7 Top Things to Do with Your Small Children on Halloween

Halloween can be scary for small children especially with costumes of monsters, witches & devils roaming the streets at night. Ever wondered about whether or not there were some other ways to have fun besides the usual door-to-door trick-or-treating at stranger homes. Here are a few imaginative ways to enjoy Halloween with your young children.

Halloween Activity #1 - Family Costume Party
Parties are always fun. Send out invitations to your friends, family, and whoever else you'd like to include in your celebration. Tell them it is a "Family Costume Party" which means that all members of the family are required to dress up in a costume that reflects an overall theme. For example, one family could choose to dress up as characters or significant icons of famous movies/stories like The Wizard of Oz (mom-Good Witch, dad-Scarecrow, daughter-Dorothy, brother-Munchkin), Little Red Riding Hood (mom-Grandma, dad-Wolf, daughter-Red, baby bro-Picnic Basket), Little Three Pigs (mom-Pig 1, dad-the Wolf, kids-Pig 2, Pig 3), and Goldilock's & the 3 Bears (mom-Momma Bear, dad-Papa Bear, kids-the other 2 bears).

You can give prizes away for best costume, most creative costume, most original costume, etc. - you decide the categories.

At the end of the party, you can give away treat bags; in that way, children can still get their share of sweets and treats without the uncertainty of the level of safety of candy if it had been collected from strangers.

Halloween Activity #2 - Trick or Treating at the Mall
With our babies, trick-or-treating at the Mall was an alternative we used often. Because the people giving out the candy were business owners, we felt safe to assume that they would provide safe treats to maintain their business reputation; otherwise, they'd be jeopardizing the future of their business if their treats were tainted. Most of the time, the vendors gave out stickers, free food samples, little toys, balloons, etc. which was a welcome change for someone whose children may be too young to eat candy.

Halloween Activity #3 - Halloween Trunk-or-Treat
Whether it be with your school, church or community group, you can organize a Halloween Trunk-or-Treat at your church lot, or at a "Starbuck's," or in a school, or other trusted establishment with a large parking lot. Invited participants bring in their stash of candy, chairs to sit on, their own snacks/beverages, and their children dressed in their favorite costumes. Trunkers can decorate their cars with lights, pumpkins and other Halloween decor. Children can then go with their candy sacks to each of the cars participating in the Halloween Trunk-or-Treat. This is another alternative that is more safer than the traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating of the past because all participants who are giving out candy must be invited to join and are part of your group community.

Halloween Activity #4 - Trick or Treat at Homes of Friends and Family Only
We've called up friends & family who have decided to stay home for Halloween and were content with just passing out candy. We let them know that we would be stopping by to visit them. After creating a list of friendly recipients, we can make a Halloween road map to guide us to homes that are 'safe' for our children to approach.

With this Halloween alternative, we may not get a ridculously enormous collection of candy in comparison to a family who had gone trick-or-treating the traditional way to a random number of stranger homes. However, it didn't matter if our candy buckets were overflowing; our goal was to spend time and enjoy these fleeting moments with our children.

Halloween Activity #5 - Pumpkin Decorating
If you've decided not to leave the house on Halloween, you can still be a part of the celebration by carving a pumpkin with your children. As the adult, you can handle the knife for the carvings. To get young children involved, you can have them paint their pumpkins, glue googly eyes, adhere yarn hair, etc.

You can also invite friends over to decorate, too. Have them bring their own pumpkins and you can supply the craft supplies. Everyone can wear their costumes if they'd like to.

Halloween Activity #6 - Halloween Potluck
Ever had 'witches fingers,' or eaten a 'Halloween forest,' drank orange "witch's brew"? These are just holiday appropriate names for chicken strips, a veggie plate and an sherbet ice cream float. Invite friends over to your home and tell them to bring in a Halloween dish. Tons of Halloween recipes can be found online, or you can create your own! It's a lot of fun to discover what kind of edible concoctions friends bring to the Halloween Potluck.

Halloween Activity #7 - Make it a Portrait Day
This is an especially excellent alternative for children under one year old, although it may still be done with older children. By making Halloween a Portrait Day, your child can still enjoy dressing up in their favorite costume and you can capture that once in a lifetime moment on film. Babies will not miss the candy for obvious reasons.