Halloween Ideas - Kaufman,TX

We used to do a party every year. Some things we did:

*I had each family bring a themed party food (really helped my cost and labor)

*Each guest brought a dollar store prize for the costume contest. I had a designated teen watch as guests entered and write down categories, each guest won a prize at the end of the night. Best Princess, Pinkest Princess, Smallest Princess, etc.

*We painted mini pumpkins. Or you can use markers, do not use tempra paint as it will flake right off the pumpkins... must be acrylic.

*Spooky storytime in the livingroom. Read a halloween book or tell a ghost story.

*Monster mash, parents must start this or kids will usually not participate, but it is fun when they get started,

*Small craft to decorate. We made ghosts with out of tissue paper, stuffed them with a grocery sack and had kids decorate their face.

After you do all that and eat, its time to go! Everyone has a blast and we are always asked the next year if we will host again.

We have played duck-duck-goose & called it witch-witch-ghost & the kids liked that. We have had mummy wrapping races where teams of 2 get a roll of toilet paper and one wraps the other like a mummy. The first to finish is the winner. The kids LOVE this game. You can buy little foam shapes (ghosts, witches hats, black cats, etc) at Micheal's & let the kids decorate these with glitter glue pens. Just a few ideas from our parties in the past -- hope they help!

For costumes you could dress as super heros, a rock band, a sports team.

Hi,

I am not a halloween fan, but I love harvest parties and fun non-scary events. I think you would have a great time with decorating pumpkins (the mini ones) with lots of different props-- ribbons, glitter, paint, felt/fabric pieces for clothes, crazy hair etc. Let each child take theirs home at the end of the night-- if you want you could ask each parent to bring a mini pumpkin to decorate and you supply the decorations. Pin the tail on the pumpkin, pinantas are always fun, scavenger hunts around house or neighborhood. Good luck!

M

Decorate cookies, a cakewalk, bobbing for apples, make ghost suckers out of a tissue and sucker, three legged races,

hello a good idea for halloween is one of your kids could be a sleepwalker and dress in their pajamas for halloween that is a cheap idea you can just dress in your pajamas and buy some halloween makeup. or if you have some boxes you can be a dice,or you can buy a costume.you can have people bring mini pumkins and have them decorate them!

If you want some inexpensive ideas, try out a Dollar Tree. I found a Tinkerbell costume at a yard sale and found all sorts of cute shoes, wings and skirts there for Toddlers. Thrift stores are also a good way to go. Just make sure to wash all thoroughly in hot water. Peter Pan and the Lost Boys comes to mind for some reason. You could always include Wendy as well if that fits. Hope this helps.

When they do a fall festival at our church, they have simple carnival games with candy for prizes that are easy to make. One is the fishing game - dowel rods with strings and a clothes pin - someone hides behind a screen and clips little toys and candy to the clothes pin, throw a ball to knock over cans or roll it like bowling, pick up ducks floating in a bucket of water that have numbers on them for the prize you win, throw a ball or football (can be a nerf ball) through a target, ring toss or bean bag toss. Also you can have them drop clothes pins into a bottle, bob for apples, etc. Let the older kids run the games. One of the games that the kids really enjoyed was crush the can - someone had one of those aluminum can crushers that help you recycle cans or you can just use a hammer. Great if you recycle - just save your cans and let the kids crush them for you to make them smaller.

The other thing that my kids have always enjoyed at their parties are large boxes to crawl through or make a fort out of. Find a furniture store or appliance store near you and ask them to save you boxes. My kids would tape them together and I would use a box cutter to cut windows and doors. They would blow up balloons and put them in one of the large refrigerator boxes to make a "ball pit." Almost as much fun to make as it is to play in, especially for your older kids.

Google for costume ideas like Addams family, Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, group of superheroes, Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus with elves or reindeer, etc. Just depends on what your family likes and how elaborate you want to make the costumes.

I like the more creative things like you and your husband could be artists and your kids could be the "creations" - dress them in white and have paint all over them. Or you could be the solar system - Mom (or Dad) as the sun (dressed in yellow) and all the others as the planets - dressed in various colors that represent each planet like red for Mars and maybe even paint some planet looking designs on their clothes. Saturn would have rings around them, etc. Dress like different candy bars, deck of cards, dominos, etc. It is really best if it fits your family's personality. Have fun!

I remember when I was a kid in girl scouts we did a thing where we were blind folded and had to reach in and touch or smell different items. I cannot remember all of the things, but I'll never forget "the eyeballs." It was peeled grapes- very freaky.