My brother and sister-in-law dressed up for Halloween. He wishes he was Batman.
As if the deluge of scary movies being advertised every day this month didn’t already let you know, Halloween is upon us. Halloween is a devilish delight for kids (and their dentists) and many adults as well. My brother Jay, for instance, lives for the Halloween season. Yes, I said season. Some people are content to put out a few decorations, find a makeshift costume to wear while handing out candy, then turn off the outside light to let kids know, “Go find another house.” when the candy is all gone.
Not my brother. He plans his Halloween costumes months in advance. He has participated in (and won) Halloween costume contests at work. He decorates what little lawn he has with as many Halloween decorations as he can fit (tastefully, of course). He gets his family into the Halloween spirit, which is like the Christmas spirit, only more scary and much less expensive.
My brother is far from being the only adult who embraces Halloween. But like any other major holiday, we adults get to enjoy the experience of preparing for the holiday in advance - and not enjoy the experience of taking everything down and putting it away. Thankfully, organizing your Halloween decor and more can be simple, efficient, and family-friendly, if you do it right.
Costumes
Halloween and recycling come together when it comes to costumes. Basically, an older child wears a costume one year, then a sibling for a future Halloween gets the honor of wearing it to save Mom and Dad a few bucks. (I’m underestimating the savings, because Halloween costumes are scary expensive) However, what often happens with old costumes and accessories is that people hold onto them for too long, so much so that the tote that stores them is about to explode from being overstuffed. Take the time to go through your costume stash and either donate or recycle them. You may free up an entire tote to be used for other things.
You may be someone who prefers to buy new costumes every year. (If you fall into this category, be sure to hit the Halloween pop-up shops on Nov. 1 to get what you want at a good discount.) If that’s the case, as soon as you’re done with your costume du jour, get rid of it.
Candy
The candy is my absolute favorite part of Halloween. Growing up, I loved trick-or-treating in my neighborhood and visiting as many houses as possible, then coming home and sorting my loot by brand and size. (For the record, “fun size” for candy should be the length of an arm, not the silly little nugget size that we currently get.) When my girls were younger, I’d walk around with them as they went house to house, and I enjoyed it as they came home and spent at least an hour trading candy between each other. They would also organize by brand and size without my prompting (insert image of a proud Dad here).
Organizing candy isn’t just limited to what your kids collect. When you’re getting your candy to hand out, first use the bags of candy that, quite frankly, you don’t care if there’s any left. That way, if you never got to use the bag of 100 Grand that you happen to love (like my wife does), enjoy it for yourself.
You also can engage your kids in the organizing process. For instance, have your kids go through their haul and, using plastic containers that fit on a shelf, put their preferred candy in their respective containers, refilling only when the container is completely empty. You’d be surprised how much candy your kids may not eat because they’ve simply had enough, and there are worse things to have than kids who don’t want to eat candy. If that’s the case, you can choose to get rid of the leftovers or take them into work to share with your very happy colleagues.
Here’s another suggestion: Some dentists offer money in exchange for candy so that they can donate it to military overseas, so see if that’s the case with your hygienist. Your kids will get money and learn about helping others at the same time.
If you do have older snacks in your cabinet or pantry, bring them to the front of your shelf and put the newer candy in the back. A good rule of thumb when it comes to any type of food is to bring items that are closer to their expiration date to the front for easier access. In doing so, this food is likely to be eaten first which will create less waste. Throwing away expired, uneaten, and unfinished food is the same as throwing actual money in the trash. When you think of it in that context, you’re more likely to follow this rule and limit waste.
Decorations
Finally, many of us are guilty of hanging onto decorations for too long. We keep decorations that haven’t been put out in years, yet we hang onto them because we tell ourselves, “We’ll put it out next year.” Let me keep this simple for you: No, you won’t.
Once Halloween is over and you’re ready to put your decorations away (in air-tight totes, especially if you keep them in your basement), take the time to look at what you didn’t put out and put those unused decorations in a bag or box to be donated. For the decorations you did put out, check them for any wear and tear; if they’ve seen better days, trash or recycle them as appropriate. (Along those lines: Thrift shops won’t take items that don’t work, have stains, or need fixing. Respect their operations by not trying to give them junk.)
If you like to buy new decorations, either immediately post-Halloween or leading up to the season, only do so if you plan on getting rid of some decorations you have. Too often, you’ll accumulate more decorations than you’ll actually put out, leading to more clutter and less space to keep your collection of stuff.
Enjoy the Halloween season and make my brother proud. If you keep an eye on keeping your house organized by following the suggestions in this blog, I promise you’ll enjoy a spooktacular season (sorry, couldn’t resist)!
Tom Harper is owner of Tom’s Organizing Made Simple LLC, a Bethlehem-based company dedicated to helping people declutter and organize their space, stuff, time, and/or tasks. Follow TOM’S on Facebook or Instagram.