Thank you to the few courageous souls who submitted costumes to our LoveEarthAlways Green Halloween Costume Contest. A few of the ghosts and goblins who appeared at our door on Saturday night would have qualified too! And the selection process was rigorous. When the dust had settled and all was said and done, there were two remaining eco-hero contenders who stood apart from the rest, Michelle and Wenona.

Michelle wrote "My costume is made entirely of recycled materials - we even got the spray paint from someone who had a half used can on Freecycle."

The other winner, Wenona explained: "My daughter wanted a unique vampire costume so we created one. We didn't buy anything new except for a velvet vampire cape on eBay and technically that wasn't new, it was used just new to us. To create the costume we raided closets and found a black lace top, a 3/4 sleeve red t-shirt top to go under the lace, a long red and black skirt, and lace up witch boots which we put together for a gothy vampire look. She already had some old fangs and then I bought the used velvet cape on ebay for $1 when they are selling at the store for over $20 With a little white makeup and some eyeliner and red and black lipstick a vampire was created The only thing purchased for this costume was the velvet cape everything else we had in the closet and in the makeup bag So everything is low to no impact because ntohing new was needed, barely any money was spent and nothing will be tossed after Halloween- it'll all go back in the closet. And another bonus- the cape is being used by two people because I am borrowing it to wear over my gown for a costume vampire ball the weekend before Halloween."

Is this great or what? I can't tell you how happy I am to be awarding prizes to Michelle and Wenona for their efforts. Imagine the impact if more people did this instead of buying packages of costumes that might be worn once, then discarded. Michelle and Wenona will each receive Smart Strip advanced power strips that will immediately begin saving them electricity on "vampire" electrical loads from their appliances. And they will each receive samples from Lake Champlain Chocolates! Again, congratulations from LoveEarthAlways and good luck in your energy-saving endeavors! Let us know if we can be of more help!