Jack
Do you remember Halloween? Not last Halloween, but back when you were growing up. If you're an elder millennial like myself who grew up in rural Cambridgeshire, the whole thing had an incredible glamour. It was edgy, it was cool, it was…American! Only a handful of houses in the village had a pumpkin, and costumes were definitely homemade. Bin-bag witches capes, lipstick blood vampire, and toilet paper mummies were par for the course. And they were great! The local post office sold the odd bit of plastic tat, which as far as we were concerned- was pretty much on the same level as Hollywood SPFX.
Fast forward twenty-five odd years and 2 kids later, and Halloween is a very different thing. At Uni, Halloween (like literally everything) involved house parties and heavy drinking. But now it's a much tamer affair. It's also a lot bigger with huge house decorations, and more pumpkins every year. Which is great, because I love Halloween. But I think there is still a bit of charm missing from the lack of bin-bag capes.
Here's some ideas on Halloween Games to do with the kids before they get too old.
Apple Bobbing
You might think a humble Granny Smith will be given a withering stare and left to rot, especially in comparison to say, a mini bag of Haribo. But if you stick it in a (clean) bucket with water, it acquires a much more entertaining mystique. This is a game best played before costumes/makeup is applied. As the last thing you want is Spiderman kicking off because his face is running.
Torch-Tag
Another simple one. You'll need torches, a garden, and darkness. This is basically tag, but you do it by shining torches on each other. In under ten seconds, it will descend into running around waving torches and screaming. But they'll have some good fun and it's a bit of exercise. If you can, make sure to move garden toys and bikes out of the way, so no-one falls over and brains themselves on a Peppa Pig tricycle.
Witches' hair
That old standby. A witch used to live here. And rather than bury her traditionally, for some reason the villagers put parts of her body into an old shoebox. Put your hand through the hole and have a feel. Cold spaghetti for hair, peeled grapes for eyes. Cooked cabbage for guts. Let your imagination (and the leftover tat in your food cupboard) run wild! The big disadvantage of this game, is that you're left with a LOT of wasted food.
Treating others
If your kids are getting a bit self-centred and middle-class, it might be nice for them to do something for other people. Bake some biscuits together and take them to a neighbour. It is a good idea to warn your neighbours in advance. Partly so they can practice their delighted surprise face, but also so they aren't quite so confused when Elsa from Frozen shoves a clingfilm covered plate of luridly coloured cookies into their hands.
Halloween Hotdogs, and other stuff
As well as sweets, kids also need to eat a proper dinner as well. If you can dress it up in a slightly horror-ish way, then more power to you. At the most basic level, hotdogs cut in half with a blog of ketchup on the end for blood, look a lot like fingers. Well, they don't look anything like fingers. But it's more of a representative aesthetic and if you make the effort to add an onion fingernail then no one can complain. Green jelly is fairly horrific anyway, and tangerines with a face drawn on them look like pumpkins. Well, they're orange at least.
Have a look at the Ocado website. They have a bunch of Instagram-worthy stuff around this time of year.
Ghost stories
We have a box of seasonal books, that come out of hiding around Halloween/Christmas/Easter. Most of these are pretty inoffensive, but they can become much scarier by being read by candlelight in a darkened room. Just try not to do this last thing before bedtime, unless you want them to have nightmares (you don't). When it's properly bedtime, you'll need to give them a couple of rounds of The Gruffalo, or whatever your normal go-to-sleep-dammit book is to restore normality.
Pumpkin patch visits
It's a bit twee, but a lot of farms have started doing trendy pumpkin patch visits. Like picking out a Christmas tree, only smaller and more orange. You might get some nice photos, but wrap the kids up warm, because a field in October tends to be a bit nippy.
If you want a nice looking pumpkin, buy yourself one and carve it away from the kids. Their pumpkins will be rubbish. Don't feel too bad about it, pumpkin carving is a tricky skill, and by definition, you're only doing this once a year.
Witch reminds me (pun intended) enjoy yourself, and have a ghoulishly good Halloween! Wherever you are…
MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
