Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Welcome Back, Friends!
Halloween and all of the festivities that go with it
are only a few weeks away!
As a Grand, the best part of Halloween by far
is oohing and aahing over our Littles in their costumes!
Don’t you agree?
However, as we both are well aware,
Halloween night can be very busy for many families!
This is certainly true for both of our extended families!
School age friends want to trick or treat and neighborhood fun is calling.
There might have been school earlier that day (with added holiday festivities)
and then again the next day is often a school day
with an early morning wake up call for the family!
Today we’re sharing an alternative approach for enjoying this holiday with loved ones
without adding stress to this hectic evening!
Try a Family BOO Bash!
As a family - with Grands, Middles and Littles of all ages included,
plan and host a get together the weekend before the big day!
We suggest getting started in the late morning
on the scheduled Family BOO Bash day!.
Have everyone come in costume,
plan to eat a meal together (on the front or back end of the gathering)
and then play some games that all ages will enjoy
and even build in some trick-or-treat time for added measure!
Your littlest Littles can still be home in time for an afternoon nap!
WIN! WIN!
Halloween night will be calmer for everyone involved
AND
you will still have the opportunity to admire your Littles in their Halloween outfit
while creating a memorable experience for all involved!
So... get your camera ready to capture the sweetness!
Below you’ll find some ideas to bring your Family BOO Bash all together…
Our Littles ALWAYS look forward to trick-or-treating on Halloween!
In fact, we think it’s probably their favorite part of the holiday!
So, of course, adding this element to a Family BOO Bash is required!
🧡 🎃 🧡
Each household is responsible for bringing their own decorated “door”
to the Family BOO Bash!
This can be a simple piece of tagboard that’s been decorated (as shown).
These can then be attached to a long rope strung between 2 objects, such as trees.
One adult from each household stands behind their family’s door as all the Littles spread out between the doors. The Littles then ring the “doorbell” in front of them (this could be a musical instrument set by each door). The Littles say “Trick or Treat” and the adult peeks out and gives them a treat! The Littles then move on to the next door!
This activity continues until each Little has visited each “door” along the way!
No Family Boo Bash would be complete
without a few spooktacular games to play together!
Here are a few of our favorites!
Each is an active game that’s great for all ages!
👻 WIZARDS & MAGICIANS!
Here are a few quick rules to follow as you play!
#1 - One person is chosen to be the Wizard and is given a pool noodle.
#2 - One person is chosen to be the Magician and is given a paper towel roll.
#3 - Everyone runs around the area. The Wizard tries to tag others with his/her “wand” (the pool noodle)
#4 - If someone is tagged he/she must freeze until the Magician finds that person and tags him/her with the wand(the paper towel tube) which unfreezes the person!
#5 - The Wizard may not tag the Magician!
A Grand Tip!
Feel free to switch roles to keep things interesting!
Play continues as long as your Littles stay engaged!.
👻 SPIDER TOSS!
This game may remind you of the classic Egg Toss game!
We found plastic spiders and web trays at the local Dollar Tree! As an alternative to the web trays, you could use strong paper plates!
Everyone holds a web tray (or paper plate) and pairs off with a partner. Each set of partners also needs one spider to play the game.
Each pair of partners stands tray to tray and they toss the spider from one to the other. After each catch, both partners (or just one to make it last longer) take a step back.
Each pair tries to see how far apart they can get. A team is out once they miss!
A Grand Tip!
Allow the Littles to pick up the spider and toss with their hands if they’d like.
Meanwhile, the adults toss with the tray.
The Littles also are allowed a few misses rather than just one!
You can imagine how competitive your Middles might get as play continues…
In the end, you might even find them
winging those spiders across the entire backyard!
👻 EEK! BOO!
This is a pay-attention-quick-thinking game! But... Watch Out! Your Littles may surprise you and do better than the adults!
Begin by creating a playing field. You could use a long table if it is low enough for your Littles - they need to be able to reach the middle of the table in order to play. If that doesn't work, lay the table on the ground, with the legs folded. You could also use a long tarp. Just be sure the ground is very flat and level where you are playing (as shown in the photo below). If you are inside, the floor would be another option!
