Family Activities for Halloween
Halloween is a BIG DEAL for families that have young children. My husband and I did quite a bit of research when our kids were young, about the significance of Halloween and what the holiday actually represents. We made a decision at that time that we were going to look for ways to celebrate the holiday that were more God honoring. So for our family when the kids were little, we chose to have alternative fun activities planned. We were definitely a family that LOVED to dress up (we still have 4 trunks and 6 bins of dress up clothes and accessories in our garage) and we did encourage our kids to dress up, not only during the Halloween season, but all throughout the year. We put together some fantastic outfits over the years that we all wore to our creative alternative Harvest Festival events. Here are some options to consider:
1) Find local events to attend with your family and friends-community Harvest festivals in small local shopping centers or in large malls, or local parks that set up an event most weekends in October. Local farms or farmer’s market style stores like Windmill Farms in our area often have pumpkin patches set up with petting parks, a corn maze, hay rides etc.
2) Research your area for Harvest festivals. Local churches often sponsor events on the Saturday or Sunday before Halloween or even on Halloween night where families can come dressed up and play all kinds of carnival games, eat a fun barbecue dinner together and then enjoy music and other activities throughout the evening. When our girls were in college, their church had a “Trunk or Treat” event where people would decorate the trunks of their cars and bring tons of candy to give away. The owners of the decorated cars and some of their friends would dress up and hand out the candy in the church parking lot.
3) Find other families that also want to give their kids an alternative activity and plan something fun:
a) open your home up for a “Make your own Pizza Party” on Halloween night
b) have a carving and decorating pumpkin contest with great prizes
c) have a themed costume party with lots of treats
4) Make yummy pumpkin bread or pumpkin cookies and wrap them up in harvest colored bags and take them to a nursing home or assisted living facility and deliver them on Halloween afternoon.
5) Plan an afternoon to let your kids invite friends over to make a fun Halloween trail mix and then deliver it to neighbors. Here is what I put in my Halloween mix this year:
To make 20-24 cups of mix combine in a large bowl
2 jars dry roasted unsalted peanuts
1 (12-15 ounce) bag roasted unsalted almonds
1 (20 ounce) containers raisins (white raisins preferred)
2 bags M&Ms harvest colors (using only the red, brown, orange and yellow)
1 (12 ounce) bag butterscotch chips
2 bags (20 ounces) candy corn
6) Research what local restaurants serve free food to families that bring their children dressed up in costume. My grandkids had free dinner last week in the Irvine area at Chick-fil-A when they came in their costumes.
Be creative, this list can be customized for your area and many more ideas can be added over the years. I will try to keep my eyes open for more ideas for future posts. Have a fun and safe celebration.
What creative activities will your family do this Harvest season?
