Federation to add “critter facts” to the Tom Arma Signature Collection animal costume packages as part of their shared interest in ecological awareness and preservation. Also, Arma offsets 100% of the energy used to make these adorable costumes.

Cherry Winter Bonnet

For a unique Little Red Riding Hood the Cherry Winter Bonnet paired with the Silk Chiffon Layer Cape is perfect. The bonnet is handmade in Portland, Oregon and reverses to 100% cotton bright pink and red modern cotton flannel and 100% wool felt.

Zid Zid Kid Masks

Zid Zid Kids Masks are made with recycled cardboard and have amazing detail.

Organic Baby Tomato Bag & Hat Set

Organic Baby Tomato Bag & Hat Set or Organic Baby Eggplant Bag & Hat Set – adorable and one size fits newborn to about 5 months.

Happy Jack-o-Lantern Dress

Super cute Happy Jack-o-Lantern Dress – Made from 100% Organic Cotton Sateen from Harmony Art and 100% un-dyed Organic Cotton Sateen. Hand-stamped with handmade original stamps and water-based acrylic fabric paint. Available in sizes 1T (12-18mo), 2T, 3T, & 4T.

ABOUT SILK COSTUMES:

Silk is a popular green-family costume idea. I’m guessing this is because silk is natural, renewable and biodegradable. It’s not technically THAT green. It’s not vegan, not organic and keep in mind that almost zero silk products are made locally to the USA. Many of the companies that produce silk and silk products are based in countries that do not require fair trade working conditions.

On top of this, most silks are processed using a not so eco-friendly wash. Anna Sova is one company using dyes and sizing for silk that are SKAL approved. BUT her prices match that eco-commitment (i.e. expensive). Also most silk makers harm (kill) the moths that actually make the silk – Aurora is a cruelty-free silk company. So, that said, in a very fast nutshell, there are pros and cons of silk. This is a much longer topic. For now I’ll post some silk options and leave it up to you.

Sarah's Silks

Sarah’s Silks has visits to their silk makers on their website, but I don’t think they’re Fair Trade Certified – at least I can’t find that info.

• Sarah’s Silks Garland – Fairy
• Sarah’s Silks Mini Playsilk – Starry Night
• Sarah’s Silks Reversible Fairy Skirt – Rainbow & Blue Hues

Silk Dragon Costume & Silk Mermaid Costume

EcoPartyTime offers silk costumes (perhaps made by Sarah’s Silks) that are pretty darn cute. According to the company the silks, “Are hand-hemmed in a small village near Shanghai in China. The seamstresses are in their homes and the village has been personally visited by the company’s management. In addition, many of the products available on the site are sewn, ironed and packaged by women working in their homes in Sonoma County, CA. The dyes are non-toxic.” Just an FYI. This company is not a member of the Fair Trade Federation but they note that they’re environmentally and socially responsible.

I like the Silk Dragon Costume and the Silk Mermaid Costume. You might also want to check out their eco-Halloween party goods.

Silk Princess Gown and Hat & Fairy Sprite Costumes

• Silk Princess Gown and Hat
• Forest Sprite Dress-Up

For kids who may not be interested in a full-blown costume try…

Hanna Andersson Halloween PJs

Hanna Andersson has many adorable 100% organic sleeper sets that can be used as costumes for a little one who is gun shy about costumes.

Dress Up Time Felties are very simple, but cute and great for all year dress-up or for a low-key Halloween costume. These Felties are made by a  Green Schools Initiative supporter, Dress Up Time, who uses EcoFi felt (made in the USA from post-consumer recycled plastic bottles) for all costumes.

ALSO: Get ideas about less toxic hair and makeup for Halloween.

Beyond Halloween costumes, most kids like to dress up their skin and nails for Halloween too. However, most face paints, cosmetics and nail colors aren’t safe for kids at all and aren’t eco-friendly either.

One option is to make your own non-toxic face paints for Halloween. You can also discuss with your child why it’s safer to simply forgo the makeup and weird hair colors.  You can go with a colored wig vs. actually coloring hair or wear an awesome face mask vs. make-up. Some kids do love glam though, so here are some safer options if you do go the glossy, shiny route.

Luna Organics isn’t at Skin Deep yet, however, they have signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics and are working toward compliance. Additional, and what’s very discouraging is they’re not certified organic – which is super lame because one, they seem to have a good grasp about what organic means, yet two, are using the name “Organic” in their name which almost made me skip posting about them. Beyond my annoyance with this flaw, I’m glad to see that they have a decent product ingredient page and that products don’t contain parabens, potential toxins, artificial colors or nut products. Their jars are free of BPA and they use recycled shipping boxes and labels. So this company has some pluses and minuses.

That said, here’s why I decided to post on them, in spite of the misleading name – it’s VERY hard (and by very I mean almost impossible) to find less icky face glitter for kids. I been looking for years with little luck, so I’m happy to see something safer this year to help kids get glittery and shiny this Halloween. Luna Organics carries a wide array of face paints, glittery makeup kits and more to add a little pop to Halloween. Goodies they carry include:

• All Natural Fancy Fairy Makeup Kit
• All Natural Glitter Girl Kit
• All Natural Ballerina Princess Makeup Kit
• All Natural Rainbow Face Paint Kit
• All Natural Clown or Pirate Face Paint Kit
• All Natural Animal Medley Face Paint Kit

Hopscotch Kids eco-friendly, non-toxic WaterColor nail polish in spooky Halloween colors + an array of other colors for all season wear. Hopscotch is water-based, scores well at Skin Deep and is free from toluene, dibutyl phthalate, formaldehyde, acetone, FD&C, and coal tar.

Lyra Theater Pencils are available in a wide array of colors perfect for any makeup creation you can imagine, have wood casings to keep fingers clean and contain nontoxic oil pigments that go on easily. Easy to clean off skin with soap and water.

For spiky hair styles or curls that hold try a less toxic hair gel this Halloween. Below are some Organic Consumer approved and Skin Deep approved less toxic hair holding options to choose from. Note – most hair sprays aren’t too safe, for kids, I’d go with gel or balm.

• Intelligent Nutrients Certified Organic Perfect Hold Hair Spray
• Intelligent Nutrients Certified Organic Hair Balm
• Simply Organic Soft Gel
• Kiss My Face Upper Management Medium Hold Natural Styling Gel

HAIR COLOR!

Okay, I’ve looked and looked and IMO there’s just not a great option for temporary and safe hair color for kids. Yeah, Kool Aid or Jello will sort of work – especially if your plan is blue or green, however, while less toxic than real hair coloring products these still contain dyes, some aren’t vegan and also, they don’t wash out well. It can take a long while. IF you do want to give it a try, simply mix a box of jello or many packs of kool-aid with water (make it super thick). Saturate your hair, let it sit and there you go.

If forced to go with a fake color, I’d recommend Manic Panic. They don’t test on animals and their products are vegan. Still, anything that turns your hair shockingly green or blue can’t be that natural.

That said, as someone who was colored and pierced as a kid, I can’t really say never to hair color – that’s pretty hypocritical. If my own son, Cedar, asked to color his hair I suppose I’d use Manic (prob dye hard) before other hair dyes. Now, keep in mind that Manic Panic has some awesome wigs you can choose from instead of allowing your kid to dye up.

Got any other less toxic suggestions for this Halloween?