October is here! It is officially time to pull out those Halloween decorations and start preparing! This holiday is a favorite for kids young and old. While older children will enjoy the thrill of spooky ghosts, haunted houses, and scary movies, celebrating with young children can be a challenge. Halloween is the perfect time of year to celebrate everything creepy, but it may need to be toned down as to not scare the youngest members of your family. Here are some ways you can celebrate Halloween with your whole family.
Throw a party
Throwing a Halloween party makes staying home on Halloween a treat instead of a trick. Part of the full of Halloween is dressing up, so invite your guests to wear costumes. You can even turn it into a friendly contest, handing out awards for “Scariest Costume,” “Funniest Costume,” and so on. Make sure there is plenty of food, candy and entertainment and your party will surely be a hit! You can also provide art supplies and have your kids do a Halloween craft! Let them use materials like construction paper, Styrofoam, acrylic paints and clay to fashion witches, pumpkins, ghosts and other scary-looking Halloween creatures. You can also try painting pumpkins. No carving required. Just some paint and imagination! Bobbing for apples is another classic Halloween tradition that many people love. Simply place some apples in a bucket of water and have guests try to lift them out with their mouths. This can be fun if you want a more lighthearted holiday party instead of something scary.
Halloween Books and Movies
You don’t have to pull out the scariest stories in your arsenal. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, read some Halloween stories and watch Halloween movies together. Hit up your local library or bookstore for Halloween themed books featuring all your favorite characters including Fancy Nancy, Little Critter, The Bernstein Bears and Clifford. Alternatively, turn off the lights and break out the popcorn for a movie night! “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Hocus Pocus,” and “Halloweentown” are all child-friendly Halloween movies that the whole family will enjoy. Save the true horror movies for when your children go to sleep.
Costumes
Halloween costumes don’t need to be creepy! Take the opportunity to explore your child’s fascination with firefighters, police officers, princesses, or their favorite animal. Really any dress-up or pretend clothes will work. Pay attention to complicated fasteners because you will need easy access for bathroom emergencies. Also, be sure that your child can walk safely, see well, and will not be uncomfortable due to an itchy, sweaty, or restrictive costume. If you don’t want to go out and buy a costume, challenge your kids to make their own. Halloween isn’t about spending the most money. It’s about who has the most creative costume!
Pumpkins
This is probably the staple activity, next to trick-or-treating, that you think about when you think of Halloween. Make the trek to your local pumpkin patch, orsupermarkett, and let your child pick out their pumpkins. At home, assist them in cutting open the top, removing the seeds and pulp, and cutting out fun shapes or faces into the sides. Older children can carve pumpkins by themselves (while still being supervised), but younger children may need some help. Have your child draw faces on their pumpkin and then give the pumpkin to you to cut out.
Celebrating Halloween with Young Adults? Bring Tales From Beyond to your library!
Cris Johnson, a master at holding audiences’ attention, has produced a brand new program geared just for your Young Adult Crowds. “Tales From Beyond” is a fantastical exploration of Assorted Oddities. A personal experience in the Strange & Unusual! “Tales From Beyond”is a presentation Young Adults will love. Cris brings a collection of artifacts collected over the years and presents stories and tales of mayhem, mental powers and the macabre. Teens will see strange artifacts, learn about mentalist powers and hear stories of unbelievable events. The “Tales From Beyond” program is ideal for teen audiences. It will not only attract them to literature but encourage them to use the library to find out more about topics which really appeal to them.