Do your children love Halloween? Mine love the whole dressing up thing, as well as – of course – going trick or treating and gathering a whole heap of sweets! I’ve found it’s a great way to get to know your local community and if you happen to live close to your kids’ school, you get to find out who lives where quickly. That has really added to my sense of feeling ‘at home’ and part of a lovely bunch of people.
BUT the one thing that I always seem to get wrong is that no matter how early I start thinking about it, it always seems to ‘sneak up’ on me and I am often scrambling for a Pumpkin, outfits and make-up inspiration…
So, this year, in the spirit of being better organised… here a few things that I have come across in my Halloween ‘research’:
Easy Halloween Costumes
My kids tend to go as witches or zombies, or even just add a scary mask to whatever they are wearing. We do this particularly when it’s very cold, as the costume ends up under their coat anyway while trick or treating. For the witches costume, I have found having a hairband that has a mini pointy hat attached to it a brilliant and easy way to fulfil the ‘hat’ bit of the costume while knowing that this is an accessory that can be used over and over again each year (whereas my daughter seemed to grow out of whatever hat I’d bought quite quickly, or if I went for a large one, she’d look ridiculous…). The one we’ve loved is here.
An easy zombie mask that we now have this one – this is now a good ‘go to’ for my 11-year-old, who often will decide at the last minute or not whether he wants to join the trick or treating. The lure of sweets often ends up being too strong… but he isn’t that much of a fan of dressing up anymore, so a simple scary mask is a good alternative.
Easy Halloween make-up
I am not very good at makeup – so for me it really needs to be something VERY simple to do. I’ve had a look at the following pages and like the look of these – the step by step process seems easy enough to follow, so I am hopeful that this will be a good way for me to get my two youngest looking the part this year! And I also like that the make-up is not too scary 😉 The make-up that I’ve used in the past is here as it’s got a good range of colours and props, although I must admit the whole liquid latex, fake blood and teeth are things I’ve not ventured into yet (eeek!!). Â
Easy Halloween treats
This year I want to try making some simple Halloween treats in the run up to the big day – if nothing else to get the kids involved in trying something new. I love the sausage rolls and mini pumpkin pies that BBC good food suggest, and there are a couple of fun cocktail/ punch ideas too for the adults, in case you are planning on having a party 😊Â
I’m always amazed at how making food look that little bit more fun (I remember that from the 80s and 90s!) helps the kids try new things and lightens the mood all round.Â
Fun Halloween movies
I am wondering too, whether we extend the Halloween vibe a bit this year by having a couple of Halloween themed movies on the weekends before and after the big day. My kids tend to get a bit spooked by scary movies, so it’ll have to be very lighthearted ones… but I’ve suggested things like E.T. Toy Story of Terror and Spooky buddies to them. I came across this great blog with summaries for each movie and age recommendations too.Â
What do you get up to for Halloween? I’d love to hear from you. Whatever you get up to, I hope you have a fabulous time!Â
Anika x
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