Hallowe'en
An Opportunity for Activism
Trick or Treaters come by and often the vegan has a moral dilemma. Do you switch the lights off, shut up shop and be the ‘grinch’ of Hallowe’en? Are you swayed by apologist vegans to just buy gelatine filled Haribos as they are cheap and aren’t for you, plus it shows how cool and edgy you are to be OK with just a little bit of cruelty? Or do you begrudgingly pay the vegan tax (vegan food isn’t subsidised unlike meat, fish, dairy & eggs so vegan products reflect the actual cost plus the cost of producing products with limited demand) and buy vegan chocolates and sweets in, feeling annoyed that the kids probably won’t have even noticed your effort, nor the extra expense the choice of cruelty free living incurs?
Inside each Hallowe’en goody bag:
Bebeto Vegan Spooky Mix
Moo Free Fangtastic chocolate bar
Fun size bag of skittles
Sour Apple Refreshers (vegan obvs!)
2 mini H!P oat milk chocolates
Most importantly:
An age appropriate leaflet from Viva
educating kids about veganism - you can
find the leaflet here
Instead, I would love you to see this as an opportunity for pretty passive & easy activism.
Think about it- these kids are coming to you. To your house, for treats. They are going to take a goody bag with a leaflet in, these are people who might not otherwise be reached. When everything is all tied up neatly in a bag they will take everything home. and some of those kids might actually read the leaflet. Some are quite possibly having discussions with their parents right now about switching to a plant based diet and vegan lifestyle.
Anti-natalist Vegans
I know many vegans don’t like ‘breeders’ or their kids.
However, I’d ask you to put your feelings for animals above your loathing for kids and to remember that kids (on the whole) actually have more compassion for animals than adults. Kids are more likely to make the change than adults.
This is easy activism, all you have to do is plaster a smile on (or put on a devil mask) for a few hours while handing out vegan treats with vegan education inside.
No Kids Come By!
You might genuinely live in an area with no trick or treaters. In that case, this blog isn’t helpful unless you spend Hallowe’en elsewhere.
Bear in mind though, that these days many parents and kids only go to ‘friendly’ houses with Hallowe’en decorations plastered outside.
Peak trick or treating time is at 17.30-18.30 in the UK, it is dark so have at least one decoration that is LED or lit up in some other way. Otherwise there’s a risk people will miss your home and not come. Display your lit up decoration prominently so people from a distance can see it.
For security I’m not plastering my house over the internet but you can see here a couple of my LED decorations, one is a bucket that I put a (plastic) rat in, which proved to be a hit with toddlers at the right height for it!
Expensive!
.
Yes it was expensive. Activism is expensive. Going to saves, vigils, doing street activism, all of it incurrs a cost. In my view, if I’ve created one new vegan I’ve done good work, worth every penny.
I’m so grateful to you for clicking on my blog as that adds to my £££ at no cost to you. Staying on social media doesn’t add anything to my bank balance, the more money I have the more I can help animals.
RIP Advent Calendars
Your sacrifice was noted !
I’d love to know how you get on with your vegan activism next Hallowe’en.
Please send me a message!
Love,
Kate xx