Help me brainstorm a fun Halloween care package for my nephews

September 26, 2023 10:25 AM

I have two nephews (ages 3 and 6) who love Halloween. Since they live in LA and don't have a ton of opportunities for autumnal activities, I wanted to send them a care package themed on the five senses of Halloween. It would contain small gifts and experiences that can be spaced out over the month of October to help them get excited for the holiday and season. Examples inside.

For "tastes of Halloween" I was thinking they could wear blindfolds and taste a slice of apple, some roasted pumpkin seeds, candy corn, etc -- and have to guess what each is.

For "sounds of Halloween" -- maybe a halloween playlist that could play while having an impromptu spooky dance party?

Any other fun ideas for care package items/activities in this theme? Thanks!

posted by egeanin to Grab Bag (11 answers total)

Sights of Halloween: provide different materials to look through/with

Ghost vision, pop the lenses out of some cheap glasses and cover them with something translucent like gossamer

Spectral vision, a pair of those rainbow diffraction glasses

Glow vision, glow in the dark puffy paint with maybe one of those little UV flashlights to shine on things

Bug vision, fly eye glasses

Pumpkin vision, idk just orange lenses?

I'm running out of top of my head ideas but you get the point.
posted by phunniemee at 10:49 AM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: For touch, could you wrangle some crisp leaves that have fallen? You could send one leaf each, but it might be more fun to get a small carboard box for each (for protection) and fill it with 10+ leaves or so. Crinkling the leaves would be a nice sensory experience.

Slime could be another fun touch one (for them if not their parents).
posted by bluedaisy at 10:49 AM on September 26, 2023

Cut out ovals from manilla folders. Add eye and nose holes, and ties or elastic on the sides. Make a bunch, it's easy and cheap. Cut up colored paper, tissue, and maybe pictures from magazines. Glue sticks. Kids usually have tons of coloring stuff, but you can add markers, colored pencils, or watercolor paint box. They get to cut out shapes, glue stuff on masks, color. If you hate their parents, add glitter and an .mp3 of Monster Mash. My kid loved mask-making and made some cool masks.

If you have any old white sheets, they are a blast to paint with washable poster paint for ghost costumes. Or tshirts and fabric paint so they can design their own superhero shirts,

Get kid-sized capes, endless fun. My son was fearless when he wore the batman cape I made for him. You want a velcro or other safe neck closure for safety.

Find or make some orange paper pumpkin shapes they can decorate. Orange, black, and purple crepe paper streamers and tape for decorating.

Kind of a pain to ship, but muffin ingredients in a mason jar and instructions for adding milk, eggs, oil, maybe 1/2 can pumpkin, are a great activity. Requires parental involvement, but makes health muffins, teaches cooking.

Buy black tshirts or sweatshirts, send with tubes of Glow-in-the-dark fabric paint. parental supervision recommended. Glow in the dark anything, is super fun.
posted by theora55 at 10:49 AM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Smell is so important for autumn! If their parents allow candles in the house, try getting some autumnal ones. Baking pumpkin-flavored things is good too, and s'mores with flavored marshmallows.
posted by BibiRose at 10:55 AM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm thinking spice packets for making mulled cider.
posted by BibiRose at 11:27 AM on September 26, 2023

This doesn’t fit in to the five senses idea but I really like the book Eek Halloween! by Sandra Boynton. The 6 year old can probably read it themselves but it’s fun.
posted by kat518 at 11:46 AM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Glowsticks.

Lots of glowsticks.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 12:57 PM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Feel of Halloween - cobwebs (you can buy this in a can), a smooth or bumpy gourd, some dry leaves that crunch, a candy wrapper (full of candy, of course), a peeled grape (hard to send, but your sister / brother could presumably help).
posted by Mchelly at 1:05 PM on September 26, 2023

Best answer: I remember as a child highly cherishing dried corn on the cob as beautiful and delicate thing. Great to look at and touch.
posted by MadMadam at 1:52 PM on September 26, 2023

Best answer: On the one hand, LA goes HARD for Halloween. I think it’s likely they will be swimming in pumpkins and spiderwebs and other Halloween/spooky/spoopy things. On the other hand, what they won’t get is “New England Autumn,” the kind of fall you see on TV and in cartoons. To that end, I think the dried leaves idea is really inspired—we really do not have fall foliage in the same way. Maybe you could send some real leaves, and then also construction paper/stencils/scissors so they can make their own, especially if you find good rich colors.

Food-wise, in the fall I long for “apple orchard stuff,” all the things you can buy at every apple-picking joint in the northeast but don’t seem to permeate here as much: fresh apple cider, apple butter, apple cakes, etc. Pumpkin is everywhere, but apple feels thin on the ground.

Hay and corn are other things I associate with fall back east. I second the dried corn cob idea. A California kid might also be tickled by whatever you can ship that is close to a hay bundle?
posted by CtrlAltDelete at 8:04 PM on September 26, 2023

Best answer: Tastes of Halloween- candy apple, apple cider ( you can get packets that you add water to, easier than shipping a jug of cider).

Touch- fuzzy Halloween themed blanket, Halloween themed squishimal/slow rise squishie/stuffed animal, Halloween pop it, kid friendly pumpkin carving kit or pumpkin decorating kit- you can get what is basically temporary tattoos for pumpkins

Sight- definitely glowsticks! Black paper with neon crayons (Crayola makes some) or glow in the dark paint. Scratch art paper- the black paper you scratch with a wooden stylus to reveal glitter/rainbow/etc underneath. Flashlights with cardstock shadow puppets or book on how to make your own, or book (or print out instructions) on how to make hand shadow puppets, Halloween or Fall themed colouring sheets- you can find free printable online. Halloween stickers, temporary tattoos.

Sound- a Halloween card that plays music or makes sounds when it's opened, a CD of Halloween sounds, a mixtape CD with Monster Mash, songs from Nightmare Before Christmas etc

Smell- incense or a candle in a Fall scent that their adult can burn for them, scratch and sniff stickers, go to the local bulk store and buy small bits of different fall spices (cinnamon, ginger etc) and have them smell them and try to guess what they are.

Fall and Halloween themed books could help them get in the spirit of the season and see Fall things they might not see locally. Check out Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall by Kenard Pak, Full of Fall by April Pulley Sayer, Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper, Spooky Pooky by Sandra Boynton, Ten Orange Pumpkins: A Counting Book by Stephen Savage, Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
posted by Lay Off The Books at 11:17 PM on September 26, 2023