Eight Eco-Friendly Fall Decorating Tips

Fall is here, and I love nothing more than decking the house and porch out with fall and Halloween decorations. It can be a challenge though to transform your home into a cozy fall paradise if you’re eco-conscious.

It’s hard to resist the urge to scoop up this year’s “must have” items as soon as they hit the store shelves. It seems like no matter how many fall and Halloween decorations you have, you’re constantly being enticed to buy even more, to upgrade or lean into the latest trends.

If you love seasonal decorating, is there a way to do it sustainably? Absolutely. I’ve rounded up eight of my favorite eco-friendly fall decorating tips to maximize your autumnal décor while minimizing what ends up in a landfill.  

Shop Your Home

This is an important pre-emptive first step. Before you pop the first piece of fall and/or Halloween mech into your physical or online shopping cart pause and take stock of what you already have. Take a visual inventory of your current décor. It’s easy to forget about decorations you may already own that could work in a seasonal vignette. It’s even easier to forget just how much you packed away last year or all of the great deals you scooped up on clearance after Halloween. To be selective and mindful about what you’re bringing into your home, it’s helpful to get a handle on what you have first.    

Reuse What You Own

Fall scented candles and novelty fall-themed soap pumps are two of my weaknesses. They are often the first items in stores each year to kick off the season. In lieu of buying new candles and novelty shaped soap dispensers (or whatever is trendy this year), I opt instead for refills. After years of searching for a great smelling fall-scented hand soap refill I stumbled onto Grove Collaborative’s Spiced Pumpkin. I am totally hooked and used it to refill my glass pumpkin-shaped soap dispenser (which I’ve had for years).

For the candles, consider local candle stores or makers to refill glass candle jars. We have a local candle outlet that has dozens of colors and scents to choose from. If that option isn’t available, you can purchase candle refill kits online. I still occasionally buy a new fall-scented candle, but now refilling my candle jars is a sustainable annual tradition that makes my home smell fall-tastic.

In a few weeks, I’ll add a post about upcycling these awesome skeleton bottles into beautiful containers for homemade fall simple syrups. Using these ideas as inspiration, take a look at your existing fall/Halloween decorations and look for opportunities to reuse items you already have on hand.

Shop Second Hand

 

This can include thrift stores, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, consignment shops and even no-buy groups like Freecycle. I make a list on my phone of the décor, props and costume pieces I want and look for secondhand options to buy them throughout the year. This year, I wanted to add a collection of apothecary jars to my decorations. I snagged two of the three jars I wanted for just $6 (still on the hunt for the third). I even found some of the pumpkins and gourds to fill them for just a few dollars more.

Thrift shopping is a great source for eco-friendly, sustainable decorations and also serves as a subtle reminder for me to pack up and drop off donations on a regular basis. It keeps usable materials out of the landfill, keeps me from having to buy brand new and saves a few dollars in the process.  It’s a total win-win.  

Borrow from Friends and Family

Take a look at the sweet wooden acorns in the large apothecary jar pictured above. Those weren’t purchased – they were borrowed from a friend. Since she didn’t plan to use them this year, I asked her to loan them to me for the season. After shopping your home and thrifting, borrowing seasonal décor from family or friends is another great sustainable option for updating your fall and Halloween decorations.    

Purchase Quality Decor   

It may seem counterintuitive, but if seasonal decorating is your thing, embrace it and try to invest in quality items. While this includes second-hand purchases, it is even more important if you’re purchasing décor brand new. Similar to the advice about buying sustainable clothing, look for items that are traditional versus trendy, well made, have multiple uses and will last for years.  

Upcycle Decorations

Tip two mentioned reusing décor. Upcycling takes that a step further and repurposes old items into something brand new. Here is a post on upcycling about turning glass yogurt jars into Halloween Party Favors. In a few weeks we’ll have another post about repurposing the jars into Fall Candles. The options and opportunities are endless. Look around your home to see what you can repurpose into something new.

Use Natural Materials and Keep It Local

The final two tips go hand-in-hand.  I use a lot of natural materials with and in my fall and Halloween decorations. This includes pumpkins, squash and gourds, corn stalks, mums, sunflowers and other live plants. The primary benefit to using natural materials are there are options other than tossing them in the trash after the holidays. Pumpkins and squash can be processed into Homemade Pumpkin Puree and turned into delicious edible treats. Live plants can be planted or gifted and everything else can be composted. For more tips recycling fall decorations visit Green Disposal Options for Pumpkins and Fall Decorations.

In addition to purchase your flowers, pumpkins and gourds from local farmers markets, garden centers, nurseries, etc. Central Pennsylvania provides quick and easy access to a wide variety of local farms and farm stands, within a short driving distance. During the past several years, we’ve made annual visits to wholesale local mum grower, a sunflower farm, several pumpkin patches and even a gourd farm.  In addition to supporting local businesses by buying directly from growers, it also reduces the environmental impact from trucking and/or shipping our fall decor.

Final Thoughts

The key to eco-friendly fall decorating is to carefully assess what, if anything you, need to purchase, recycle and upcycle your decor, shop second hand and try to incorporate local, natural materials that can be cooked, reused or composted after the season. With a little creativity and pre-planning, you too can have a sustainable. eco-friendly fall.