Halloween Party

Halloween is Ronnie's favorite holiday. We've been waiting for it to fall on a Saturday. We've been planning our party for a couple of months now. No, it's not a party for adults, it's one for kids. Our age range is 2-8. Trying to find games and acitivities for all of these kids has been a challenge. Now that I've got some good ones lined up, I thought I would share. Hopefully this post is early enough in the month for you to plan a party of your own.

First, our party time is 2-4:30. This gives us the best part of the day to have fun. Many of our friends have set plans for trick or treating each year. They will have plenty of time to play at the party, then go home, get dressed, and still get to their normal plans on time. Our party is candy free. The kids will get more than enough candy that night, so they don't need more. We won't be doing prizes for each game. I don't want anyone to feel left out. Instead, we will be giving out goody bags at the end.

Our games include:
1. Pin the heart on the skeleton. I got a 3 foot neon green skeleton and have cut out a black heart from foam. I'm cutting out red hearts from construction paper. Each child will have their own heart to put on the skeleton.

2. Scavenger hunt. We live in a cul de sac of older neighbors and some, well, aren't so neighborly. Even dividing the kids into teams with an adult, I'm not comfortable with them bugging the neighbors. Instead I have inflatable decorations and yard sticks. Each one will have a number on the back. The list will be pictures. The kids will pull a number off the back of each item they find. Less to carry and it's all in our own yard.

3. Bite the bat. This replaces bobbing for apples. Too many parents are freaked out by swine flu and germs to do that. Each child will have their own bat cookie with their name on it. We hang them from strings just above the childs head. They place their hands behind their backs and eat the cookie.

4. Handprint bat. I have purple and black foam for this one. I'll use the purple to make bat faces with googly eyes and a mouth. The black foam will be used for each child to have their hand prints cut out and used for bat wings. Glue the wings to the pre-made face and you have a bat to take home.

Goody bags will have Halloween themed items inside. Also, I have little extras here and there from Paige's birthday parties and goody bags for school. I'll be getting rid of some of these by using them in the goody bags. Kids won't be opening them until after they leave, so they won't know if the one they have is exactly like the next one.

Refreshments will be light snacks: pizza rolls, mini egg rolls, chips, dip, and drinks. There will be some guests staying late to trick or treat with us. We'll have a quick dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs since we'll mostly be full from the rest of the party. Two blocks over from our house, still in our neighborhood, starts the best trick or treating in the city I think. Block parties, themed houses and tons and tons of candy.