Decorate your space
Transform their “school” into a festive venue. Balloons, cutouts, window clings and banners will help you set the modd for fun.
Games & Activities
Pumpkin Painting – Protect little hands from the dangers of carving by painting their pumpkins instead. Pumpking Painterswork great for this activity.
Pumpkin Toss – Carve a large pumpkin with an oversized mouth, nose and eyes (for little kids, make the holes larger than you would normally carve on a pumpkin) Assign points to each opening – Mouth 1 point, nose 2 points, eyes 3 points, etc. The kids try tossing bean bags into the openings and earn points for prizes.
Bobbing for Donuts – Hang donuts from the ceiling, or a string hung between two ladders or accross a doorway opening. The kids “bob” for their donuts, or make it a donut eating contest, the first to finish their donut without dropping it on the ground wins. No hands allowed.
Cake walk – ask parents to donate cakes and treats, or try a different version with big bottles of soda, bags of apples, or even pumpkins. The prizes don’t have to be cake!
Snacks
Cookie/Cupcake Station – Have the kids decorate their own cookies or cupcakes with sprinkles and frosting.
Caramel Apples – Have an adult dip the apples in caramel and then the kids can dip them in goodies like sprinkles, chocolate chips or small candies.
Popcorn Snack – set up a station where kids make their own popcorn snack mix to take home. Set out large bowls of popcorn, pretzels, nuts, chocolate candies, dried fruits etc. With scoops, and give each child a large ziplock back to scoop their goodies in. then they zip it up and mix it up and take home a bag of yummy and healthy snack mix. (of course we all know they’ll go for the candy, try setting a limit to one scoop of that item)
Beverages – something as simple as green kool-aid could be “Witches Brew” or orange could be “Pumpkin Punch”
Serve goodies on Halloween tableware for an extra festive touch.
Halloween Fun Packs make great prizes, they are affordable and filled with fun for the kids.
Pumpkin Drawcord bags will be a hit. They are inexpensive prizes or favors that the kids can re-use for trick-or-treating
Focus on families and fun. Simple activities and snacks will keep the mood festive. Parents will enjoy visiting school, and getting a chance to meet other families.
What type of activities do you offer at your festivals or open house events?