In just a few short weeks, the spooky fall holiday will be knocking at the door in the form of childhood trick-or-treaters. Candy, costumes, scary movies, ghoulish decorations and haunted parties usually typify Halloween. These parts of Halloween can all make for a fun holiday, but the most important thing is to include and bond with the members of your family. There are a few simple tricks to transforming October 31, 2009, into a memorable day your family will fondly remember. By creating unique costumes for each member of your family, having a special haunted meal, and going trick-or-treating as a family, you will be sure to form lasting memories with one another and make this year's Halloween a memorable child and adult favorite.
On October 31, trick-or-treaters will flood the streets. Kids will be everywhere, probably with half of them in the exact same costume—girls in their princess attire and boys dressed as super heroes. Break out of the norm! Create a family-centered costume theme. Have everyone in your family dress alike; be a team of professional league bowlers in similar button up shirts with names embroidered, or a basketball team with matching jerseys. If you are a family on a budget, have everyone wear their pajamas and go as a sleepy family. Other inexpensive ideas include wearing different, solid, bright-colored clothing, with each member representing a different part of the rainbow. Another idea is for everyone to wrap each other in toilet paper and go as a family of mummies; the same concept applies for a family of ghosts if everyone wore a sheet with holes for the eyes and mouth. Girls could use permanent markers to add make-up to their ghosts in the form of eyelashes and lipstick. Add a little flare by trying something creative the whole family can participate in.
Eat a festive meal together. I'll never forget when I ate fingers for the first time—a Halloween tradition in my family. My mom always was the creative type when it came time for holiday meals. I remember one Halloween in particular; my mother went all out. She used bread dough to form skinny fingers and placed slivered almonds dipped in red food coloring at the tips—they looked just like an old lady's red nails and fingers. Then she used the same dough to form a fat spider with eight legs and a head. When it came out of the oven she made a hole on the top of the spider and filled it with soup. We were able to each take soup out of the spider's back and eat it with a spider leg. All kinds of creative dinner and entertaining appetizer ideas are available on the Internet and in holiday cookbooks and magazines. Make a creative dinner or spooky dessert your family will just die for!
When it comes time to go trick-or-treating, go as a family. Sometimes it is fun to allow kids to go with their friends, but why not do something a little different this year and build the bonds within your family? Take lots of pictures, then come home and watch a family movie together while kids sort through their candy. Some favorite movies my family watched at Halloween time include Hocus Pocus and the Disney Halloweentown films.
The importance of family togetherness has been incredibly undervalued over the last couple decades. Make this holiday season, starting with Halloween, more family centered. Actually eat together, wear matching clothing and enjoy a family-feature-film. These are the types of activities that will serve to strengthen familial bonds and create an opportunity for memories to form and love to increase.
--------
Courtney is the manager of the bath and body workshop where you can learn how beauty products work. Follow the link to learn more about her most recent venture, the bath & body store, Sweetly You.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
You are a member of Courtney Lewis's Fan Club!
tweet this!