October 3lst, is a holiday that is widely celebrated by virtually everyone, its origin lost to current practice. Children dress up in costume – witches, ghosts, and vampires are classic favorites, but anything goes. With the availability of commercial costumes, children can be their favorite action hero or cartoon character, and some girls never tire of being princesses and ballerinas. In the evening children go house to house in costume, ring the doorbell, say “Trick or Treat” and are rewarded with candy or other treats. Some schools have the children come in costume, and there may be parties in the neighborhood. Adults dress up too, so don’t miss
out on the fun! If you are the one at home answering the door to distribute candy, children love a friendly greeting, and to know that their costume is appreciated. Activities for a week or two before Halloween:
• Make simple paper decorations to display for Halloween. Ghosts, witches, bats, pumpkins, jack-o’-lanterns and black cats are all easy to draw and cut out. Mount them on doors and windows to view from outside.
• Check your local library for Halloween stories, ghost stories or stories about witches. There are picture books for young children as well as scarier stories for school age children. Try reading these in the dark if you think your children are brave enough!
• Design and create home-made costumes. Masks are difficult for children to see through,especially at night; face paint is safer (be sure it is the kind that washes off easily). Costumes can be made from an odd assortment of clothes (thrift stores might be a good source for that special touch) or from cardboard boxes, or fabric. Involve the children in the process and it will be a Halloween to remember for all of you! Spray paint works well on boxes (children should not use spray paint themselves). Some ideas from boxes: Candy Bar, Prisoner in jail, space alien (add some aluminum foil, bottle caps etc.), pilot in an airplane and jack-in-the-box.

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

Small children might become frightened of masks and costumes; help them to feel safe. Discuss with your host family what they do about the collected candy. Many children are not allowed to eat the candy until it is inspected to be sure that everything is in a sealed wrapper (there have been some unfortunate ‘tricks’ in the past). Some children are allowed to eat unlimited quantities, others only a certain amount at a time. Some families might give some of the candy to charity collections at school. For additional Halloween night safety tips, see: http://www.aupairinamerica.com/resources/safety_tips/halloween.asp