Halloween is a true oddball when it comes to holidays. It’s shrouded in mystery, and no one can really explain when it first came into being. What parents and children do agree on, is that it’s an awesome opportunity to dress up and ghoulish costumes, and yes, load up on candy. Let’s not forget that being a parent is stressful and sometimes doing things as a family can patch up relationships that have seen better days. It can be a real event at your house this year, with the full shebang occurring right under your roof. But, why should you settle for same old same, when you have so many Halloween ideas that you don’t even know about? Most people think that they have to make the holiday just all about the kids, and somehow or another it has to be relatable for them. Some parents take the easy way out and just let the kids run around, with their friends and go trick or treating. If you choose to be more involved, you can pass on some great traditions which will live on be passed down eventually.

Invite a few ghosts over

Rather than going to a haunted house that’s at a local theme park or perhaps the fairground, why not invite ghouls, goblins, and ghosts into your home instead. You can transform your home into a giant abandoned home that the children can explore. It’s great for the family but even better when the friends of your children are coming over to hang out after or before they go trick or treating. You can buy or even just rent a mist making a machine, that will cover the floors of your home and garden with perfectly harmless fog. It will give off an eerie effect like the castles in many haunting stories. You can also fill up a bucket or perhaps an upside down pumpkin with goop that you can learn how to make from the internet. At the bottom, there can be sweets in wrappers and perhaps clues to a mystery game. The home’s lights can be turned off, and the children may only be given an electric lamp that is handheld, to give them light throughout the home as they explore. It’s a fun game that even the adults can join in with, and make sure no one is too scared and frightened.

Have a tent-out for the kids

If it’s not too cold out, set up a nice little play area for the children alongside a teepee or small tent. They can sleep outside in the back garden for the night. If you only have one child, allow them to bring over a couple of friends. Inform the parents that you’ll be looking after them, as well as swapping house phone numbers and agreeing on a time when they should be back. Give the children torches so that they never truly feel like they’re in the dark, but give them a clear warning to not shine them at neighbors or through the windows of other homes. You can even start a fire but do so safely. Put bricks all around the base of the fire and dampen the grass of the lawn so that fire won’t catch easily. Here they can toast marshmallows, swap ghost stories and sit beneath the stars. It’s a great way to end a night of trick or treating by allowing them to be surrounded by darkness but in the safe company of friends. This really adds to the atmosphere and the spooky nighttime.

A fiendish day out

Trick or treating is really only fun because friends get to go out together and people give you candy. Well, what’s even better is the fact that Halloween doesn’t have to be restricted to just that. This year, why not take your kids to a place of fun activities, great food and some place where you can introduce them to traditional Halloween customs like pumpkin carving. This October take your children to http://mrbonespumpkinpatch.com/ where they can feed animals, go on a pony ride, get their faces painted like skeletons, chase each other in a maze made of hay, and bounce around in giant spider bouncy castle. The food is great too, with ice cream vendors coming around as well as fish tacos and other goodies like grilled cheese. This place also has great music entertainment with fantastic string bands, country music as well as a chance for kids to play cool rhythmic beats on drums. It’s a great day out for the kids and just as good if not better than the usual door to door trick or treating.

Baking time

Rather than just giving your kids treats to celebrate Halloween, why not get them in the kitchen, and get them to help you bake? You can make scary clawed cupcakes, with yummy vanilla icing with gash marks, which are filled with raspberry jam to look like blood. Or perhaps you’d like to make rice krispie Frankenstein bites. Simply get a box of rice pop cereal, and melt down a little bit of marshmallow which will work as the gluing agent. Then take your shape cutter, and make a rectangle or square, use a bit of green food coloring to dunk the sides in. Allow them to cool off, and then melt a bit of chocolate, which you’ll use as the hair. Cut out little eyes from marshmallows that are left over, and glue them on with the agent, and dab a little bit of chocolate to make the pupils. These recipes and many others like them are easy to make, great fun for the kids because they get to be involved and far cheaper than store-bought candy.

You don’t have to stick to the normality of Halloween treats and activities. Trick or treating is great for a year or two, but eventually, your children might get bored and lose interest in going door to door. Mix it up a bit with these alternative, fun things to do this Halloween. Take them out for a fun day of face painting and pony riding, and finish it off with pumpkin carving. Or simply invite the goblins and ghosts into your own home by creating a haunted house adventure. Think outside the box and inject surprise and fun into your children’s lives.