I look forward to so many things throughout the year. I am a big fan of the seasons and therefore every thing each season has to offer is special to me. I am trying to get my boys really excited about Autumn and the joys it has to bring like crisp colourful leaves, cosy evenings in, stews and of course, events. Halloween is almost here. I have decided to get very active in Halloween, just as I did last year. I thought I would fill you in on our Halloween.
Our Outfits
The boy's outfits have come from Home Bargains again this year. They always have such a great variety and are very good value for money. As the costumes are not worn continuously throughout the year, I did not want to splash out. Unfortunately, Zac is not one for change and has opted to go as a pumpkin again this year. Dylan, on the other hand is going to be the cutest little vampire around. You can get the Vampire Costume Here and the Pumpkin Costume Here.
TV Treats
Netflix have released some seasonal goodies now, some Christmas ones are even ready to watch in advance but there have been some Halloween treats too. The best thing is some of them are very sweet and funny so that my 2 and 4 year old think that the films or programmes are amazing. We have so far feast our eyes upon 'Hotel Transylvania', 'Dreamworks Spooky Stories' and 'Casper's Scare School'. I am happy to know that there are still plenty more for us to watch but I will happily recommend the above.
Crafts
This year I went to Hobbycraft and brought them a Bumper Craft Tub. I thought that this would be easier than going out and collecting lots of things. I did enjoy the tub as a whole- as you can see from the picture, it did come with a variety of different things, including bunting, felt, scratch your own decorations and masks and some pom poms. What would have made this tub even better is if it had had some ideas of things to make, as sometimes I am a bit rubbish at coming up with ideas. However, I basically cut the orange felt into two pumpkin-esque shapes and the purple felt into bats. The boys loved sticking things on and getting the glitter squeezed all over their felt. It is a fab idea, but I would have liked some pictures of things you can make with the tub!
If you fancy a tub like this for your Halloween crafts, then look no further then here. If you feel it is a little late for Halloween, then I know they do a Christmas tub too. I think I shall be having a look to see what is inside the Christmas one though before I buy.
Our House Decorations
We have upped our game a little with decorations this year, but we still don't go mad and spend a fortune. I even did some home made paper garlands which were really easy to make, just to hang above the boy's beds. They are the pumpkin and ghost ones as pictured. I also cut out some letters to make a 'Happy Halloween' garland. I managed to make ghost and pumpkin felt decorations to hang around the house too.
Our other decorations have come from
- Home Bargains: The skeleton and Zombie apocalypse sign.
- Hobbycraft: The two different types of bunting.
- Ebay: The paper pumpkin garland.
I have noticed some amazing decorations everywhere though and in some places like Asda and Morrison's it is all really affordable. I think next year I will invest in some scarier ones, the more durable ones and then keep them in the loft.
Another decoration that no household should be without at Halloween is a pumpkin. We have only just purchased ours today, so on Saturday we will spend some time carving the pumpkin ready for Sunday and Monday.
We also picked up some light up balloons that we will be blowing up nearer to Halloween from Sainsbury's. There are some amazing ones here on Amazon.
Halloween Activities
October half term is always full of plenty of spooky yet child friendly activities to do in your local area. Some ideas I will definitely remember for next year are; pick your own pumpkin, going for a spook-tacular adventure at your local theme park, going on your own adventure through the woods or even going to your local tourist attractions to see what they have to offer.
This year our own activities have been to do some crafts and today we went to our local garden centre and went on a Halloween walkthrough which was just £1! Follow your local Facebook page for days out and ideas. Other things we will be doing for Halloween this year will be to carve our pumpkins and we will do some spooky baking including making this amazing pumpkin cake from Tesco.
We have got little pumpkin pots for them to use to gather their sweets and chocolate and we have brought a big plastic cauldron too so that we can pour the candy inside it and offer to people that knock on our door.
This year we will also do what we did last year, which is a Halloween hunt. This involves hiding Halloween chocolate around the garden/ house (weather dependant) like at Easter. We choose to do this at the moment instead of trick or treating as I believe the boys will prefer this. During our Halloween walk through the boys freaked out so much and hated it all, so I don't want to run the risk of them bawling in our neighbourhood due to someone's costume. They loved the Halloween hunt last year and we will be putting a pumpkin out of the front of our house so trick or treaters can come to us and the boys can still enjoy the children's costumes and the event. Then maybe next year we will brave the great outdoors in the evening!
That sums up our Halloween celebrations this year, I hope that you have found it useful and inspiring so that you can make the best of your own Halloween this year. If you want to keep an eye out for our pumpkin carving, or Halloween hunt then please do follow me on social media so that you can see the spooky fun unravel this year for us. The links are below.
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