Halloween Fun For The Kids

Santa Gifts

We all love Halloween, especially the kids. It´s not just about the costumes and going out to Trick-or-Treat for us though. This just gives another reason to spend time together doing something creative and to have fun together. There are a lot of different things to do.

Our favorite, as I´m sure is a lot of other´s favorite too, are the pumpkins! Every year, we go to ACME and other places to buy three pumpkins for each of us (myself included) and a bunch of little mini ones. We spread out carving them over the weeks before Halloween and make fun projects out of them once or twice a week.

For the mini pumpkins, we color and decorate them with special crayons or even regular crayola. We use these for decorations around the house and even outside the front door. You can find all kinds of craft packages that include markers and crayons that will mark the texture of the pumpkins at craft stores or even grocery stores near the holiday date. The kids love making their own unique decorations. For the bigger pumpkins, each week we each take one for each of us and gut and carve them out. I´ll usually cut the top part out for the kids (don´t let them use the knives) and then they can enjoy scooping the seeds and guts out. What kid doesn´t love to get messy? I have them put the guts and seeds into a strainer and rinse them to separate the seeds so we can set them aside. It´s really fun for the kids to decorate the outsides of the pumpkins as well with the crayons, or I´ll have them draw the shapes they want carved out with a pen so I can carve their design out for them. Usually they´re now perfect looking, but that´s the best part, and it allows the kids to use their creative sides. Once our pumpkins are done, we set them outside the front door(don´t keep them inside or you´ll get those annoying fruit flies all over the house, been there!).

Another thing the kids can join and have fun with is helping to bake the pumpkin seeds. They can lay the aluminum foil on the tray, spread the seeds out and then sprinkle salt on them to help you prepare to bake them. I bake them at 350 for about 10-15 minutes, checking for when they start to brown. They love to do this because it´s makes them feel like they´re helping and participate in everything while still keeping it safe fun for them. My kids love it, they look forward to baking the seeds every year.

Some more fun for the kids is always putting up the decorations. Those plastic window decorators are a cute and easy way for them to be creative. You don´t have to spend a lot of money on decorations either. My boys will draw their own pictures and tape them to the windows and on their bedroom doors. You can also get the pumpkin trash bags that you fill with newspaper and set them outside which they also have fun with.

There are so many things, and Halloween kits out there so you can have quality fun with the kids and they will remember it forever. Holidays are just another reason to spend quality time with your children. Try it out and have fun with those children of yours before they get too old!

I am a single mother of two boys, ages 10 and 11. I enjoy spending time with them and finding fun things to do and I´d like to share our experiences with others.