5 Tricks to Make Halloween Extra Family Fun

Extend the fun beyond Trick or Treating with these five tips to make Halloween extra fun for your family.  

Halloween is right around the corner.  Only a few days left to make the most out of every moment of this holiday.

It won't be long before your kids are telling you they are too old to go Trick or Treating and only want to go visit Haunted Houses with their friends, leaving you behind to pass out the candy.

So enjoy some extra family fun this Halloween with these 5 tricks.

1. Visit a local Trunk or Treat

Halloween is only one night a year.  Most places will let you trick or treat for an hour or two in neighborhoods.  That's a lot of time, energy, and money to put into costumes for only a few minutes to wear.

Extend the Halloween fun by checking out a local Trunk or Treat.  Most churches, and some cities, have outdoor trunk or treating some time during the month of October.  They are very welcoming of guests to stop by and join in the fun.

To find these, check with your local Chamber of Commerce to see if your city is having a Trunk or Treat and ask your neighbors if they know of any.  Most will gladly invite you to their church's activities for more fun and candy and a little bit of friendship.

2. Halloween Night Dinner

Before heading off on a night of candy indulgence, start your family night off with a fun dinner.  Decorate your table up with lots of Halloween decorations or use these Halloween "Smiling Pumpkin" Paper Plates to start the night off right.

Your kids will enjoy a full stomach to sneak a piece of candy or two, and you'll have a chance to renew the safety rules without slowing down their trick or treat time.

3. Dress in Time to take Pictures

I don't know about you, but I've had the last minute costume changes and dressing take all the way up until we are rushing out the door.  This leaves no time to enjoy your handiwork and take pictures for the memories and years to come.

Dress up in time to sit down as your little monsters at the table (be sure to use aprons if needed!)  This will enhance the fun of the Halloween dinner and also make sure every one is ready and hasn't forgotten anything.  Then go out and take some fun pictures before the lighting gets bad and the memories are forgotten.

4. Halloween Candy Exchange

This is either the best time of the night for the kids or the worst!  Make it fun for them by chaperoning the candy exchanges so younger kids aren't taken advantage of and everyone leaves with yummy candy in a happy mood.

If your kids ended up with too much candy, feel free to trade them for fun family treats.  Offer up an ice cream cone at McDonalds for 5 pieces of candy.  Or a toy from the Dollar store for 20 pieces.  Or maybe a coupon to get out of their chores for a day for 10.  Get creative and store that candy away for Christmas stockings.

You'll end up saving money and they'll end up without tummy aches.  That's definitely a win for Halloween.

5. Halloween Bedtime Story or Movie

After all the excitement of trick or treating and sneaking a piece of candy or two, chances are your child will be a little hyper and tired.  In my house, that leads to lots of fights.

End the evening by sitting a reading a fun Halloween book together as a family.  You can do this by tucking them all in to sleeping bags in the living room for a family camp out or sitting in the middle of the hallway and reading to everyone while snuggled into their beds.  Some great choices for kids are Little Ghostie (A Halloween Fantasy for Children),  A Monster Stole My Halloween Candy, or Goodnight Goon: A Petrifying Parody.

Or snuggle in with mugs of warm chocolate for a family movie night.  Pull out a copy of Hocus Pocus, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, or Hotel Transylvania.  These won't leave your kids with scary nightmares but will settle them down long enough to fall asleep.


What kind of fun things do you do as a family to extend the Halloween fun?