Halloween is just around the corner, folks! And you can make it a healthy Halloween.
Moms and dads everywhere are gathering pumpkins, decorating their front doorstep, and trying to keep up with their children’s millions of costume ideas.
Does Tommy want to be Woody from Toy Story or Venom from Spiderman? How about Lucy? Just yesterday she wanted to be a princess, but today she wants to be Chef Amanda Freitag from Chopped!
Whoever they choose to be, chances are your child will be sporting some form of Halloween makeup to help them transform into their dream characters.
Here’s the thing, not all Halloween makeup is created equally.
In fact, most brands contain extremely harmful ingredients that could be detrimental to your child’s health, such as:
- Lead
- Nano Particles
- Bismuth Oxychloride (known for causing skin irritation, breakouts and redness)
- Parabens
- Petrochemicals
These additives are harmful to your growing child, not to mention unpleasant if a reaction does occur. However, there is good news! You can make your own non-toxic alternatives at home with items from your kitchen cabinets and enjoy a truly healthy Halloween with your children.
Here are a couple of recipes for healthy makeup alternatives you can make yourself.
*NOTE: Homemade makeup should never be stored. Make only enough for your child’s face and then discard the rest.
FACE PAINT RECIPE – WHITE BASE
- 2 tsp white vegetable shortening
- 5 tsp organic cornstarch
- 1 tsp white all-purpose flour
- Glycerin (ask your pharmacist)
Mix shortening, cornstarch, and flour until well blended. Add 3 or 4 drops of glycerin to make a creamier texture. Apply to face and neck as a base coat.
BASIC HOMEMADE FACE PAINT RECIPE – ANY COLOR
- 1tsp organic cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp filtered or bottled water
- 1/2 tsp cold cream
- 2 drops food coloring (or as desired)
Mix together all these ingredients to create your own DIY healthy Halloween face paint costume makeup.
You can alter the consistency based on your needs by adding a few more drops of water (thinner) or cornstarch (thicker). If you wish to spread the color over a larger area, make it thinner by adding some more water. For more precise or detailed design, make it slightly thicker with a bit more cornstarch.
WARTS, WOUNDS and MORE
To 1 oz. gelatin (not Jello, but plain, unflavored gelatin), add 2 tablespoons boiling water and stir, allow to sit for 3 minutes. As you stir, the gelatin will dissolve.
Pour mixture onto natural waxed paper. Here you’ll need to shape the gelatin to make what you want – a wart, a scar, etc. You need to work fairly quickly, particularly if you are going to mix in some color.
Add in what you need to create the effect that you want. If you want a wound, add some red coloring.
If you want the wound to look old, add some chocolate syrup. If you want a witch’s wart, add some green coloring and perhaps some bristles from an old brush. For dead skin, add oatmeal. Get creative!
Let your creation cool and gently peel off the waxed paper.
Once dry, apply using organic corn syrup – you just need to let the corn syrup dry really well.
*NOTE: These look best made the same day that you are going to wear them.
FAKE BLOOD RECIPE
- 16 ounces of organic corn syrup
- 1-ounce red food coloring
- 1 or 2 drops blue food coloring
- 1 ounce filtered or bottled water
- evaporated milk (optional)
Mix water, food coloring, and corn syrup together. Add milk until you get a blood-like consistency.
*WARNING: This will stain your clothes and skin so be sure to layer over a cold cream base. If applying to clothing, make sure it is clothing that you do not want to be ruined.
The best part about these recipes (besides being a safe and healthy alternative) is that you can get your children involved in the process. Have some playtime and pretend you’re mad scientists while you conjure up dead skin and zombie scabs! Have fun!
As you can see, keeping your children safe from toxins and enjoying a healthy Halloween is possible. With just a few common household ingredients, you can transform your child into whatever their little hearts desire!
They may change their minds a million times, but at least you will have peace of mind knowing that you did your job as their parents.
Enjoy a safe, happy and healthy Halloween!
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This guest post was contributed by Gianna Caucci – a copywriter and social networker at Essentia Natural Memory Foam Mattresses. Gianna loves to learn about natural healing, nutrition, and sustainable living and enjoys blogging about the environment, natural remedies, and great sleep on Essentia’s blog.