Spooky AND safe – don’t miss out on Halloween fun!
It’s usually a time of great excitement for our littlest Schoopers – and the not-so-little ones – as Halloween approaches. Unfortunately, this year will rather different, with some of us in lockdown and all of us being strongly discouraged to head out trick-or-treating. Even those in areas not in lockdown are being advised to think twice about accompanying kids to knock on neighbourhood doors thanks to complicated rules against mixing households. Social distancing and hand-washing advice can be hard to follow, especially if the trick-or-treaters are small and excitable!
So, we thought we’d help by providing some fun ideas for Halloween this exceptional year so our youngsters can enjoy themselves so much they don’t even notice they’re missing out.
Bake spook-tastic sweeties!
You can find lots of ideas for Halloween bakes on the internet, this resource includes some you don’t even need to bake. All it takes are a few, relatively cheap, ingredients and a little imagination to have fun preparing goodies that not only look spook-tacular but taste great too! An afternoon preparing ghostly cookies and zombie fingers (hotdogs sculpted to look like severed fingers – complete with ketchup ‘blood’!) can pass in a fun blur – and has the added advantage that they get to scoff their efforts when they’ve finished!
Carve a ghoulish pumpkin
Many years ago when this Schooper was young ‘un, it was turnips that were carved for Halloween (how many of you reading this remember those days?!!). Nowadays, a pumpkin is much easier to find and very much easier to carve! There are some great hints and tips here, and of course, Google is your friend if you’re looking for creative templates to go one up on the typical Jack O’Lantern grin.
Don’t forgo dressing up – organise a Zombie Zoom party!
Apart from all the sweets and treats at Halloween, dressing up is one of the most fun activities and it would be a shame to not bother at all this year. So, even if your area’s in lockdown at the moment, organise a Zoom – or Skype or FaceTime – party for your children. Getting ready to scare is half the fun with dressing up and at least your little ones will feel they’re enjoying the festivities with their friends.
Make a creepy facemask
It feels odd even to type this, but we are where we are! At least make wearing a facemask fun over Halloween. Get a plain cloth facemask and get the little ones to decorate their own mask with fabric pens or paints. Try a terrifying grimace, Dracula’s dripping fangs or a skeleton’s toothy grin – the only limit to fear-inspiring fun is your imagination!
Enjoy family-film night – Halloween style!
The easiest one of all, as there are loads of scary and/ or Halloween movies on TV over this period. On terrestrial TV you can still catch Ghosts for family-friendly phantom fun, however, there are a huge range of Halloween appropriate movies on both terrestrial and streaming services that will suit all ages and levels of spookiness!
Hopefully, we’ve given you a few ideas and you manage to enjoy this strangest of Halloweens. If you try out any of the suggestions, we’d love to see them – go to our Facebook page and post them so we can all enjoy them! We’d also love to hear your plans on how you’re spending Halloween, do feel free to share your tips in the comments!
