How to Celebrate Halloween With Toddlers
Halloween is a time to carve pumpkins, dress up, trick-or-treat and eat candy. However, Halloween is full of ghouls, goblins and witches that can be scary to a toddler. Here are some ideas for how to celebrate Halloween with your toddler, making Halloween a fun time of the year. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Visit the pumpkin patch. Create an exciting Halloween adventure for your toddler and pick the perfect pumpkin at a local pumpkin patch. Most pumpkin patches have wagons, so find a wagon when you arrive and let your toddler ride in the wagon with the pumpkin. Don’t forget to bring your camera so you can take lots of pictures.
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Carve the pumpkin with your toddler. Stay away from super scary designs. Create a goofy face, smiley face, or the traditional jack-o-lantern look (triangles for eyes, triangle for nose and mouth). Before you carve, let your toddler help clean out the guts and feel the stringy, slimy insides of the pumpkin. Your toddler will love participating in the creation of your family jack-o-lantern.
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Dress up in costume. Toddlers love to play dress up, so find an inexpensive costume for your little one to wear before and on Halloween. You can find costumes at thrift stores, garage sales, or online. If your child wants to wear the costume before Halloween, let him wear it. Set some ground rules for your toddler regarding wearing the costume, so it will still be in one piece when Halloween arrives.
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Read Halloween books to your toddler. You can read paperback books or board books about pumpkins, trick-or-treating and dressing up in costumes. You can find books for less than retail at garage sales, thrift stores or online. Toddlers love to be read to and this will get him excited about Halloween. Titles your toddler might enjoy include “The Night Before Halloween,” “Clifford’s Halloween,” “Mouse’s First Halloween,” or “Arthur’s Halloween.”
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Trick or treat before it gets dark. Take your toddler trick-or-treating in your neighborhood. Go to houses with people you are familiar with. Go trick-or-treating before it gets dark outside to prevent your child from being afraid. Provide your toddler with a pillow sack or plastic pumpkin to carry his treats around.
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Have your toddler help pass out candy. After you’ve gone trick-or-treating to a few of the local houses, let your child help pass out candy to trick-or-treaters who visit your home. Your toddler will get so excited when someone knocks on the door or rings the doorbell.
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Tips & Warnings
Take your toddler trick-or-treating when it is still somewhat light outside. Trick-or-treating in the dark could be a scary experience for your toddler.
Go through your child’s candy and pull out potential choking hazards, such as small toys, taffy or hard candies.