Put a line of tape down the middle of your playing field. Players should line up along both sides of the table with their hands resting on their knees.. The person you are facing is your first partner. Place a coloring marker between the two partners on the line of tape.
One person is chosen to be the Caller.
Before the game begins,
teach the players the signals and what to do for each.
Be sure to practice a few times!
When the Caller starts calling out signals play begins!
“EEK! BOO! BOO! EEK! BOO! SNATCH!”
Start slowly at first and then really build up speed!
The partner who grabs the marker first wins that round. They should take the marker (washable 😊) and make an X or tally mark on the back of their hands.
BEWARE!
If one partner snatches the marker too early,
the other player automatically wins!
After each round, players shift. The left side of the table moves UP the table, the right side moves DOWN the table, so you are always playing with a new partner. If you have an uneven number, a player can rotate in and out at each round.
After a set number of rounds, depending on age or interest (perhaps 5-10), each person will count up their tally marks to determine the top two players!.
The Play-Off Begins!
The top 2 - 4 players participate in 3 rounds to determine the ultimate winner!
A Few Grand Tips!
Tip #1 - Players ages 4 or 5+ seem to do best at this game.
If you have younger Littles they can take a free play break or simply watch the game.
(Our littlest Littles sat by their parents - the Middles - and copied them.)
Tip #2 - You could use anything fun as the SNATCH item.
The markers provided an easy way to keep score.
You could also use items like plastic pumpkins, spiders or even candy!
(Then, whoever wins the round gets the piece of candy!)
Tip #3 - If your playing space is not quite flat,
you could put a piece of velcro or textured ribbon on the marker
to keep it from rolling around on the table as people are slapping it.
For added excitement, set up some stations that all ages can enjoy
when they are free.
✱ Apple Tasting & Graphing! ✱
As a bonus... it’s also a healthy snack to have available, especially for the Littles!
❤ 🍎 ❤
Choose 3-4 varieties of apples to taste!
(For younger Littles, we suggest using different colored apples to taste!)
Create a chart and add a basket with some stickers and a marker.
Once each person tastes the different kinds of apples,
he/she writes his/her name on a sticker
and sticks the sticker to the section that signifies his/her favorite!
✱ How Many are in Each Jar? ✱
Put out “Guess How Many?” jars featuring a Halloween content in each…
such as M&Ms, candy corn, pumpkins, gummi worms and Peeps!.
For each jar, the person who comes closest in guessing the correct number,
wins the jar and its contents!
A Grand Tip!
Encourage your older Littles and adults to make outrageous guesses
for the Guessing Jar that contains the Peeps!
Doing so will give the youngest Littles playing a chance to win
since not many ghost and/or pumpkin Peeps fit in a jar!
✱ Concoct a Witch's Brew! ✱
Each person takes the ingredients they think they can stomach - toad warts, anyone?
Give each person a Ziploc bag and let them mix in items to eat or to take home.
Here are some of our suggestions…
Toad warts - Raisins
Monster Brains - Popcorn
Black Cat Eyes - M&Ms
Skeleton Bones - stick pretzels or Veggie Stix
(There are so many more options with this one
so, get creative and personalize your Witch's Brew ingredients to match your tastes!)
The one thing our Family BOO Bash is still missing
is some yummy food to serve as part of the festivities!
Look for us to follow up with another Family BOO Bash,
so come back soon!
We'll highlight some easy and tasty FOOD options
that are Little friendly on all counts!
Remember, you can always subscribe so that you get a heads up when we post next!
We’d LOVE to hear about YOUR extended family’s Halloween plans!
Do you have a favorite tradition or annual family gathering
that you look forward to each year?
Feel free to comment at the bottom of this post
or email us directly at ourgrandlives@gmail.com.
And, as always, look for us to offer more Halloween fun
See you soon! ❤
SPECIAL THANKS TO
ge•ner•ic Link Up Party #5 from Gma'sPhoto
Crazy Little Lovebirds Link Party #10 from Crazy Little Love Birds
Busy Mondays from A Pinch of Joy
Thank you for featuring this post on your sites!
❤ We love our blogging community! ❤
❤️ We are delighted to join these link up parties and blog hops this week: