Halloween-inspired kid-friendly activities

“Safe” and “kid-friendly” are probably not the first words that come to mind when you think of Halloween. And understandably so.

Isn’t it the night when the barrier between this and the afterworld is thinned for spirits to come home?

In America, kids flood the streets in costumes, going from door to door asking for candy, and although this isn't a local tradition, it's increasingly becoming popular in the suburbs.

With each year, more and more communities get together to celebrate, making safety issues less of a concern.  

We’ve come up with a few ways for you to embrace those classic Halloween traditions though, as well as getting into the spirit of things with a few new Halloweenesque activities.

Here’s how you can have a safe, kid-friendly Halloween this year.

Trick-or-treating

It’s probably not a good idea to let your kids go trick-or-treating by themselves, even if they are accompanied by their siblings. But you could get fellow parents in and have the entire neighbourhood participate.

In your neighbourhood watch Whatsapp group or your community’s Facebook page, find out how many parents have little ones who also want to go trick-or-treating on Halloween.

Once you’ve got enough people involved, you can go ahead and decide a route you’ll be trick-or-treating on (a few streets should do) and all the kids participating can go along, accompanied by their parents, of course. Choose a specific time at which you’ll start so that everyone can go together.

Allow your neighbours to decide whether they’d like to participate or not. If they wouldn’t mind, they can leave their porch light on or stick a notice on their front gate to let kids know they can ring their bell for a trick or treat.

Costumes

You can’t go trick-or-treating without a costume!

You don’t have to buy anything expensive to let your little one dress up as their favourite character. There are loads of stores with cheaper Queen Elsa costumes and Batman masks. Pay a visit to China Town or any Crazy Store for a cheaper deal.

You can also create an activity out of making their own costume. There are loads of tutorials online you can check out. Here are a few last minute ideas you can probably throw together from things you’ve already got at home, and a bonus punny video of Ellen’s quirky, topical costumes too:

Movie marathon

You’ve probably seen every scary movie there is on TV this month. Chances are, they were probably too scary for our kids to watch though. So we’ve also rounded up a list of kid-friendly Halloween movies for your kids to watch this weekend.

Have a marathon with Hocus Pocus, Coco and 21 other Halloween movies. Click here: 23 Halloween movies your kids can actually watch

Halloween-inspired activities

If you don’t want to participate in the usual Halloween traditions, you can put a scary spin on a fun craft or weekend activity. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• WATCH: How to make monster slime for Halloween
• WATCH #ParentingHacks: How to make decadent monster mousse!
• WATCH: How to make healthy Halloween snacks for kids

Chat back:

Are you doing Halloween this year with your kids? How are you celebrating the day? Tell us and we could publish your letter.