The summer is by now long behind us, and the colder months beckon – but with them come the best holidays of the year. Halloween isn’t often spoken of in the same breath as the likes of Christmas, but it is a supremely enjoyable occasion and perfect for the spookiness of late Autumn. For the parent struggling to balance work and home well, it also presents a golden opportunity to spend some targeted quality time with your family. But how might you do that?
Pumpkin Decorating
There is no more fitting Halloween activity than the simple act of pumpkin carving. Jack-o-lanterns have come to signify Halloween just as candy canes and tinsel signify Christmas, and the Easter bunny, well, Easter. Carving pumpkins is a fantastic group activity, and the perfect way to bring the family together for an evening.
There are multiple steps, all of which can see parents offering assistance to their kids; after carving, each can share their design with the rest of the family, and contribute them to the home’s Halloween decorations! For younger children, naturally, knives are a no-no, so painting pumpkins might go over a little better.
Costume Crafting
Trick-or-treating has always been much more of an American tradition than a British one, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a regular fixture over here. Trick-or-treating or not, spooky costumes are par for the course on the 31st – so why not bring the family together to design your costumes together?
While costumers are easily bought from Amazon or local fancy dress retailers, there’s a lot more fun to be had in putting costumes together from scratch. It’s a great excuse to get mucky with fake blood and guts, and a brilliant way to tease out the creative inclinations of your younger family!
Spooky Nighttime Walk
Even if trick-or-treating isn’t on the menu, there are a great many other excuses to get out there in your fabulous new DIY costumes. Halloween is now rife with festivals and gatherings, that truck in both the newer Americanised traditions and older Wiccan sensibilities. A swift train ride could take you to a spooky guided Halloween walk, a special Halloween market or even a scary circus show.
Scavenger Hunt:
But you needn’t travel in order to make your family’s Halloween memorable. There are plenty of ways to celebrate the spook season at home, and one such way could be to organise an extended family scavenger hunt in your back garden. You could transform your garden into a moody graveyard, replete with jumpscare furnishings and secret scares, and have the children explore it in search of sweets and treats.
Baking Halloween Treats
What better way to supply such treats for your guests than to make them from scratch? This could be another winning family activity, whether getting your kids to help whip up a dough or simply entrusting them with the icing sugar…
