Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Philadelphia, PA

When I was younger, I loved throwing Halloween parties. I loved dressing up, I loved decorating my house, and I loved watching the guests arrive in their costumes. But somewhere along the line I got tired of dressing up every year. But I still loved the pageantry, and found myself quite enjoying hanging out on my porch to hand out candy every year.

Now, of course, I have the absolute joy of celebrating Halloween with my daughter. The first Halloween of her life I was determined to avoid princess costumes so she went dressed as Tigger; we didn't collect candy for her, we just tagged along with a friend's older kid. Last year we dressed her as a Hershey's Kiss; she was walking by then and also able to eat a little bit of candy so we took her to a few houses.

Now that she's nearly two and a half, I feel sure this will be the first year she really enjoys the Holiday, not to mention that she's a BIG fan of candy now, so as soon as she gets the connection between walking around the neighborhood and candy, she'll be all over that.

While my relationship to Halloween has changed, so has my overall sense of global responsibility. I used to trash everything and recycle nothing, and I actually found my super-focused on recycling roommate a bit annoying. That's changed. We work hard in this house to keep our actual trash low and recycle everything we can; luckily, our community supports that now.

So as I approached this Halloween season, I had plans to be more socially responsible. Really, I did. But that ladybug princess costume just leapt off the rack and into my cart, I swear. I know I could have gone to thrift stores--of which there are literally hundreds in Philadelphia--and gotten her a costume there. But I did not. Sigh.

Instead, I'll focus on what leaves this house. Instead of candy wrapped in plastic (twice!), this year we're going to give out the nice pretzels packaged in paper that I spied at my local "healthy" grocery store. I'm going to skip decorations altogether, and make sure all my interior lights are out while I hand out candy. Just a few small steps toward a greener Halloween this year; maybe next year we'll make a great effort. Happy green Halloween to you!

If you want more tips about how to green up your Halloween, check out this great post at the main Savvy Source blog.