Most people, regardless of age, love Halloween. What is not to love? Cute little kids in costumes, Halloween parties, candy and scary movies, are all part of the fun leading up to the big night of Trick or Treating. As kids get older, they grow out of the super hero costumes but still want to have fun. Halloween evening goes by so quickly, so draw out the holiday by doing cool things throughout October. Here are some ideas to try out:
Decorating Party: This is fun as a family, or kids can each invite a friend or two. Start by pulling out any stored decorations or Halloween items you have from previous years. Go to a party or dollar store and get extra items, like orange and black balloons, streamers, window clings, black table cloths, cotton batting, plastic ghosts, and skeletons, etc. If you can find orange string lights, or even clear string lights (from last Christmas), pull those out to light pathways, Jack O Lanterns, party doors, etc. Buy some black light bulbs to replace the regular ones with. Stretch out cotton batting to make cobwebs.
Decorating challenge: Pick an entry way to the house or a party room to decorate. Divide up into teams and give each team a challenge or a section to decorate. Set the rules: Can other items, like stuffed toys, be dressed up & used? Can clothing items from closets be taken out and be filled, draped or decorated? Are they allowed to use tape to hang things from walls? Have a little prize for the winning team (scariest, most original, etc.)
Craft party: Kids can make their own decorations using any of the following items: Poster boards and construction paper in black, green and orange; scissors; glitter glue, paints or markers; stencils; rulers; foam felt Halloween shapes; Halloween confetti, cotton batting (for spiderwebs), googly eyes, etc. They can cut shapes out to look like pumpkins, black cats, witches hats, ghosts, or skulls. Alternatively, you can buy each child a plain trick or treat bags they can decorate themselves.
Baking Party. If you only have a couple of guests, let them help make the cupcakes or cookies. If you have many kids, bake ahead of time and let them do the decorating. Provide white, black and orange icing, candy corn, black licorice, chocolate cookie crumbs, gummy worms, and black and orange candies. Kids love art they can eat.
Costume Party: Kids can come dressed up in their own costumes, or everyone can make costumes out of the hats, scarves, clothes, props and make-up you provide.
Halloween Music: Put your tweens in charge of the music selection - since they probably know how to download tunes better than you do anyways. Give them some song suggestions or have them do searches for the most popular ones. See if they can find some sound effects to mix in. They can burn a party CD and even do the cover art design as they are waiting.
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