Planning a Spooktacular Festival at Home

My 3.5 yr old is having a Spooktacular Festival at home for her friends. At this point we have 16 kids coming. With this number of kids we are setting up game and craft stations around the house and asking for help from the parents to man the station. With the kids mostly being 3, I wanted games where everyone can win and each person is playing on their own instead of competing. My prizes consist of pencils, necklaces, erasers, glow bracelets, bubbles, spider/bat rings, etc. I bought some of these last year at the Halloween clearance sales with the intent of doing a party this year.

Ghost Bowling: I took 10 empty disposable water bottles. I filled the bottle with about 2" of water and wrapped the bottom 3/4 in white tissue paper. Then I crumpled half a sheet of tissue paper and caught it in the middle of the other half with a rubber band. I drew a ghost face on each "ghost" and used the rubber band to fasten them to the top of the water bottles. You need to use a little water so the bottles do not tip when setup. Use more water to make the game more difficult. For older kids you could use a pumpkin as the bowling ball. We are using the orange basketball that came with my daughter's basketball hoop (Fisher Price Grow to Pro). If I get industrious, I may try to figure out how to attach a jack-o-lantern face that would not ruin the ball. Cost: $1.50 for half the pack of tissue paper.

From Halloween Crafts

Bucket Toss: At Dollar Tree I found a pumpkin and a ghost bucket for $1 each. Then, I found stuffed pumpkin, bat, spider, and ghosts in the dollar section at Target to throw in the buckets. Cost: $6, but all is reusable in the future or as decorations.



Witch Hat Ring Toss: I stuffed the point of a witch's hat with hand towels to make it stand up. I cut the center out of Halloween paper plates. Toss the ring around the hat. Cost: Free (I had the hat & had extra paper plates).


Haunted House Frisbee Toss: The paper plates I used had a ghost in the center, so when I cut the rings for the Witch toss I saved the center. My daughter has a play market which I covered with black tissue paper and black poster board. I used construction paper to create windows and doors. The kids can throw the frisbees between the posts. Cost: $2 for tissue and poster.

From Halloween Crafts

Halloween Party at regular playgroup

We had a Halloween Party today at our regular playgroup. The kids range in age from 2 months to 4 yrs old. We had potluck for various lunch and snack foods and most of the moms brought treats to hand out for a parade.

We started the playgroup as normal with the kids just playing, but many in costume. Then we had snack/lunch time (taking costumes off to protect them).

After eating, we made Lollipop Ghosts which were a hit for some, and some kids were more interested in eating the lollipops. Start with a spherical lollipop like a Dum-Dum or a Tootsie Pop (we used mini Tootsie Pops) and drape a white tissue over it to make a ghost. Mom or another helper then ties a string around the base of the lollipop to hold the tissue in place. I had black and orange cross stitch thread that worked great. Then the kids drew eyes and a mouth on their ghosts.

After the craft and cleaning up the toys, we had a treat parade. The moms with treats spread out around the room. We would have gone outside to spread out more, but it was pouring rain all day. One Mom had made bags up that had room in them, so we had the kids start with her to have a place to put their goodies. The kids all enjoyed getting their goodies. Some of the moms brought alternatives to chocolate including note pads, crayons, straws, spider rings, and skeletons.

The party was a nice low key way to incorporate Halloween into our regular playgroup meeting.

Halloween Traditions

What Halloween Traditions do you have?

We always take my daughter to pick out pumpkins. While we are at the pumpkin patch we have apple cider and donuts. When she was 9 months old, I found the Mrs Potato Head princess pieces for a pumpkin. She always decorates one that way. We also usually carve a pumpkin, or two.

On Saturday, we watched the TV classic "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown". It is a favorite of my husband & I, so we have purchased it on DVD so we don't have to wait for the TV schedule. We also have their Christmas episode. We do not recommend the Thanksgiving episodes.

Typically our town has trick or treat in the downtown area on Halloween morning. This is a great event for young children because the older children are at school. This year with Halloween on a Saturday, they are doing it on Friday the 30th.

We also go trick or treating at the zoo. This year we are upgrading from the preschool event during the week to the weekend event for all ages. Our schedule of preschool and playgroup prevents us from attending the preschool days.

We also have our Halloween decorations which we have been adding to the last few years. Hitting the stores the morning of Nov 1st is a great time to get a good deal for the next year.

This year my daughter is having her First Annual Spooktacular Halloween Carnival. I'll post about the party ideas later. If it is a success I think we'll continue it yearly.

Ghost Lollipops

I remember making these as a kid and last year I made them with my daughter. We made them again this morning and are planning them for her party.

Take a lollipop (Dum-Dums or Tootsie Pops work well) and cover it with a white tissue, centering the tissue over the top of the lollipop. Gather the tissue and tie a string around the base of the lollipop securing the ghost in place. Use a marker to make eyes and and a mouth.

My daughter can do the draping & the drawing. I do the tying.