How to make this Halloween the BEST EVER for your kids!

Halloween! A time dedicated to having fun dressing up in costumes, watching scary movies, running around the house ‘frightening’ your family, eating delicious snacks and basically embracing acting like a complete child! 

Here are our top tips to give your kids the Halloween they’ll never forget [cue evil laughter]! 

Spook-tacular decorations! 

Before you start on your decoration planning, decide how far into the realm of terrifying you’d like to go – on a scale from Casper The Friendly Ghost to scream city! If you have an idea in mind of whether you’d like to go cute or scary, you’ll know what kind of decorations you’d like to go with. Cute with a side of scary is our pick!

Creepy crafting: Get the kids involved in as many spooky craft activities as you can! The more they do, the more fun they’ll have, and the less you need to worry about! Here’s some easy, fun ideas to get you started.

Creepy balloon faces: Blow up some balloons, and get the kids to use permanent markers to draw creepy faces on them! Worried about the mess? Decorating paper plates is a fun alternative! Give the kids plenty of wool, streamers, craft supplies, googly eyes, crayons, coloured paper – whatever you have, and let them go crazy! You can string them all together for a creepy face garland!

Hanging bats: Get the kids involved in making these fun decorations as a craft activity! Using black craft foam (or cardboard) and some googly eyes, these bats can be hung outside or attached to staircases or walls. A complete tutorial and template can be found here.

Halloween lanterns: These great mummy and pumpkin lanterns are sure to light up your Halloween party. Get crafty with fabric, pens and whatever else to dress up some mason jars DIY style! Then just add candles (battery-operated or real).

Cheap thrills: Take the kids to the cheap shop and go crazy! You can pick up plenty of cheap decorations there, and also at Woolies or Coles. For maximum impact, opt for decorations that will spread a long way – like caution tape, spider webs, paper garlands. And don’t be afraid to think outside the box – for example, buying big balls of white wool to weave around the house as fake spider webs! 

Devillishly-delish treats!

A Halloween party wouldn’t be complete without spooky snacks! These Halloween food ideas are sure to give your guests a fright. Some may say they’re ‘to die for’! [Cue ominous music]! ​

Get the kids involved in dressing up your treats, or even helping you make them. They’ll have a bunch of fun doing so!

The quick fixes: The easiest and quickest way to dress up any food or treat to make it spooky, is to add some Halloween decorations! You can pick up cheap Halloween-themed trick or treat bowls from most supermarkets or cheap stores – anything served in these ticks all the Halloween boxes! 

You can also pick up cheap fake spiders, fake spider webs and more from most cheap shops – you can go crazy adding fake spiders, creepy crawlies and anything else ‘creepy’ to serving bowls and serving plates, for an instant Halloween effect! Just make sure nobody eats the non-edibles! 

Snake snacks: Lolly snakes and glow worms are a really easy but effective way to turn normal iced donuts, cupcakes or cups of jelly into a spooky themed snack! Cans of pitted lychees can also add a fun creepy element to desserts – instant eyeballs – eek! 

Mummy pizzas: These mummy pizzas are simple to make with just a few slices of bread, pizza sauce and some strategically placed slices of mozzarella cheese and olives. Place them in the oven for a few minutes for the cheese to melt, and you’ve got a simple and easy kid-friendly treat!

If you’re a leaning a little towards the freaky side of the scale, these finger dogs are the perfect snack! 

Finger dogs: With a few strategic cuts and some ketchup, these hot dogs will make your guests think you’re serving fingers for hors d'oeuvres.

Spider oreos: Kids can make these spider Oreos all by themselves by sticking pretzel sticks in the sides of double stuffed Ores and using frosting to stick M&Ms on top.

Hand party bags: Use latex gloves and fill them with your favourite lollies, treats and chocolate, then tie them with a ribbon. For a scarier effect, add in a few lolly spiders and snakes! These make for great party favours for your guests or Halloween-themed treats for the kids!

Frightfully fun activities & games!

Keep the kids entertained and having fun with Halloween party games and fun activities! Here's a few ideas for inspiration:

• Wrap the mummy: All you'll need for this game are some willing participants and plenty of toilet paper! Get all the players into groups, and nominate a 'mummy' for each team. The team who dresses the 'best' or 'most fashionable' mummy with toilet paper before the time is up is the winner! For extra laughs, get the 'mummies' to strut their stuff in a fashion show, with a prize for the best catwalk! 
• Digging for bones: Buy some cheap plastic fake skeletons, fake bones or plastic skulls, and bury them in the sandpit or hide them around in the backyard. Then send the kids out to dig them up, and if it's a skeleton, to put them together at the end! 
• Freaky feelings: Put some gruesome feeling foods into bowls, blindfold the kids and challenge them to guess what foods they are, just by touching them! If you need inspiration, tinned spagetti feels like worms, canned peeled and pitted lychees or tomatoes can feel like eyeballs, and dried peas feel like beetles! Your only limit is your evil imagination! 
• Scary-themed charades: Come up with a list of halloween-related charades answers and you're good to go!
• Hide and go seek in the dark! Don't forget the torches! 
• Classic - scary stories by torchlight! Need we say more?
• Scary movie night: A great halloween activity for the whole family! Grab your pillows and snuggly blankets and have a family Halloween movie night! It doesn't have to include scary movies! Cartoons like Casper, Monsters Inc and The Nightmare Before Christmas are low-key Halloween-themed fun - without the nightmares! 

Don't forget the costumes! 

And of course, no Halloween celebration is complete without getting into  costumes! Make sure you allow plenty of time, so you can have fun playing dress-ups with the kids and getting into the spooky spirit!

Face paint adds a new dimension to any Halloween costume! And if you're feeling really brave, the kids will love painting your face up as a scary clown, ghastly ghostie or something else just as tragically terrifying! Enjoy! 

We hope our ideas give you and your little ghosties and ghouls the perfect Halloween celebration! Now go forth and be scary!