Halloween party

Most kids love a good scare!

Especially my boys. Since the schools in our town ignore Halloween, we used to (when they were little) provide a safe place for our kids and their friends to have fun, show off their costumes, eat a lot, and maybe have a few very safe scares.

Read on for some of our ideas:

First, food: This is very important to growing boys who are ALWAYS hungry.

I see this as a chance for me, for once, to "gross out" my kids.
One year we served
moldy pizzas (english muffins with pizza sauce and a slice of cheese warmed in oven or microwave and then sprinkled with green- tinted parmesan - that's the mold).
kitty litter cookies (chocolate cookies rolled into appropriate shapes and baked, served on a bed of Grape Nuts cereal which makes fairly realistic looking kitty litter). One mother said she just couldn't bring herself to eat one, even though she knew what it really was.
Dirty Bathwater Punch (7-up or some base with rainbow sherbet mixed in. The colors blend into a mud shade).
I found these recipes on the internet. Look for more, or use your imagination.
Second, Scares:

Get plastic spiders and bugs to put around. Hang a spider dangling in front of the toilet. Put one on the bathroom faucet.
We put old videos on TV like Dracula or the Werewolf. My kids (and for sure their friends) would have preferred something more modern- but be careful. A lot of the newer "horror" movies celebrate evil, or at least mix it up so that you can't really tell the good from the evil. We don't allow this kind.

We took the group trick or treating in our neighborhood, but we made sure they went to safe places and stayed together. If, like us, you have older and younger kids, get the older ones to cooperate by asking them to help with the younger ones.

We gave prizes for the best (funniest, most creative) costume. We let the kids vote on the funniest one. We tried to get them to not wear horror costumes. We had the party from 7pm to 9pm so that it keeps the kids inside and safe. By 9 pm most of the kids are tired and their parents tell them it is too late for more trick or treat. And we filled them up anyway. We had the parents PICK THEM UP so everyone gets home safely. I only let kids walk or bike if I have talked to the parents and they knew when the kids were leaving. And only if they lived very close.

We had a great time, even if some of my fellow church members did think I'm a heathen for doing it.
If you think Halloween is awful, you'll do more good by giving the kids in your neighborhood somewhere safe to trick or treat, than by having your house dark and disapproving. Give them candy, a smile, (and a tract if you wish), but don't be a self-righteous grump.

Have a safe and fun Halloween!

all pages © 2006
Leslie Prest

I got many of these graphics from Mandy's web medley,
Halloween links, several years ago.
I apologize for not giving individual credit for each graphic,
but the info was lost.
The top Happy Halloween is from
http://www.alphabet-soup.net/hall/halloween.html
Jack 'o Lantern is from
http://www.halloween-clipart.com/
And the other one I think is from:
http://www.angelfire.com/scifi/aspookyplace/index.htm
The trick or treat sign is from
http://www.hellasmultimedia.com/webimages/
Many of these are compilation sites
which say they "collected" the images.
If you OWN any of these
E-mail me and I will give you credit.
Here's the link for Mandy's Web Medley.
She has great links for all holidays!
Click here to return to Fall page.