Eco-Friendly Halloween Treats For Sustainable Trick Or Treating

This post contains affiliate links which may earn us a commission.

Around 600 million pounds of Halloween candy is purchased by Americans every year. And when you think about it, that’s actually a lot of plastic wrappers that are going to end up either in the landfill or your neighborhood sidewalks.

But, Halloween happens to be my favorite holiday, and I do participate in handing out treats—they just happen to be plastic free and low waste options.

Trying to come up with plastic alternatives to traditional Halloween candy can seem intimidating at first, but when you think about, there are actually quite a few items that you can hand out that trick or treaters will still enjoy—stuff that doesn’t even have to be candy—just think outside the box.

Halloween Treats That You Shouldn’t Hand Out

Some things that you think might be a good eco-friendly Halloween treat idea, are actually a really bad idea. Below are some examples.

Homemade Goods

When it comes to eco-friendly Halloween treats, many people automatically think “homemade”. And while that’s ok to do for your child’s classroom Halloween party, strangers won’t be so keen to dig into your homemade rice crispy treats.

As a parent, I don’t trust homemade Halloween treats from people I don’t know—even if they live on my street. I just end up throwing them away because I don’t know what was placed inside.

Fruits & Vegetables

Fruit is another weird Halloween treat that people will most likely throw out. Like homemade treats, fruit can easily be tampered with, and plus, what 8 year old would want to haul around a banana in their candy bucket?

Toothbrushes

You don’t want to be that house that gets skipped every year because you give out toothbrushes. When it comes to Halloween and Trick Or Treating, kids want sugar, fun novelty items and more sugar.

Plastic-Free Halloween Treat Ideas For Kids

Boxed Candy

One of the most low-waste candy options is handing out boxed candy—like Nerds! Boxed candy is eco-friendly because the packaging can be recycled. And Nerds have been sold in boxed containers for decades. It actually happens to be my favorite candy. And if you’re feeling extra generous, you can always go for theater-size boxes of Sour Patch Kid candy. Both of these are sold in bulk on Amazon.

Foiled Candy

A lot of chocolate candy is wrapped in foil, which is totally recyclable provided that you clean off any remnants of food particles and make it nice and flat (not crumpled up). You can buy all sorts of foil wrapped chocolates like Hershey Kisses, or my personal favorite (since I was a kid), Halloween themed chocolates with scary monster faces! Those are iconic and I am stoked that they still sell them on Amazon! Yes, the packaging that houses these gems is plastic, but they are individually wrapped in foil and you can’t win ‘em all.

Paper Wrapped Candy

Pixie sticks are one of the many delicious candy that come packaged in paper, which is both biodegradable and compostable. These paper wrapped candies are available in bulk (pack of 300 sticks) on Amazon.

Soda Cans

Soda cans are a pretty cool treat to give out, and you don’t even have to give out full sizes—just get the pint size mini variety at your local grocery store. Aluminum cans are recyclable, and parents will most likely steal it for themselves and drink it as they walk from house to house.

Silicone Halloween Bracelets

Silicone bracelets can be reused an endless amount of times—plus, they’re fun. Kids love bracelets, and they’ll be sure to put them on right after they receive them! This 18 pack by Fepito is under $10!

Mini Pumpkins

Mini pumpkins are a Halloween staple, and although they’re not “sweets”, they’re still pretty cool to give out as Halloween treats. Kids can take these home and decorate them. You can get quite a few for cheap at your local pumpkin farm or farmer’s market. Moms will probably even use them as decor for Thanksgiving. It’s a win-win.

Halloween Pencils

Halloween themed pencils and rubber erasers actually make pretty decent Halloween treats. I would sometimes get them as a kid and I didn’t mind at all. You can actually buy them in bulk like this set by Outus which comes in a 101 piece set for under $20.