This Halloween, why not extend the magical excitement of this holiday by creating a week-long Halloween countdown?!
Day 7: Involve everyone in Setting the Stage
Decorating your home and yard for Halloween is fun for the whole family. To set the mood, add some of these fun things to your existing decorations:
- Cover furniture near the front door with sheets so the inside of your house looks spooky.
- Turn off bright lights inside and light a lot of candles to give an eerie look. Be sure to never leave candles unattended.
- Use water-soluble florescent or glow in the dark paint on your sidewalk or front windows to write messages to trick-or-treaters or create scenes. Ideas include “Beware”, “Keep Out”, “Enter at Your Own Risk”, and pictures such as creepy eyeballs, bats and black cats. Install a black light on the front porch to illuminate the hidden messages. Florescent sidewalk chalk can also be used.
Day 6: Have a Spooky Movie Night
There’s nothing better to get you ready for haunting than watching scary movies. You can choose from the Classics like The Blob, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein, or Dracula, or modern films such as The Addams Family, Beetlejuice, Hocus Pocus, Ghostbusters, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Poltergeist or It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.
Day 5: Share Halloween Jokes!
Did you ever wonder why there are so many Halloween jokes? Other holidays have catchy songs, sweet sayings on candy hearts, fireworks, baskets and bunnies. But Halloween has a lot of jokes created in its honor. So share some with your family and it’s sure to make a fun night for all. Here are just a few suggestions:
- How do witches keep their hair in place while flying? With scare spray.
- Why don’t skeletons ever go out on the town? Because they don’t have any body to go out with…
- What do ghosts and goblins drink on Halloween? Ghoul-Aid.
- What do ghosts serve for dessert? I Scream.
- What do you call a ghost in a torn sheet? A holy terror.
- What do you call a witch who lives at the beach? A sand witch.
- What goes “Ha-ha-ha…THUD”? A monster laughing his head off.
- What is Beethoven doing in his coffin right now? Decomposing.
- What kind of mistakes do ghosts make? Boo boos.
- What would you call the ghost of a door-to-door salesman? A dead ringer.
- What do you call a haunted chicken? A poultry-geist.
- What’s it like to be kissed by a vampire? It’s a pain in the neck.
- Where does Dracula usually eat his lunch? At the casketeria.
- Who did Frankenstein take to the prom? His ghoul friend.
- Why are so few ghosts arrested? It’s hard to pin anything on them.
- Why didn’t the skeleton cross the road? He had no guts.
- Why do mummies make excellent spies? They’re good at keeping things under wraps.
- Why don’t mummies take vacations? They’re afraid they’ll relax and unwind.
- Why don’t witches like to ride their brooms when they’re angry? They’re afraid of flying off the handle.
- What do you call a skeleton who won’t work? Lazy bones.
- What was the favorite game at the ghosts’ birthday party? Hide and Shriek.
- What is Transylvania’s national sport? Drac racing.
- Why do mummies make good employees? They get all wrapped up in their work.
- Why are there fences around cemeteries? Because people are dying to get in!
Day 4: Share Holiday Lore!
Find out how Halloween began and then share it with your family.
Day 3: Review trick-or-treating safety tips with your kids.
Trick-or-treating should be fun and safe. So take the time to review these tips with your kids before the big day so that they know what is expected of them. After you’ve shared the tips, give your kids a pop quiz, with Halloween candy given for each right answer!
- Make sure that an adult or an older responsible youth will be supervising the outing.
- Plan and discuss the route the kids intend to follow. Know the names of older children’s companions.
- Instruct your child to travel only in familiar areas and along an established route.
- Teach your kids to stop only at houses or apartment buildings that are well-lit and NEVER enter a stranger’s home.
- Establish a return time.
- Review all pedestrian / traffic safety rules (like how / where to cross a street).
- Put the child’s name, address and phone number on a slip of paper and pin inside a child’s pocket in case the child gets separated from the group.
- Add strips of reflective tape to your child’s costume to make him/her more visible.
- Remind your child to walk, not run, from house to house and not to cross yards and lawns where unseen objects or uneven terrain can present tripping hazards.
- Tell your kids not to eat any treat until they return home.
- When in doubt about a piece of candy, throw it out!
Day 2: Make a festive dessert or treat
Cooking together is one of the best ways to have fun and involve the whole family.
Day 1: Feed Kids a Festive Halloween Feast Before Trick-or-Treating.
Feeding them before trick-or-treating will help keep them out of the candy before they get home.
So why not let the fun begin even before they leave the house by serving them some quick and easy Halloween themed recipes:
PUMPKIN FACE PIZZAS
Ingredients
1 can refrigerated pizza crust
1 jar pizza sauce
1 bag pepperoni slices
1 bag shredded cheddar cheese
Assorted cut vegetables, such as green peppers, onion, yellow and red peppers, mushrooms, olives, etc.
Preparation
Divide pizza crust into smaller pieces to make individual pizzas. Follow instructions on pizza crust for pre-baking once shaped into individual pumpkins. Top pre-baked crust with pizza sauce, cheese and then arrange pepperoni and cut vegetables into spooky, funny pumpkin faces. Bake according to pizza crust package instructions. Serve hot to your goblins.
SEVERED WITCHES FINGERS
Ingredients
1 package of hot dogs
1 package refrigerated biscuit dough
20 sliced, blanched almonds
Green food coloring paste
Ketchup
Preparation
Preheat oven to temperature on biscuit package. Divide biscuit dough into individual pieces. Stretch and roll each biscuit until long and flat. Cut each hot dog in half and lay one half in each flattened biscuit. Roll dough around hot dog until enclosed. Place on cookie sheet. Brush red or green food coloring onto each almond, staining the “fingernail”. Place one almond at the end of each finger in the dough to look like a fingernail. Use a toothpick to make knuckle lines in the dough. Bake for approx. 10 minutes or until golden brown. Place witches fingers on a plate and put ketchup at the end opposite of the almond nail to make it look like a severed finger. Serve warm.
SPAGHETTI AND EYEBALLS
Ingredients
1 package spaghetti
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 bag frozen meatballs
1 jar green olives stuffed with pimentos
Preparation
Prepare spaghetti, sauce and meatballs per package instructions. When meatballs are prepared, cut out a small whole and stuff an olive in to look like an eye. Pile individual plates with spaghetti, sauce and then top with two meatballs that look like eyes. Serve.
VAMPIRE FANGS
Ingredients
6 apples
¼ cup lemon juice
½ cup sugar
Strawberry all fruit preserves
Preparation
Peel, core and cut apples in half. Then cut apples in quarters, then eighths. Place apples in a bowl and toss with lemon juice. Cut apples further into fang shapes and sprinkle with sugar and toss. Arrange fangs on a plate and splatter with strawberry fruit preserve “blood”.
