It will soon be that time of year again, when the dark night descends and ghosts and ghouls come out of the woodwork, when spiders and cobwebs hang from every ceiling and mummies and witches stalk the streets.
Halloween is upon us and every year we get to play along with the kids and lose ourselves in a world of dressing up, scary props and fright-tastic decorations. Trick or Treating is now a national obsession and if you are playing along in your house then it pays to be prepared, or who knows what devilish delights might come knocking on your door?
While the kids get their costumes ready and prepare to hit the streets, you can dress up the house and await the fiendish entourage that is sure to come knocking. So here are five fun ways you can welcome those trick or treaters and why not try and scare them before they scare you?
1. Dressing up yourself – why not turn the trick around on your trick or treaters by dressing up yourself and waiting on the doorstep to shock them on their arrival? A ghost or a witch, whatever takes your fancy, but it plays along with the fun and gives the trick or treaters a shock they weren’t expecting!
2. Hand through the table – this takes a bit of work, but design a stand or a table with a hole in the middle, then cut a hole in an old table cloth or piece of scrap material and create a container to hold your sweets and treats, also with a hole in it. Then you can wait under the table and hide for when the trick or treaters arrive at your door. Put your hand through the holes and grab some sweets, then when the trick or treaters delve in for some treats you can grab their hand and give them the fright of their lives.
3. Cold spaghetti – cook some spaghetti and then leave it in some cold water. When it comes to trick or treat time you can pour out some of the water and leave enough to keep the spaghetti wet and gooey. Alternatively you can try and concoct some kind of slimey liquid to mix in. Then you can leave the bowl of spaghetti on a table on your doorstep with some treats inside. When the trick or treaters arrive they will be delving into the ‘vat of fear’ and they will have to earn their treats!
4. Halloween cupcakes – all kids love to bake and they certainly love to eat what they have created. There are loads of ways you can decorate cupcakes for Halloween, using spider or bat stencils, ghosts formed from icing sugar or orange colouring to make pumpkins. Offering these as a treat on the doorstep shows you have really gone to some effort.
5. Pumpkin bags – you can buy some orange paper from a gift or stationary shop and decorate to make fun pumpkin bags in which to offer treats at the door. The kids can even use these for their own treat collection from other houses on the street.
The countdown to October 31st is on and we think these are simple and practical ideas to give your Halloween that extra bite, and for once we hope the evening passes with plenty of scary stories to tell.