Help me brainstorm Halloween party ideas...

[Jenny_A]

Alright all you creative mammas out there... I'm on the party committee in my local Mom's Club and we're working on our upcoming Halloween Party. I've got to come up with a craft and activities/games for the kiddos.

I was going to get a bubble blower for the younger toddlers. So far that's all I've got.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Jenny

[Fairy]

Go get yourself a Pottery Barn Kids catalogue, and a Martha Stewart Living magazine when it has the Halloween cover (soon, I'd think). You're gonna have so many ideas they'll be comingn out your ears.

Dirt is always fun. chocolate pudding, mushed oreos on top, with gummy worms. mini-pumpkin decorating with markers.

I pour over those two mags for two straight months, vowing to remember it all next year ... and I never do.

[SnuggleBuggles]

How old will the kids be?

Beth

[jadamom]

Pin The Nose on the Jack-o-Lantern

Pumpkin faces-
Craft foam, glue
Pre-cut shapes - pumpkin, stem, eyes, noses, mouths, etc
Let the kids design their own pumpkin face on their foam pumpkin.

Bone Hunt- Get two plastic skeletons from the dollar store and take them apart. Place the bones all around the house and have the kids hunt for the bones. They then have to put the skeleton back together with all the bones they found.

Mummy Wrap- Get a lot of toilet paper and wrap your friend like a mummy.


Tattoo station

Pumpkin bowling - 6 plastic pumpkins stacked in a pyramid and a small pumpkin gourd to roll into the plastic pumpkins.

Freeze dance to the Monster Mash or Purple People Eater

Pumpkin hunt, like a egg hunt

[bubbaray]

Depending on age, how about making a trick-or-treat bag? You could use canvas ones from Michaels and fabric paint. Maybe some Halloween fabric stamps for the younger kids??? Reflective tape or paint would be a nice touch.

You could do masks (with feathers and glitter).

IIRC, MS has a flashlight cover craft to turn a regular flashlight into a Halloween one. I'm pretty sure I saw that in her Kids magazine once.

HTH



Melissa

DD#1: 04/2004

DD#2: 01/2007

[Jenny_A]

We'll probably have about 15 children anywhere from 18 months to 2nd grade. That's a pretty big age range, I know. I don't expect all the activities to fit every age. Just a good variety of things to do.

Jenny

[Jenny_A]

oooohhhh... those are good!! Thanks! I like the Mummy Wrap & Bone Hunt especially :-).

Yeah!! I'm getting more and more excited.

Jenny

[Jenny_A]

I like the flashlight cover idea. By the way, what's IIRC stand for? I haven't seen that one before.

MS = Martha Stewart... yeah, that one took me a minute. Sometimes these forums are like deciphering code. :-)

I like the bag idea. Garden Ridge has canvas bags for $1.00 each.

Thanks for the great ideas!

Jenny

[Jenny_A]

Oh yeah... Martha Stewart. I like her holiday magazines. I had forgotten about those.

do you know what kind of markers work on pumpkins and won't smear?

Thanks,

Jenny

[Tondi G]

IIRC is... If I'm remember correctly ... I think! :)

[Jen841]

Can you get them to help with lawn clean up? Last year my kids had a blast filling up those garbage bags that you make into pumpkins and spiders.

Good old fashion parade in costumes is always fun. Can you take a little walk in costume and then gather afterwards for a "party".

Check Family Fun for ideas. They always have good ones. The Jello website most likely has fun dessert ideas too.

Based on my 4 year olds fear, I would avoid monsters and scary music etc. Maybe he's just a whimp, but he would not be happy.

Can you find pumpkins like the plastic easter eggs, or sort out colors of easter eggs to be more fall colors and do a hunt?

You can always make crafts with leaves.

That was my brain dump.

[purpleeyes]

We got these last year from michaels-$1.00 each! Plus, they have puffy stickers (with halloween themes) that were easy for the kids to do.

I would plan a trip to michaels or the craft store near you-they'll have stuff you never even thought of! That's what I did last year and wound up with the cute/cheap bucket idea.

Also, hearthsong.com has a bunch of halloween stuff in their new catalogue. Pumpkin Cake pans, pumpkin decorating kits, popcorn balls etc.

http://www.hearthsong.com/productCollections.asp?section_id=0&join_key=133&sc=1005&body_sc=1005&gc=2400&clnm=Feature%20Collections

This was a good thread, makes me excited for Halloween and fall!

Beth

[NeyhaR]

My local Mom's club did the cutest thing last year. They dipped each child's foot in white paint and pressed them onto black construction paper. Have baby wipes handy to wipe off the feet. When the paint dried, they drew in two black eyes at the heel, flipped it upside down, and you had a ghost picture. I loved the idea because even the really little ones could participate. It ended up being my DS's first art to display...

[Jen841]

I did this for J's first halloween and made cards. For eyes I used googly eyes. For E's first halloween I did both of their feet on one page... two ghosts.

Hint- do babies in a high chair or exersaucer.

[supercalifragilous]

Great thread!

I picked this up @ the library - Family Fun's Tricks and Treats book. It has a lot of cool info and pictures:

http://www.amazon.com/FamilyFun-Tricks-Treats-Wickedly-Costumes/dp/0786866101