Halloween should be easy, creative, and, most of all, FUN. Here are some of the best Halloween tips we’ve collected here at Parent Hacks.
Getting ready
- How do you prepare a toddler for his first Halloween?
- Never again forget how much Halloween candy to buy
- Combine door-to-door trick-or-treating with a block party for grownup fun
- Favorite Halloween books? Talk amongst yourselves.
- “All Hallows Eve” tells the story of the Halloween Fairy (you know, the one who exchanges the candy for a toy?)
- Consider keeping the Halloween costume packed away till October 31
- Skip the Halloween candy! Trick-or-treat for UNICEF
- Halloween craft: Turn a canvas tote into reusable trick or treat bag
- A “trick” to help kids remember to say ‘thank you’
- How to make a Halloween horror movie with your kids
- Halloween: it’s okay if you’re not prepared
Easy Halloween Costumes
- No-sew modular Halloween costumes (a huge Hedra favorite around here)
- No-prep costume: Baby Einstein
- Baby lotion takes the face paint off
- Turn Build-a-Bear Workshop outfits into baby Halloween costumes
- Self-adhesive DOT-It LED light as Halloween headlamp
- No Halloween costume yet? Swap!
- Getting a too-big costume hat to fit
- FlashBrite reflective stick-on patches add nighttime visibility to Halloween costumes
- Halloween costume hack: turn laptop bag pouches into play holsters
- Last-minute Halloween costumes from your closet
Halloween candy, treats and toys
- Tootsie Pop ghosts as decoration and hand-outs
- Watch out for lead in Halloween props and toys
- Martha Stewart’s Spiderweb Cheesecake: A hack
- How to have an allergy-free Halloween
- Give toys instead of candy
- No-effort entertainment: glow sticks
- Non-candy treat: Halloween-themed erasers
Halloween Decorations
- Tootsie Pop ghosts as decoration and hand-outs
- Halloween hack: Make a paper jack-o’-lantern
- Plastic pumpkin head Chia Pets
- DIY window clings with fabric paint
Jack O’lanterns and pumpkins
- Prolong the life of cut pumpkins with petroleum jelly
- Cut the jack-o’-lantern hole in the bottom of the pumpkin
- Let your toddler glue a face on the pumpkin
- Hollow out the Jack-o’-lantern pumpkin with an ice cream scoop
- “Paint” mini pumpkins with colored Sharpies
- Flame-free Jack o’ Lantern: use Christmas lights!
After Halloween
- Store the Halloween books with the decorations
- Storing vinyl cling decorations
- Expand the dress-up wardrobe with discounted Halloween costumes
- How do you dole out the Halloween candy?
- Halloween Fairy swaps candy for toys
- Buy your kid’s Halloween candy
- Use excess Halloween candy as cookie ingredients
- Save leftover candy for holiday gingerbread houses
- Still got Halloween candy lying around? Give it to the “goblins.”
- More ideas for using up the Halloween candy
- Long-term thinking about Halloween candy management
- Turn your disintegrating Jack O’Lantern into a garden experiment
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