6 Halloween Hacks to Make the Holiday Amazing for Your Kids in 2022
It’s spooky season again! For parents juggling all the daily commitments, Halloween can sneak up on you. Every kid loves Halloween, but finding the time to make sure it’s a blast can be tough. And even though Covid is not as rampant as it was last few years, it is the flu season! Add the complications of ensuring your trick-or-treaters stay illness-free (Covid or otherwise) while bouncing around the neighborhood, and this Halloween is set to be a handful.
But there are ways to pull it off! Check out these hacks to make Halloween 2022 both safe and stellar for your kids.
Work Cold/Flu/Covid Safety Into the Costume
Not that anyone has forgotten, but we are still dealing with this pesky pandemic or at least the flu season, which we all know too well. Face masks and hand sanitizer are helpful additions, but the mask doesn’t have to ruin your kid’s costume!
Get creative and encourage choosing a costume that works in a mask. From superheroes and Star Wars characters to mummies and ninjas, you can ensure the face mask is a critical part of their Halloween getup to ensure they keep it on!
Turn Everyday Objects Halloween Spooky
With the everyday hustle of parenting, sometimes holidays like Halloween just get pushed to the end of a very long priority list. The 31st will arrive, you’ll look around, and see not a pumpkin or cobweb in sight. Oops!
But with a little creative thinking you can add a Halloween spin to pretty much anything you have lying around! A little fake cobwebbing, a spider made out of pool noodles, mummy-wrapped juice boxes—there’s a way to make almost anything lying around the house spooky!
DayGlo for Safety During Halloween
The days get shorter and the nights get longer in the autumn, which means trick-or-treat adventures need some consideration and planning. Discussing general safety aspects around stranger danger with your child is always a good idea.
Remind them to stay in a group of people they know, never walk off with someone they don’t know, and always stay on the front lawns or porches of the houses on their route. Remind them that even if someone invites them inside, they must politely refuse and always stay out in the open where they are visible.
While many Halloween costumes gravitate toward the dark and sinister, try to encourage them to choose a costume that is bright and visible so they are easy to see. If they insist on a darker outfit, try to upgrade the look with some glow sticks. These can be used as jewelry or even as decoration in their Halloween basket.
Also consider planning out their route ahead of time, and insist that they stick to it. Perhaps even practice the route with them a couple of afternoons ahead of their Halloween event.
Jack-O-Lantern Alternatives
Maybe you didn’t get a chance to carve some spooky pumpkins earlier in the month, and now you don’t have time—or pumpkins! That doesn’t mean your house can’t look festive for the big night. Even if you don’t have time to carve them up, you can always draw funny and scary faces on pumpkins (if you do have a few) or get your kids busy with a different crafting activity.
Make some paper jack-o-lanterns. Great for your kids to do with their babysitter, take some orange construction paper and draw jack-o-lantern faces on the one side of each sheet with a black marker or some paint. Roll them up, and with the help of the babysitter, cut some slits for light and make some handles. They can hang these jack-o-lanterns around the house for a crafty Halloween vibe!
Leave Signs of The Candy Fairy
So much sugar! The one part of Halloween every parent dreads! Combat sugar overload with a conveniently crafty candy fairy. The candy fairy is so special because she uses her magic she to transform their heard-earned candy into toys! Leading up to Halloween, you or your babysitter can create notes from the candy fairy to remind them of her impending visit. They can plan exactly where they are going to leave part of their stash for her to collect.
Dress Up for Halloween!
Yes, Halloween is mostly for kids. But nothing makes it more unforgettable for kids than parents dressing up too. Being a part of the big night will mean the world to your kids, and doesn’t take up too much time or money. Rack your closet for a few quick costume ideas that you can throw together without too much work. Classics like a black cat, a biker, or a ghost are relatively easy to put together with stuff you already own, and it’s the effort made to be a part of your kid’s night that matters!
Many Hands Make Light Work
Making your kids’ Halloween fun doesn’t have to deplete your time and energy or break the bank! With a little creative planning, you can easily rustle up a little Halloween magic for them.
While planning your spooky evening, consider hiring a babysitter for your Halloween event. They can assist with safety and crowd control if you foresee a large number of kids trick-or-treating, and can help with the decorating and hosting responsibilities or organizing games and craft activities. If you can’t make it out to trick-or-treat with the kids, have a babysitter you trust fill the gap.Babysitting app Call Emmy helps you find a sitter on the go! All their sitters are thoroughly vetted in a three-step background check process, so you can be sure your children are safe. There are sitters available for both long- and short-term engagements, and you can even filter through them by skills and standards if you’re in need for a specific kind of sitter. Best of all, it truly is an on-demand service—you can get a sitter on the shortest of notices. Sign up for CallEmmy today and find out for yourself!