Kids Halloween Party Ideas

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Author: Taelinn Dolivras

TVT 10 2015 heading KidFriendlyParty.jpg

With Halloween fast approaching, lately I have been on the lookout for fun craft ideas to do with my kids (2 and 3.5). However, I got a bit sidetracked last week and spent a few hours looking at neat Halloween party ideas - thank you Pinterest! This is the result of those hours of searching: a collection of cute and cheap resources to plan and pull off a successful kids Halloween party. Enjoy!

Decorations:

There are thousands of pages out there with excellent printable resources for parties, and it would take me a whole article just to go over all of them. I picked a few of my favorites, such as this one with various wall decorations and a spider web mobile, or this one that has a little something for everyone. But in all honesty, you can use any search engine to find Free Halloween Printables and find something to fit your theme. A great idea that several bloggers shared when posting about the sites they used was, if you have a little extra cash, to print the decorations on card stock and/or laminate them to be able to use them for future parties. It might be worth the investment if you plan on throwing another party next year (if all goes well, your kids might make sure you do!)

Some of my favorite finds are things that your kids can help you with too. These Toilet Paper Roll Bats are easy to make even with little kids and require minimal time and resources. Another easy one for younger children is the great Plastic Cup Decor tutorial - all you need are plastic cups, a black felt pen and some LED tealights. And though you might not let your younger ones use the scissors, these Spinning Cardboad Ghosts are quick and easy and could be made by supervised elementary school-aged kids.

Many of these great decorating ideas use fairly inexpensive items you may have around the house or can find at your local discount store. For example, paper plates, some streamers and some painter's tape can help you create a cool Monster Door. Mason jars wrapped in gauze, toilet paper or tissue paper with glued-on googly eyes and LED tealights make great Mummy Lanterns. And you can even do something as simple as draw faces on white balloons to make ghosts, or on orange balloons to make jack-o-lanterns.

Games:

I had a hard time choosing games to showcase for this article, as there are so many good ones out there! These ones, however, seemed like they could be a lot of fun and take minimal time and effort to put together. Most of these would work best with elementary school-aged children, though some are appropriate for toddlers as well.

On the cheap end of the list, Wrap the Mummy is a game that will have all of your guests, adult and child alike, giggling. All you need are several rolls of toilet paper and a person willing to be wrapped up. A Guess How Many ______? game is also easily put together, and can be done with many items from candy corn to plastic spiders or even googly eyes. The longest part of the game is counting out the objects in the jar - after that, it just runs itself.

Going back to our printables, this Free Printables Halloween Bingo game is cute and easily set up. You might even like the cards enough to laminate them and keep them for next year. Another fun game that allows all participants to win something small is this Pumpkin Punch a Prize.

For more active children, these two games will keep them occupied. The first, this Spider Web Game, can only be done by one child at a time, but is great for those just learning how to keep their balance and can be modified for older children to include obstacles. And finally, this Tin Can Bowling can be fun for children of all ages. Your kids can even help you decorate the tin cans beforehand.

Food and Drink:

Through my research I found a lot of recipes for Halloween treats and desserts - spider cupcakes, mummy cookies etc. - but since trick-or-treating will bring your kids enough sugar to keep them happy for a while, I decided to focus on some healthier snacks. Some of them do have ingredients that can cause allergic reactions in some kids, so always be aware of who can eat what before you make some of these treats.

On the salty side of things, these Witches Brooms are quick and easy, as are these Mummy Dogs. Another fun idea is a Trail Mix Bar, where kids can make their own combination of snacks. Some ideas for this include Frankenstein scabs (dried bananas), Spiders' Legs (pretzels), Ghost Droppings (marshmallows), Vampire Teeth (almonds), and Bat Poop (raisins).

In the fruit department, these adorable Clementine Pumpkins and Banana Ghosts are sure to be a hit. Monster Mouths are also a neat idea, and the page proposes some alternatives if your guests have allergies.

Finally, a simple way to dress up drinks for a Halloween party is to wrap juice boxes in toilet paper or strips of paper towel to make Mummy Juice. And though this Magic Potion Punch is a little more on the sugary side, its fun drinkable science is sure to awe your guests.


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