Great Ideas for Making Halloween Fun!

 My children are getting older, and my son isn’t even going to trick or treat this year.  He’ll hang out with us and help pass out candy.  However, we still have some long-standing Halloween traditions that we like to follow every year, and I thought I’d share them with you.

First, we start the evening with a dinner of Mummy Dogs and Bloody Tomato Soup.  I always try to put some food into them before the candy extravaganza begins!  We make the Mummy Dogs just as the recipe states, however, we don’t add the cheese, and I serve them with my Aunt Diane’s awesome homemade mustard {that recipe is here}.  The Bloody Tomato soup is just a can of tomato soup (sometimes I make homemade, but not always).  I like to put a black plastic spider on top when I serve it, just for fun.  Sometimes we finish with Boo Cups and some years we skip dessert, since candy is coming soon and that definitely counts as dessert!

 

 

Last year I let them have orange soda with some gummy worms hanging over the side of their glass (and more plastic spiders frozen in their ice cubes), but I’d prefer they drink milk or water most evenings.  I’m a bit of a Halloween stick in the mud!

 

If my husband is home (and this year he is) then he usually takes them trick-or-treating, although last year they went with older friends.  I stay home and pass out candy.  We go through A LOT of candy–seriously!

I try to make the adults feel welcome, too, so here’s what they get as treats:

 

Seriously–why not?  The grownups deserve a treat, too!  I have one of those big beverage tubs that I fill with iced beer and hard cider, and I keep it on the front porch.  Don’t have a beverage tub?  Use a galvanized bucket, or an enamelware pail, or even a big old flower pot.  Don’t forget to keep a bottle opener nearby!

My daughter and I also bake cupcakes to give out at the door, as well.  I had someone look at me like I had two heads once when I said that, but we’ve always lived in neighborhoods where we know our neighbors.  We’d never think twice about eating their food!  Everyone’s welcome to take a cupcake if they want–or not–but I love having a yummy homemade treat to offer.  Sometimes the kids get one, too.  And yes, of course, we decorate them for Halloween.  My favorite cupcake cups are black and white (usually damask or polka dot) and we make our own toppers.  Here a couple of cute ones we’ve used in years past:

By the way, everything that the girls at For Chic Sake do is amazing!

These are great toppers if you want some orange in your color palette:

 

I just printed a bunch out and gave them to my daughter to cut out with a 2″ scalloped punch.  We’ll glue gun them onto toothpicks to use as toppers.  We rarely have any left over, but they don’t last long if we do!

Have you figured out costumes yet?  Here’s a great last-minute one that my daughter and her BFF found on Pinterest last year:

(Harley went as a Ruff-eree!)

One last thing we’re planning for this year:  we live at the end of a cul de sac and are going to bring our firepits, chairs, and blankets out to our driveways.  Our next door neighbors are going to team up with us on the adult beverages, and we’ll probably toast some s’mores over the fire while we’re passing out candy.  Doesn’t that sound fun?

And when we’re done and we hang out the “Out of Treats” sign…

…then we always go inside to sort our candy and watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”

Here is an easy to pin graphic so you can remember these ideas!

One more fun costume idea–Amy’s daughter and friend were Barbie’s in a box. Simply decorate the box and cut armholes–easy!

What are your Halloween traditions?

Thanks for stopping by~