Ten spooktacular ways to celebrate Halloween with little ones

Posted on 19 October, 2018

Watch out, everyone! Halloween is coming…

Yes, it’s THAT time of the year again when witches go riding, black cats are seen, Jack O Lantern pumpkins grin at you, and nobody raises a scream when shops begin to sell body parts…Hooray, it’s HALLOWEEN!

In spite of the usual backlash aimed at this ancient festival from certain quarters (and believe me, I’ve heard it all over the last twenty years that I’ve been celebrating this festival), Halloween has in recent years become one of the biggest events on the Australian calendar.

With shops selling Halloween merchandise aplenty, and cities, suburbs, neighbourhoods, schools, bars, restaurants, kids’ indoor play centres, and national institutions such as the National Film and Sound Archive and Old Parliament House celebrating Halloween-themed events, October is now, officially, the spooky season. Whether you like it or not, Halloween is here to stay.

We wrote recently about the Halloween events in Canberra, aimed mostly at the big kids. However, little kids and their parents/carers can enjoy Halloween too, without having to be scared senseless!

Here are ten ways you can enjoy the spooky season with your little ones.

Boogong at Googong

Without a doubt, this is the biggest Halloween event for the whole family in the Canberra region.

Hosted by Googong Township and taking place at Rockley Oval, Googong, on Saturday 27 October, Boogong promises to be a night of fang-tastic fun for the whole family.

The twisted circus theme returns this year, with stage performers and live music to keep everyone entertained, food vendors to keep you going, a best-dressed competition, and the spectacular fireworks finale!

Saturday 27 October | See the website for more details

Halloween at the Old Bus Depot Markets

On Sunday 28 October, select stall holders at the Old Bus Depot will be handing out FREE CANDY! Who doesn’t love FREE candy?

So put on your spooky costumes and enjoy a day of trick or treating at the Markets.

Sunday 28 October from 10am-4pm | Old Bus Depot, 21 Wentworth Ave, Kingston

Halloween Kids High Tea at First Edition

Specially designed for little kids aged five and under as well as thgrown-ups ups, the Halloween Kids High Tea promises to be a morning of spooktacular fun!

Hosted by First Edition restaurant on Northbourne Avenue, the Halloween Kids High Tea will have plenty to keep the kids entertained including ghost making, mask decorating, Halloween-themed colouring in, face painting, games, and of course, high tea!

Monday 29 October from 11 am-1 pm | Tickets cost $35 for children aged 2-5, free for children 0-1, and adults are $25 each | Book your tickets via Eventbrite

Halloween Disco at Monkey Mania

Shake all your sillies out and do the monster mash at the Monkey Mania Halloween disco.

Taking place on Halloween night, Wednesday 31 October from 4 pm-6.30 pm at Monkey Mania Indoor Play Centre in Fyshwick, there’ll be lots of dancing, music, face painting and prizes.

$10 pre-purchase tickets are available now. You can purchase them by calling 6280 5294 or 6280 5842, or visiting the play centre in person.

Wednesday 31 October from 4 pm-6.30 pm | Monkey Mania, Canberra Outlet Centre, 337 Canberra Avenue, Fyshwick.

Day of the Dead Fiesta Canberra

The Day of the Dead (or Dia De Muertos) is a traditional Mexican holiday where Mexicans remember and honour their deceased loved ones.

The Day of the Dead Fiesta Canberra will be more of a celebration of Latin American culture.

Taking place at the Ainslie Arts Centre on Saturday 10 November from 2 pm-11 pm, this family friendly event will include live music, cultural performances, market and food stalls, a kids’ piñata and face painting.

Ticket prices are $35 for adults (aged 16+), $17 for children aged between 5-15, $85 for a family of two adults and two kids, and children under 5 are free

Saturday 10 November from 2 pm-11 pm | To book your tickets, see Eventbrite

Decorate your house

Your kids will love decorating the house for Halloween, and these days, it’s not terribly hard to find Halloween decorations for sale at all the major retail stores such as Big W, Kmart, and Target. In fact, you can usually find them right next to the Christmas decorations.

You’ll find everything from skulls, skeletons, witches’ cauldrons and broomsticks, spider webs, zombie caution tapes, eyeballs and plenty of other body parts! Decorations for your home can also be found at bargain stores, The Reject Shop, Riot Art and Craft stores, dusk, and COSTCO.

Alternatively, you can also make Halloween decorations yourself. Such as this Jack O Lantern family my son and I made one year out of old milk bottles, orange paint and bits of black cardboard.

Search the web for ideas, there are plenty out there!

Throw a Halloween kids’ party

You really don’t need to go all out for a Halloween kids’ party. All you need to do is hang some Halloween decorations around the house  (Halloween-themed or orange, black and white balloons and streamers work), plan a few activities, and ask your guests to dress up in costume and bring a plate of food to share on the day.

