How is it late October already? Maybe you’ve been planning for Halloween since Labor Day, but if you’re like most busy moms (*raises hand*) the spookiest season has snuck up on you, again! Here are some fun last-minute Halloween ideas to celebrate with your little goblin.

SPOOKY SENSORY BINS

Kids and babies love sensory bins and the best part is you can use pretty much anything you have on hand. For example, fill a plastic bin or shoe box with dried beans or colored rice. Add small toys like spooky eyeballs or creepy spiders and let your kid dive in with a scoop, a pair of kitchen tongs or their hands. You could also make one with cooked spaghetti “brains” or grape “eyeballs” and watch your little one have a scary good time!  Once you’re done, dust off those plastic spiders and have a...

Scary Spider Race

Give your kid a straw and a spider, and get one for yourself or whoever else is playing. Put the spider down and see who can move the spider over an end mark fastest using the straw and their own breath. For younger kids, lace string through the holes in a laundry basket to make a DIY laundry basket spider web. Place small toys or objects inside the web and let your toddler figure out how to retrieve them. The full tutorial from Lovevery can be found here.

Candy Treasure Hunt

Give your kid a straw and a spider, and get one for yourself or whoever else is playing. Put the spider down and see who can move the spider over an end mark fastest using the straw and their own breath. For younger kids, lace string through the holes in a laundry basket to make a DIY laundry basket spider web. Place small toys or objects inside the web and let your toddler figure out how to retrieve them. The full tutorial from Lovevery can be found here.

Thrift-Store Costume Contest

Textile and plastic fabric waste is truly scary. Grab whatever you need for costumes from your local second hand shop or thrift store and reduce single use clothing waste. Better yet, set up a costume swap with other moms in your area and trade or borrow what you need.

Mocktails for kids and expecting moms

Whip up a batch of delicious witches brew.

Muddle 1/4c fresh blackberries.

Combine with 1 1/2c Bolthouse Farms Blue Goodness juice, 1/2c soda water or lemon-lime soda and 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger

Serve over ice. 

As an added bonus:

Blackberries are full of antioxidants and vitamin C. Ginger
is great for queasy tummies and morning sickness.

games for new parents

Toilet Paper Mummy - Take turns wrapping baby and parents with toilet paper and making mummies. Then crank up the Monster Mash and have a mummy dance party! For a twist on a classic - pumpkin decorating. Try tempura paint sticks, some construction paper and glue for a sharp-cutting-utensil-free decorating party! No matter how you celebrate, you’re never too young or too old to have fun on Halloween.

Article by: Jessica Kivnik