Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween tomorrow. I don't know about the rest of you, but Halloween is a pretty big deal in our house. This post is about preparing for Halloween, being safe while trick or treating and dealing with meltdowns about all that junk food that will enter your household tomorrow night.

Preparation:

First comes the costume. It's difficult for a child to be excited about Halloween if they don't know what they're going to dress up as. Personally, I was a bit unconventional when it came to dressing up. I didn't want the typical costumes, like a witch or TV character. Where's the fun in that? My litany of Halloween costumes included a pilot (complete with a plane attached to me), a car, and finally a table. Yes, I went as a table one year. I was lucky that my mom was very creative and handy with sewing.

My boys aren't so lucky. I am creative, but I have no skill at sewing or putting things together to look like something real. So far though, J has picked some pretty easy costumes for me to figure out. This year he is going as a Pokemon trainer, which requires a white shirt, blue vest, blue and white hat with a logo (I can figure that one out) and a green backpack. E is young enough that he can get away with a commercial costume and still look cute, so he will be a monkey.

Whether you made a costume, bought a costume, or bought and revised a costume for your kids, once that part is over you can move on to some other preparation. J is not a crafty sort (he must take after me), unless it comes to holidays. He loves themed crafts for the holidays, and he is constantly checking the calendar to see what's coming up next that we can glue something together for. I had to gently let him down about Columbus Day, before he got too excited. Please, if you know of any Columbus Day crafts, do pass them on.

Halloween crafts are much easier. Here's one of our personal favourites. Garbage bag ghosts. We stuff white kitchen garbage bags with balled up grocery bags, and tie a string around the neck. Then we either tie or duct tape them all around our front porch. Drawing a face on them with Sharpie is optional. They are quick, easy, and look great for Halloween. Another quick and easy one is to blow up some orange balloons and Sharpie Jack 'o Lantern faces on them. They can be hung outside or in a window. We purchased a dowel and made some construction paper chains to hang off of it. Fold the construction paper accordion-style and cut out shapes, leaving the edges intact. Use orange for pumpkins, white for ghosts, black for witchy hats and green for whatever you like. Then staple them together so they are longer and tie them to the dowel. Hang the dowel where people can see it from a window and voila! All the crafts above are quick enough that children can complete them without becoming too distracted, economical and easy to store for next year, and they don't look tacky.

Safety:

Now let's move on to Halloween night. Everyone knows it's important to be safe, so I won't dwell on that, but I will provide some easy ways to enhance safety. If you live in a neighbourhood like mine, it's quite possible that sometimes there will be about fifty kids at the same house. That makes it pretty hard to keep track of your own, especially if they are wearing a popular costume. I also have two other children to consider, because some of J's friends want to join us trick or treating. I will be putting a big X on the back of each of my charges with orange duct tape, so they can't get caught up in the crowds. I'll have a flashlight, just in case, but the street lights are probably enough to see the bright, orange tape by. I know many parents like the glowing necklaces for Halloween, but they are quickly becoming popular, and therefore, less distinctive.

Another concern is the weather forecast. We are the lucky ones who are supposed to get rain that evening. It's also possible in this country to have snow or ice on Halloween. Make sure your child's footwear is non-slip and can handle the terrain. Kids become excited easily, and if they're like mine, there will be much running, jumping and dancing. The last thing anyone needs is to get a concussion from the sidewalk. Also make sure that they are warm enough. It may sound obvious, but costumes aren't designed for warmth. Make sure they have plenty of clothes underneath so they don't get a chill.

Even if you are planning on going out with your children, make sure you remind them of the rules about street safety. Cover things like what to do if they get lost and not to talk to strangers. Ensure they know some of the safe houses in your neighbourhood to go to if they need it, and review your telephone number and address with them.

Candy Trouble:

Now that you have a million bite-sized pieces of delicious garbage, it's time to set some limits. Feel free to let your kids have free reign and stuff themselves if that's what you prefer. I am not judging. I will however, provide some tips for those like me, whose children morph into lookalikes from another planet after too much sugar.

When we get home we count the candy. We sort by ingredients and preference into a bad ile and good pile, making sure there's exactly half in each. Then we give the kids a small but special new toy or book, in exchange for their bad half of candy. This way the kids are voluntarily giving away the half of their candy they can't eat, but also getting something they want instead. The good pile goes into a bowl on top of the fridge, and the other pile goes to friends who can eat it (or Daddy). They can have one or two pieces a day until it's gone. No problems, no tantrums, no arguments. It's a great system. J and E are so used to not eating junk food that we end up throwing out most of it anyway to make room for Easter eggs.

Whatever limits you choose to set (or not to set), make sure they are clear before trick or treating. Then it only takes a simple reminder when the kids' eyes glaze over looking at a mountain of candy. If there are tantrums of the "I WANT MORE" variety, I find it useful to say, "Well, if candy is causing this much stress, maybe we shouldn't have it in the house." That always works. Trust me.