Totorus

Photo credit by Kalexanderson

Halloween is a holiday enjoyed by adults and children alike. Many adults now have parties for their family and friends, children included. There are plenty of Halloween crafts, games, and other activities that can be enjoyed by children and adults.

Ghost crafts can be made easily with white tissues and other craft supplies. All you need for making "Ghostie Pops” with toddler age children who may not be able to trick or treat for as long with their older brothers and sisters are:

• Lollipops
• White Facial Tissue
• Yarn of any color
• A marker

Simply take a lollipop, and cover it vertically with the tissue. Then twist the tissue at the point where the candy and its wrapper meet, and tie at this spot with the yarn. Use the marker to draw a face on the part that covers the lollipop wrapper. These can be used as puppets and later the lollipop can be eaten as a Halloween treat.

A trick to play on older children at a Halloween party is to create a haunted house with scary music and sound effects. Add lights and have other family and friends hide behind furniture and doors. Then have them jump out and startle the kids. In addition to the actual haunted house you can boil spaghetti noodles and allow them to cool. You can then trick the kids into reaching into a bowl of cold and slimy noodles to find prizes. Make sure they are blindfolded or it is slightly dark.

Do your best to convince them that they are reaching into a bowl full of brains! The same effect can be done with blanched, cooled, and peeled tomatoes, although this is more messy and complicated than the noodles. If you do this with tomatoes then you may also want to change the “brains” to “eyeballs”.

Several costumes are also easy to make or assemble. Everything from bunnies to pirates can be made easily. A toddler or baby cat costume can be put together quickly with a pair of wool “footie” pajamas, store bought cat ears and Halloween makeup. Dress the child as you normally would in the PJs, and place the cat ear headband in their hair. Of course you may need to add an undershirt under the pajamas if it is chilly or damp out along with a jacket and/or hat where weather appropriate.

As you can see, a safe and happy Halloween can be had by all with just a little work.