Fright night done right: safe, fun, and waste-free

With ghouls, ghosts, and good times on the horizon for Halloween, we are reminding residents to stay safe, respect their neighbours, and make this Halloween a little greener. 

Community safety

While Halloween offers the opportunity for a bit of spooky fun for most, it can be a difficult time for vulnerable members of our community. 

We are asking parents to remind their children about keeping safe while out and about throughout the week. 

If you’re planning on trick or treating this year, here are some tips to keep you and your family safe. 

• Always go trick or treating with an adult and/or a group of friends
• Only go to houses where you or your friends know the residents 
• Don’t knock on doors with ‘no trick or treat’ signs 
• Stay in well-lit areas and take a torch with you 
• Be careful not to frighten vulnerable people, especially the elderly 
• Look carefully before crossing the road
• Don’t damage any properties or act in an antisocial way

Let’s help make this Halloween fun and safe and look out for one another. 

See more safety tips from the Met Police.

Waste and recycling 

Every Halloween, more than 18,000 tonnes of pumpkins are discarded across the UK - that’s millions of perfectly edible pumpkins tossed away instead of being transformed into hearty soups, spiced pies, or warming curries.

This year don’t let your food waste come back to haunt you. Make the most of your pumpkin with these delicious recipes and use your food caddy for any scraps or leftovers.

It’s a scary fact that Halloween costumes are often only worn once before being binned. Instead of buying new, why not upcycle old clothes into something spooky? With a little bit of creativity, an old t-shirt or dress can become so much more. 

The same goes for decorations, your leftover cardboard boxes, plastic bottles and even junk mail can be turned into festive pieces, making it into a fun activity the whole family can enjoy. 

Let’s be green for Halloween and remember to...

• Eat your pumpkin
• Reuse/upcycle your costume and decorations
• Feed your food waste caddy monster with your leftovers 

Library of Things 

Spooky season is upon us, and so are the frightening stats about wasted pumpkins, binned plastic costumes, and single-use decorations filling up landfills.

Why not fight the waste and create your own costume like Christen did? He said, “I thrifted Halloween costumes for my friends and altered them! It was my most fun (and affordable) costume project yet.” 

Make your Halloween stylish and sustainable by renting a sewing machine - check out what you can borrow from Library of Things Twickenham. Plus, get 15% off your first rental with code TKLOT15.