October is almost here and I can already hear, Tim Burton’s “This Is Halloween” lyrics echoing throughout my home. These lyrics are a telltale sign I need to get on track for prepping for this year’s Halloween fun. With multiple children ranging in age groups, finding the perfect ideas for entertaining the crowd can be a little tricky. This year, I have come up with some new ideas for this season and I think you’ll like them too!
Halloween is a favorite holiday in my household. Something about the magic of Fall and the festivities that it entails really livens up my household. Apple festivals, Pumpkin Festivals, Costume Parties, Bonfires with smores and more. There isn’t an empty weekend on the Calendar once October hits. I LOVE it. The crisp breeze and the falling leaves, this is truly the start of the homiest time of year.
Halloween Toys
The Big Book of Monsters
Would it really be Halloween if a scary story wasn’t involved? No worries. The Big Book of Monsters: The Creepiest Creatures from Classic Literature has got you covered. Hal Johnson has taken all of the work out of searching for spooky stories ranging from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to Werewolves and Ghosts. This book is definitely going to be a hit. So get the campfire ready, or your salt lamp for an extra spooky effect indoors, and let the screams begin.
Order a copy for yourself through Amazon, Target, Barnes and Noble, and Walmart.
PAINT BY STICKER KIDS: HALLOWEEN
Another great addition to this season fun is the Paint By Sticker Kids Halloween Activity Book. This book is great for a range of ages whether it be elementary to middle school. Inside this book you will find several traditional holiday characters. (Zombies, Witches, and Pumpkins too!). This is a great work alone activity and for the most part mess free. Unless you have kids like mine that enjoy putting stickers on EVERYTHING. Each image has a coinciding page of stickers that are numbered to match their designated spot within the image.
Pick up a copy for yourself through Amazon, Walmart, Target, or Barnes and Noble.Â
Lego BRICKHEADZ Witch
Lego BRICKHEADZ Witch is a great addition to Halloween fun. In fact, we did a full review too.
Plus Plus Halloween Tubes
Plus Plus tubes have been making itself known in all of the homeschooling, children play, and mom groups I follow on Facebook. For a while, I couldn’t see the appeal. Mostly because I thought it would be another item that children would play with for 5 seconds and forget about. Leaving me another mess to clean up. I received my own set and I am thoroughly impressed with how much Plus Plus has to offer. What you see in the image above is the Plus Plus Halloween set. This comes with pictures to show images that can be made with the Plug Plug’s but with imagination, the opportunities are endless.
Looking for a Plus Plus tube hack for younger kids? Sensory Bins! Use the Plug Plug’s as fillers and add in skeleton bones, gems, spiders, creepy-crawly insects, spooky eyeballs, cauldrons, and you have yourself a Halloween Sensory Bin. Let me know in the comments below if you’d like a full tutorial on this! I’d love to show you what we did. Pick up your own Plus Plus Halloween Tubes through Plus Plus directly or even Amazon.
Halloween Treats
There are too many candies, snacks, and other Halloween-themed treats to name here. But, some of my kids’ favorites are always Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Hershey’s, and these super-fun cotton candy tubs that I get them every year. I usually find them at a local dollar store.
I know what you’re already thinking. Candy corn?! Yuck! Well, it’s not. But, I get it, it’s not most people’s favorite. However, I use it every year to make homemade Butter Finger candy. And it’s freakin’ delicious!!! I know I took some pictures the last time I made some, but (as usual) I am unorganized and can’t find it. But, you should definitely try it for yourself. You can use the easy recipe that I found. All you need is some candy corn, peanut butter, and meltable chocolate and access to a microwave. Trust me, you gotta try it.
Halloween is filled with fun candy items, delicious recipes, and a lot of sugar. It’s always good when you can throw something healthier into the mix. Made Good snacks are pretty darn near the perfect way to sneak a little healthy into the kids’ Halloween treats.
Every snack they make is organic, whole grain, low in sugar, and contain the nutrients of a whole serving of vegetables. Normally, healthy snacks that are made to seem like sweet, sinful indulgences end up being a disappointment — dry, tasteless, and even unappealing to look at.
But, Made Good is totally on to something great, I think. Each one of their varieties really do live up to what most people expect from a sweet snack.
My personal favorite of the varieties of minis and bars are the Apple Cinnamon Granola Minis. They’re perfectly sweetened, believe me. I have the biggest sweet tooth and this bite-sized snack very much satisfies it. And the level of chewiness and crunchiness is just right. I would love to see a variety with little nuggets of creamy yogurt mixed in, or maybe some coated in it like the yogurt coated dried fruit you can find in the snack aisle at stores.
The Strawberry Crispy Square and Mixed Berry Granola Bars are my other favorites. Really, all of the snacks are great. Each one has their own delightful flavor profile. I really appreciate the fact that they offer many flavor options. My daughter’s favorite is the Chocolate Banana Granola Bar.
In addition to being made healthy, all of Made Good’s snacks are made in a completely nut-free facility and (obviously) do not contain nuts. This makes them an excellent nut-free option for tucking into Halloween gift bags, handing out to neighborhood children during trick-or-treat activities and sending to school for celebrations.
Purchase Made Good Snacks:
I haven’t made any Halloween baked goods yet this year. But, the kids in my family are always up for cupcakes. So, I usually make those and decorate them with frosting tinted orange, black, green and purple and topped with Halloween-themed sprinkles, decorative toothpicks, and little plastic skull or spider rings like those shown on the Halloween cupcake liner filled with candy corn here.
One year I bought one of those really big Rice Krispies treat sheets and cut it in half and then decorated it like a graveyard. It turned out really cute, but of course — can’t find the stupid picture I took. But, you can probably google it and find a lot of inspiring pictures to make one for yourself.
During my search for that, though, I did come across other pics of Halloween-themed stuff I’ve made. Here’s a few:
There’s no end to the fun recipes, activities, and decor you can find on the internet. I do something different every year for my kids.
Pro Bar Bite Snacks
Pro Bar Bite Snacks make for the perfect trick or treat hand out. They are small in size and low in sugar. Much healthier than other traditional Halloween treats.
Pro Bar Bite Snacks also are gluten, soy and dairy-free! Perfect for trick or treaters with allergies to gluten, soy or dairy. They come in 3 delicious flavors – Coconut Almond, Mixed Berry, AND Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip. So far in my house, they are picky eater approved and since they are bite-size, they are perfect for on the go.
Home Decor, Etc.
I like to buy some new home decor piece every year to add to our collection. I always have, for many years, continually added to the items I own. But, since 2012 it’s been sort of necessary since all of our holiday decorations were swept away on the wind when a tornado destroyed our home. New this year:
Activities For Families & Pets
And, of course, Fall is when I like to spend time making jams and jellies. Last year I made some Mixed Berry Jam. The year before that I made Caramel Apple Jam and Spiced Pear Butter.
Pumpkin carving is always a good time…
Window clings are cheap and really easy for kids too young to wield a pumpkin carving knife or tool.
And pets can get in on the action, too!
You don’t have to have an actual pet costume, though. Zoo Snoods offer some really super-cute hood options that can be extended from every day outerwear to a Halloween pet costume in a flash! Zoo Snoods are hand knitted and are so. stinking. cute!!!
No matter what age the people in your household are or what kind of celebrations you enjoy, there are so many fun and inventive ways to celebrate Halloween. You can make holiday-related snacks, craft handmade items like treat bags/decorations, read spooky books together, watch fun Halloween shows or movies together, go to your local pumpkin patch … endless, the possibilities are endless.
What are your family’s favorite ways to celebrate Halloween?
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