Halloween party filter
October 28, 2010 7:01 PM Subscribe
We're having a neighborhood Halloween party- have lots of ideas for music, food, decorations, but what should we do? There will be adults and kids from one to nine there.
We're having a costume parade and doing some stories, but we would love your ideas for activities for a group of 2-3 year olds, 5-7 year olds and 8-10 year olds.
We're having a costume parade and doing some stories, but we would love your ideas for activities for a group of 2-3 year olds, 5-7 year olds and 8-10 year olds.
I think bobbing for apples is a traditional fall party thing. But not cool if kids will have face paint on. How about that game where people lie down under doughnuts hung on lengths of elastic? I don't remember how it works exactly, but have a general sense that it was hilarious when we did it in youth group. Make them pumpkin doughnuts with orange glaze.
On googling I found a reference to it and a bunch of other Halloween party ideas here.
posted by lakeroon at 8:30 PM on October 28, 2010
On googling I found a reference to it and a bunch of other Halloween party ideas here.
posted by lakeroon at 8:30 PM on October 28, 2010
Mini-pumpkins (the ones about the size of your fist) can be had fairly cheaply. Let the pre-K kids get in on seasonal pumpkin decorating fun by providing add-ons they can handle, like paper and glue, or sticky-tack with buttons & elbow noodles. Oh, and stickers too, but, well, stickers come around much more often than a chance to cover the known world with Elmers. If my 3.5-year-old is any yardstick, don't count on getting recognizable faces: It's more about fun with pumpkins & art supplies and pumpkins!!! and glue and (did I mention?) PUMPKINS!!!
posted by Ys at 8:49 PM on October 28, 2010
posted by Ys at 8:49 PM on October 28, 2010
Apple bobbing is hugely popular with our kids.
Try and bite an apple hung from a string nailed to the ceiling. Hands behind your back.
posted by purenitrous at 9:30 PM on October 28, 2010
Try and bite an apple hung from a string nailed to the ceiling. Hands behind your back.
posted by purenitrous at 9:30 PM on October 28, 2010
I agree that cookie decorating is fun, but if you're worried about the kids making a mess, you should pick up some edible markers. They're meant for decorating fondant, but work well on crisp sugar cookies. You should be able to pick them up at Michaels or your local baking shop.
posted by lexicakes at 9:50 PM on October 28, 2010
posted by lexicakes at 9:50 PM on October 28, 2010
Pin the limb on the zombie?
Pin the hat on the witch?
Pin the "oooooh!" on the ghost?
tail on the black cat? etc
musical statues with appropriate music?
pass the parcel with (v inexpensive) grusome treats between each layer?
can't remember what its called but set up a big box with holes in the lid so kids can put their arms through but not see inside, have something different under each hole that you call a part of eg a mummy - damp spaghetti for its guts, peeled grapes for its eyes, sweets for its teeth, a peeled orange for its heart etc
what time is it mr wolf? with an adult as the wolf, ie "What's the Time Mr Wolf?
" Mr Wolf and stands at one end of the allocated space with their back to the children who stand at the other end. They chant 'What time is it Mr Wolf?' Mr Wolf replies for example, 'Four O'clock'. The children then take four steps towards Mr Wolf. This continues until Mr Wolf replies instead 'Dinner time', turns and runs to try and catch one of the children. The captured child then becomes Mr Wolf. If the children reach Mr Wolf before he calls dinner time, then the game is repeated with the same Mr Wolf."
teams race to make one member of team into a mummy by wrapping them in toilet paper from head to foot, the mummies then race for a prize!
for older kids/singles - peel an apple trying to make the peel as long as you can without breaking it, throw it over your shoulder and it will form the initial of the person you're going to marry!
fortune telling with tea leaves!
supposedly if you are single and sit in front of a mirror on Halloween you see the face of your future spouse, or if you are destined to die before you marry you see a skull. Maybe have a dark booth with a mirror and a chair and a light in it, and once people have been in there a while staring, a cutout of a gruesome celeb/someone's granny on a stick is waggled through the curtains in front of the mirror! (okay maybe for older kids/adults only)
kids can make groups to draw or write ghost stories - each taking one sentence after the other, with adults you can fold the paper over so you cant see what the people before have written (or is that too TEFL?)
adults telling ghost stories by candle/torch light (remember to hold light under your chin)
(there must be a tonne of stories for different ages online
above all keep it properly scary! All Hallows Eve = Samhain = warding off harmful spirits!
posted by runincircles at 6:27 AM on October 29, 2010
Pin the hat on the witch?
Pin the "oooooh!" on the ghost?
tail on the black cat? etc
musical statues with appropriate music?
pass the parcel with (v inexpensive) grusome treats between each layer?
can't remember what its called but set up a big box with holes in the lid so kids can put their arms through but not see inside, have something different under each hole that you call a part of eg a mummy - damp spaghetti for its guts, peeled grapes for its eyes, sweets for its teeth, a peeled orange for its heart etc
what time is it mr wolf? with an adult as the wolf, ie "What's the Time Mr Wolf?
" Mr Wolf and stands at one end of the allocated space with their back to the children who stand at the other end. They chant 'What time is it Mr Wolf?' Mr Wolf replies for example, 'Four O'clock'. The children then take four steps towards Mr Wolf. This continues until Mr Wolf replies instead 'Dinner time', turns and runs to try and catch one of the children. The captured child then becomes Mr Wolf. If the children reach Mr Wolf before he calls dinner time, then the game is repeated with the same Mr Wolf."
teams race to make one member of team into a mummy by wrapping them in toilet paper from head to foot, the mummies then race for a prize!
for older kids/singles - peel an apple trying to make the peel as long as you can without breaking it, throw it over your shoulder and it will form the initial of the person you're going to marry!
fortune telling with tea leaves!
supposedly if you are single and sit in front of a mirror on Halloween you see the face of your future spouse, or if you are destined to die before you marry you see a skull. Maybe have a dark booth with a mirror and a chair and a light in it, and once people have been in there a while staring, a cutout of a gruesome celeb/someone's granny on a stick is waggled through the curtains in front of the mirror! (okay maybe for older kids/adults only)
kids can make groups to draw or write ghost stories - each taking one sentence after the other, with adults you can fold the paper over so you cant see what the people before have written (or is that too TEFL?)
adults telling ghost stories by candle/torch light (remember to hold light under your chin)
(there must be a tonne of stories for different ages online
above all keep it properly scary! All Hallows Eve = Samhain = warding off harmful spirits!
posted by runincircles at 6:27 AM on October 29, 2010
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posted by zoomorphic at 7:29 PM on October 28, 2010