Halloween has quickly climbed the charts as one of America’s most popular holidays. According to an article on CNN.com, consumers spent 6.9 billion dollars on Halloween in 2015; $74.34 was the average amount Americans spent on candy, costumes, and decorations.
If you have a family, particularly young goblins, chances are you’re up to your pointy witch’s hat with zombies, black cats, ghoulish masks, and of course, candy corn right about now. During the Halloween season, these things and the like go with the territory. Many neighborhoods are decking the halls with frightful decorations in anticipation of receiving dozens and dozens of trick-or-treaters, but there are also other ways to enjoy Halloween with your cherubs in addition to going door to door. Mighty Mommy shares 5 fun twists you can add to your Halloween festivities this year.
#1: Go Daytime Trick-or-Treating
My kids attended a timeless nursery school called The Gingerbread House. What I loved about this pre-school was how old-fashioned it was. They didn’t incorporate high-tech toys or the latest technology in any of their lessons or play time. All the handouts that they shared were on old-fashioned dittos! They believed in lots of unstructured playtime, especially when it came to things like dress up and make believe. As each of my eight kids attended, it was like time stood still, and because many of my kids attended for three years, we were there for nearly 15 years. So I really appreciated the nostalgia that was created with each passing year. One of my favorite experiences all those years was celebrating Halloween with The Gingerbread House families. Because we had so many little ones under the age of five, the teacher helped to create a tradition of daytime trick-or-treating. She worked it out with the town that the school was in and every year on Halloween we took the kids trick-or-treating down Main Street and to the homes in the local neighborhood that abutted the school. Even we parents got dressed up. After the trick-or-treating was done, we headed back to the school for a party with cookies, juice and even bobbing for apples. Best of all, we didn’t have to head out at night when they were already tired and cranky. They helped answer the door to our own trick-or-treaters which gave them the chance to see lots of fun and spooky costumes. My kids still talk about those daytime Halloween parties. See Also: Halloween Resolutions
#2: Trunk or Treat
If you’re familiar with trunk shows, you know that it’s an event in which vendors present merchandise directly to store personnel or customers at a retail location or another venue such as a hotel room. The term is derived from the common practice of merchandise being transported to these events in trunks. Trunk shows have become popular with home businesses, jewelry lines and even at flea markets. There are even on-line trunk shows making it very convenient for busy families and working folks to get some shopping done and save some money as well.
In recent years, this popular trunk show idea was introduced to the Halloween season and is known as Trunk or Treating. The immediate appeal of Trunk or Treat is that it provides “one-stop-shopping” for kids in a single safe location. An article on Buzzfeed.com explains that Trunk-or-treat events bring Halloween to parking lots where kids go from car to car and get candy. They’re popular at schools, churches, in rural areas where homes are far apart, and in places where trick-or-treating isn’t safe. To get some festive ideas for your own Trunk or Treating, check out the ideas listed on Buzzfeed.com.
#3: Halloween Harvest Dinner
Now that my kids are older, I only have two that still participate in Trick-or-Treating. I admit it’s a little bittersweet, but because I had eight kids all so close in age I don’t really miss the agonizing over putting together that many costumes, especially once they got old enough to be so picky about what they were going to wear.
But even though they don’t all go trick-or-treating we still celebrate Halloween with a harvest dinner before the trick-or-treating starts. We have spiced apple cider, homemade butternut squash soup or a hearty chili, and roasted chicken with apples and cornbread stuffing. Dessert is a frozen yogurt bar where we use Halloween candy for the toppings. We’ve done this in our family for the past 5 or so years and we listen to spooky music while we’re dining by low lights or our recently carved jack-o-lanterns. See Also: 5 Cool Ways to Celebrate Late Fall
#4: Bonfire, Smores and Ghost Stories
Nothing says late fall like cozying up to a crackling fire outside on a dark, crisp night and roasting marshmallows or making s’mores. If trick or treating isn’t in the cards this year, or even if your kids get back earlier than expected you can end the night with a blanket, a bonfire, and of course, some ghost stories. Instead of reading ghost stories you can get a chilling effect by listening to them. Audible.com has a great selection of classic, spooky stories you can enjoy on Halloween night. And you can also visit scaryforkids.com to get a great list of ghastly tales to enjoy during this ghostly season.
#5: It’s All About the Pumpkin
Take advantage of this time of year by celebrating pumpkins. Jack-o-lantern carving, roasting pumpkin seeds, making pumpkin bread, and of course pumpkin painting. There are many engaging games you can play with your kids that revolve strictly around pumpkins such as:
1. Instead of Simon Says, play 'The Pumpkin Says'
2. Instead of Duck-Duck-Goose, play Apple, Apple, Pumpkin
3. Play 'Pass the Pumpkin,' like Hot Potato. Use a tiny pumpkin.
4. Instead of playing Pin the tail on the Donkey, play Pin the Stem on the Pumpkin.
5. Floating Pumpkins: Number the bottom of the small gourds that look like miniature pumpkins and float them in water for the children to choose one for small prizes.
6. Pumpkin Seed Toss: Number and line up 5 small baskets or containers; have children stand about 3 feet in front of the first container and toss seeds into them in sequence. Small prizes can be given for each container seeds get in.
7. Pumpkin Walk: This is like a regular cake walk except instead of numbers, place pictures of paper pumpkins on the floor for the children to walk; play some fun Halloween music as the children walk on the paper pumpkins. When the music stops, if they are standing on a pumpkin they win some Halloween candy or a little prize.
8. Make No Cook Pumpkin Pie Play Dough
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup water
Mix together and knead until smooth. See Also: 5 Fall Family Activities
How do you celebrate Halloween with your family? Share your thoughts in the comments section at http://ift.tt/1zMEe2L, post your ideas on the Mighty Mommy Facebook page. or email me at mommy@quickanddirtytips.com. Visit my family-friendly boards at http://ift.tt/1wyJKr5.
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