. Preparing for Halloween

How to you organize effectively for Halloween?  First, although it may be a bit early, sit down today and make a list of everyone in your family that will need a costume.

Decide this next week, during a family council, what each family member wants to be for Halloween, how much time will be spent preparing the costumes, and how much the budget will allow for each costume.  This will reign in difficult costumes or expensive ones to a more practical level. Try to encourage costumes that are both simple and can be saved for re-use year to year by other members of your family.

Prepare Costumes

Begin immediately to work with each child, starting with the youngest, to prepare their costume.  (If you begin with the oldest, who usually wants a more elaborate design, you will end up having to match that standard with each subsequent costume you purchase or make.)  Keep the costumes as simple and classic as possible, always designing, purchasing or making them with the goal to store them  for use again and again.  As each costume is finished, work with another child of your family.  You can never be too early getting the costumes done, the masks or makeup found and purchased, and the whole family ready for the big day.

Choose Classic Costumes

If you haven’t already done so, choose classical costumes for yourself and your spouse, ones that can be brought out year to year without much hassle.  For instance, I have a good friend that is a witch for Halloween.  She has purchased a pointed hat, green makeup, a false mole for her chin, and a flowing black robe along with a miniature broom stick to hang from a flashy belt.  All these supplies fit nicely in a sturdy box for storage year to year.  Her husband likes to be a wizard so he has his hat, a flowing false beard, and a star-studded robe which also nicely fits into the same box.  No matter what other pressures the day might bring, a simple addition of makeup, props, and robe transforms them easily and simply into new Halloween creatures.  They can join their children in the fun and have, indeed, learned to keep Halloween easy and fun.

Trick or Treats and More

It is also time to make similar decisions about:  1)  what you will give out at the door to trick or treaters, 2) what you will serve for dinner on Halloween night, and 3) how you will handle the overflow of candy after your children have been around a block or two.

Several ideas come to mind.  1)  Add “Halloween candy” to your grocery list for this week’s purchases and get that job done. Choose a candy that suits your family for leftovers can be used again at Thanksgiving or even during the December/January holidays.  If you don’t want to give candy, try giving something like nickels, small packages of kleenex, a toothbrush, or other child’s tool.   2)  For an easy dinner, serve hot soup and bake a non-sweet treat that represents the fun of Halloween, say “bones” from shaped refrigerator bread dough.  3)  The leftover candy might best be eaten at will Halloween night, but then all extras put into a collective pot to be brought out for treats on subsequent Friday nights.  This keeps the dentist at bay and the candy all in one place during the next twelve months.

When Halloween is over, pack away the costumes as neatly as possible in storage containers.  Purchased masks will last many years if kept in their own personal box inside the larger container during storage months.  Label the Halloween container(s) and put them away for another year’s fun next October.

Find more helpful ideas in “House of Order” Handbook.