Your party activities could include: pass the pumpkin (like pass the parcel but with a mini Halloween pumpkin which you can get from Coles); mummy wrap (get the kids to wrap toilet paper around each other or their grown ups so they look like mummies. You can set a time limit and have a race to see who can wrap their ‘mummies’ the fastest!); Halloween crafts (there are plenty of cute Halloween craft packs you can get from Riot Art and Craft stores), a Halloween piñata (we had a Jack O Lantern pumpkin piñata last year and a ghost one this year.

You can get pinatas from the Big W party store and Kmart); make bubbling witch’s potions (this is very easy to do: just buy some plastic cauldrons from Big W, and mix baking soda with vinegar in them. You could also add some food colouring to the vinegar and throw in a few plastic spiders and body parts for effect!); have a treasure hunt in the backyard (much like an Easter egg hunt. Last year, I hid over 60 plastic eyeballs in the backyard for the children!); carve a Jack O Lantern pumpkin (you can buy special pumpkins for carving and special pumpkin carving tools too at Coles and Woollies, but it’s probably a good idea to have an adult do the carving while the kids watch!); decorate mini Jack O Lantern pumpkins with stickers and glitter or paint (mini pumpkins are available at Coles); and get the kids together to watch a Halloween-themed dvd, such as Paw Patrol’s Spooky Adventures or the Wiggles’ Pumpkin Face Halloween DVD.

Go trick or treating on Halloween

The quintessential Halloween activity! Even if you don’t know when Halloween is, you’ll know that it’s definitely Halloween when a group of kids dressed in spooky costumes knock on your door and call out to you, “trick or treat!”

Of course, if we were in North America, we probably wouldn’t give an eyeball when this happens. But because we live in Australia where Halloween is still not yet so well-established in our culture in spite of its growing popularity, your neighbours and the other people in your community (especially if you never have anything to do with them) will very likely tell your kids to get lost.

Trick or treating is lots of fun, but if your kids do go trick or treating, please make sure you and other adults are with them, and that you only go to houses where you have already pre-warned the people living there that you will be coming. Also, make sure that they agree to having your kids visit them, so they can get their treats sorted and ready to hand out.

I know many Halloween-friendly people like to tie orange balloons around their mailboxes to let trick or treaters know that they are welcome to their house on Halloween night.  To keep up to date with trick or treating news in your Canberra neighbourhood, visit this Facebook page.

My little boy and I do a reverse form of trick or treating on Halloween night. We go to our neighbours and give out the treats, usually in the form of cupcakes!  Whatever the Halloween-haters may say about trick or treating, it really is a great way to connect with your neighbours.

After your trick or treating, why not do the following on Halloween night?

Create a gingerbread haunted house (you can buy gingerbread haunted house kits at Costco for $10), carve a Jack O Lantern pumpkin (you can buy Halloween pumpkins especially designed for carving at Coles and Woollies), bob for apples (a traditional Halloween game suitable for older kids: you fill a tub with water and apples, then have each person ‘bob’ their head into the tub and try to pick up an apple with their mouth only!), or watch a not-too-scary movie such as Hotel Transylvania, Monsters INC, Trolls, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Casper, The Neverending Story, How to Train your Dragon, and the dvd that was a huge hit at my little boy’s Halloween party this year, Paw Patrol Spooky Adventures.

Visit the graves of loved ones who have passed away

Every year around November 1 and 2, people in several countries around the world including the Philippines visit and spend the night at the graveyards of their deceased loved ones. That’s because November 2 is All Souls’ Day in the Catholic calendar, which is the traditional day of honoring and respecting the dead. All Souls’ Day is linked with Halloween because Halloween actually forms part of a three day ‘celebration’ of honoring those who have passed away. This is why I laugh when people say Halloween is an American festival. Because it’s NOT. I repeat, Halloween is NOT an American festival (North Americans just know how to celebrate it big time!).

The very word Halloween is actually Catholic in origin. It’s a contraction of All Hallows’ Eve which falls on October 31. All Hallows’ Eve is the day before All Hallows Day, otherwise known as All Saints Day which falls on November 1. All Saints Day is a day honouring the saints in the Catholic tradition. And that’s followed by All Soul’s Day on November 2. Halloween, All Hallows’ Day and All Souls’ Day form a three day ‘celebration’ and observance of the dead. So in actual fact, Halloween is part of a religious festival, just like Easter and Christmas. But even more than Easter and Christmas in our modern, western societies, Halloween has pretty much lost its religious significance.

The origin of Halloween is also said to be traced back to pre-Christian times, to an agricultural festival called Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, in Ireland and Britain. But whatever its origins, Halloween is the time when we remember and honour our departed loved ones. So if you have unfortunately lost a family member or friend who was dear to you and your children, then why not visit their graves this Halloween? Or light candles in their honour in your home.

Have a wonderfully spooky Halloween, everyone!

‘When witches go riding and black cats are seen,

The moon laughs and whispers, tis near Halloween!’

Author unknown