School is back in session, the weather is slowly changing, and the holidays are on their way! If there’s a single thing that will keep your kids occupied for the upcoming few weeks, that would be the sheer dreaming of all the cool sweets they’ll collect during Halloween, the amazing desserts for Thanksgiving, and of course, nothing beats the Christmas tree gift-giving.

However, amidst their school chores and other daily activities, your little ones may need some help organizing this year’s Halloween bash – and let the following tips make it even easier and more fun for both you and your youngsters!

Choose a theme

If you’re thinking: “But, it’s Halloween, of course, it’s pumpkins and spiders!”, then you need to look to your inner child for some advice, and even more importantly, talk to your kids and their friends. If you’re hosting a party for many little rascals, it matters to factor in their preferences. Maybe they’d like a Hotel Transylvania theme, a haunted pirate ship, wizardry, zombies, or even Star Wars – maybe this year, all the kids will cross to the dark side!

DIY decorations

Keep your kids busy by letting them make their own room decorations once you select the theme. From simple spider and bat cutouts, good old pumpkin carving, all the way to banners, hats, and colorful garlands, you can help your little ones master the use of scissors, and decorate the entire home much more quickly with their help.

Spook up those invites

Don’t put away those scissors and glues just yet! With a theme and decorations ready, it’s time to surprise the guests and send out scary invites in the spirit of Halloween. Teach your kids how to use a colorful permanent marker to mark down the “what, when, and where”, and put their own signature on the cute and clever invites. Some easy and popular shapes include pumpkins (of course), skulls, ghosts, and spooky black kittens.

Pick scary treats

Turn the ordinary chocolate balls into oogly-eyed spiders, brownies into chocolate-covered monsters, and those marshmallows into squishy ghosts. Even milkshakes can become a little scarier with a little help of markers (another chance for your kids to draw and decorate)!

Pick a horror movie

Halloween is when all the good horror movies come out. In keeping with the theme of the season, you could treat your kids and their friends to a new scary movie at the cinemas. It’s easy enough to see what the upcoming horror movies are from websites like Hell Horror (hellhorror.com) and other similar ones, to determine if they’re appropriately scary for your kiddos. A good pick would be something more leaning more toward Gremlins and less toward Nightmare on Elm Street.

Costumes at the ready

If your kids are still at that age when they enjoy role-plays and costumes, let them turn their Halloween into a festive gathering of all kinds of scary creatures. Evil witches, ninja turtles, fairies, robots, animals, and superheroes are always a huge hit, so let the kids decide, and make use of those DIY skills of yours!

Talk to other parents

Before you start wrapping up the snack menu and the pick-up times, talk to the parents of other kids, learn if any of them have food allergies or any other health concerns you should know about, as well as their preferred time to head home.

Set your activities list

Sometimes, with the right costumes and food, you don’t even need a specific list of games, but you should at least have some up your sleeve for sudden mood drops. From setting up a home-wide or outdoor scavenger hunt, to mummy races (yes, this is where your toilet paper steals the spotlight), you should have a few hours-worth of fun planned.

Find the right tunes

It all depends on how old your kids are, what kind of music they like, and if their theme allows for anything other than scary sounds in the background to amplify the scary games experience. Some will absolutely love the Adams Family theme loop, while others may enjoy some metal such as Enter Sandman, so keep your options open, and that Internet connection in pristine condition.

Create little favors

Kids love gifts, so why not use this opportunity to make original, Halloween-themed favors that the little ones will be able to take home? Once again, age and theme come into play, so think about all the possible edibles, such as little packs of monster cookies, scary jewelry, vampire teeth, or slime and dough for the most creative of your visitors.

Commemorate the bash

This is one of those few opportunities during the year that your kids truly have a blast, so use it to take plenty of photos, and you can even give out disposable cameras to encourage your little ones to make their own memories. Afterwards, you can create little Halloween boards for them to hang in their rooms, and once more decorate with all sorts of glittery, spooky stuff!

With kids, a little goes a long way to inspire them and keep them occupied. Take some time to plan this event, and you’ll make this year even more memorable, and give them a chance to express their creativity and learn new skills – in preparation for the next holiday feast of the season!