When doing your Halloween decorating this year, think natural. Instead of creepy plastic pumpkins and menacing polystyrene grave markers, decorate for fall holidays with natural materials like pumpkins, dried corn, gourds, leaves and grasses. By avoiding plastic, foam and other nonrenewable, petroleum-based products, you will be using materials that can be composted at the end of the season rather than being thrown in our landfills. And, if you are carving pumpkins, you can save the seeds to roast for a tasty, zinc-rich snack. Incidentally, according to WebMD, zinc has been shown to reduce cold symptoms — something all too prevalent this time of year.

A Halloween favorite: spooky flickering candles inside carved pumpkins. But even scarier than the glow they cast is the chemicals released from the paraffin in wax candles and the fact they are petroleum based as well. Try organic soy candles instead. They last longer, are healthier for your lungs and come from a renewable source. Or, you can avoid fire all together and use flameless LED candles.

Here is what the National Fire Protection Association has to say on the subject:

“It is safest to use a flashlight or battery-operated candles in a jack-o-lantern. If you use a real candle, use extreme caution. Make sure children are watched at all times when candles are lit. “When lighting candles inside jack-o-lanterns, use long fireplace-style matches or a utility lighter. Be sure to place lit pumpkins well away from anything that can burn and far enough out of way of trick-or-treaters, doorsteps, walkways and yards.”

Some great byproducts of decorating with natural materials include supporting local farmers and saving on the fuel needed to bring your pumpkin from the field to house. So, leave the giant, scary footprint to Frankenstein and tread lightly this year with natural decorations. For more tips on putting the green in Halloween, visit greenhalloween.org.