It’s Halloween – party time! When I was little, my best friend’s mother held the most wonderful and outrageous Halloween parties, complete with spooky movies, candied popcorn, apple bobbing and a haunted house. While I don’t think that I can quite live up to her standard, here are some ideas for a spooky Halloween party, preschool style.
The Food
Halloween party food needs to be gross, but not inedible. Half of the success of Halloween food is in the presentation. Introduce the food to the kids as cockroach crumble and monster poop, and you’ll have a room full of disgusted but curious preschoolers! Just don’t forget to let them know that you’re actually joking – preschoolers will often take you at face value if you don’t let them know that you’re being funny.
And my recipe for monster poop? Well, nuggets of fudge cake, either alone or in a chocolate pudding. I made cockroach clusters last year by cutting fresh dates down the middle and stuffing them with trail mix and marshmallows. Ewwww!
The Decor
I find the best Halloween decorations at summer garage sales and in the middle of November when the stores are desperate to give away their Halloween bling. That won’t help you this year, though! For big and spooky decor, blow up black balloons to make spiders, and get some of the white webbing material for the corners of your house. Tulle makes good Halloween ghosts that you can reuse again and again. Bring some fun monster music like Monster Mash and The Purple People Eater.
The Costumes
Encourage kids and adults to come in costume, or you can make costumes yourselves. How about a mask-making or face painting station? Then you can hold a masquerade parade around the living room! For added excitement, make some spooky shakers for your monster parade.
The Activities
Apple bobbing is fun, but it’s a bit wet. For a dryer version, put the apple on a string and challenge kids to catch it – no hands allowed. One apple per child, of course. Or you can do apple decorating with some sticky caramel and toppings like Smarties. Yum! Those who are looking for slightly healthier options might want to consider making pumpkin muffins together, then baking them for an end of party treat.
What are your Halloween party plans for this year?