Halloween Fun:)

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. There is so much fun stuff to do and see. I’m not sure where to begin. Haunted houses and hayrides sound like fun, but if you have little ones like me you might need to wait a while, if you have older children go for it. I know Huber’s has a great hayride, see my fall festivals post for more info about that. One thing we like to do in my house is crafts, and Halloween crafts turn into decorations, I like using the Baltimore county resource centers for their Halloween die cuts and laminating machines.  You can read the “activities for busy hands” post for more information about that.

The crafty activities also become a great thing to do if you want to throw a Halloween party. I just threw one earlier today and we had a lot of fun. First off to keep things from getting too expensive I like to ask everyone to bring food to share. I do that for every party we throw except birthday parties (I feel that if guests are expected to bring a gift, they shouldn’t have to bring anything else) when the kids are really young, (under 3) they are mostly entertained by just playing with toys and each other. When they are at the preschool age, or older it can help to have some activities ready. I have two crafts ready. The kids got to glue a spooky picture with the stuff I got cut at the resource center. And they made a paper bag pumpkin.

http://www.babycenter.com/210_paper-bag-pumpkin_18266_30.bc

 Older school age kids can do games like feeling brains (Jell-O), eyeballs (peeled grapes) and guts (spaghetti) in bags. 

Halloween themed foods are also fun. Today I made worms in mud soup using peanut butter soup with udon noodles. A friend brought spider crackers and another brought a yummy cake decorated with skeletons. Throwing a Halloween party isn’t always necessary, you can attend them too. Last year I brought a goblin head cheese ball to a Halloween party. There are usually great community events too. The White Marsh Avenue does a big trick-or-treating the Saturday before Halloween. We have been twice and are planning on going again this year. For more info on that here is the link:  http://www.theavenueatwhitemarsh.com/events.php

All of the shopping malls offer trick-or-treating as well. There is the Holt center in my community that also does a campfire with spooky stories, that is only $5. We have not yet been to the Holt center, but I am looking forward to going:   http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/recreation/programdivision/region3/overleafullerton/programsholtpark.html

I don’t know why people don’t do it much anymore, but traditional trick-or treating is plenty of fun too, especially if your neighborhood is a good one. It also helps if you get along with your neighbors. One more thing I wanted to mention is all of the candy. We let our gymnast have some that night and the rest goes into the rewards basket. They then become a nice reward (bribe) for when your kid does something well (whatever is left after you’ve gone through it.) Have fun and be safe!