Tips for Halloween Fun by Elizabeth Alsobrooks

 

How to Preserve Pumpkins

If you decorate with paint rather than cut faces in your pumpkins or even if you buy pumpkins to stack without adornment, you should first preserve them, especially if you want to use them through Thanksgiving or until you put out your Christmas decorations.

The first step is to clean them, either with a damp rag or soapy water if they’re very dirty. Next you need to disinfect them with either diluted bleach or full-strength vinegar. You need to cut extra length off the stem or any moldy spots, so they don’t spread and get soft. Once the pumpkin is completely dry, spray it with clear paint, such as rust oleum. If you want them very shiny, use gloss, for just a slight sheen use satin, and for a natural look, use matte finish clear paint. If there are any small blemishes, be sure to give them another coat to seal out moisture and include the stem and blossom on the bottom.  Once sealed you can use acrylic paints to decorate with designs or scary faces, but whatever paint you use it's best if it's weatherproof or non-washable paint, so they don’t run when they get wet. You can protect designs from damage with another coat of clear paint or craft sealer. 

 

Easy Nontoxic Makeup Ideas for Halloween

Makeup is often a better way than masks to ensure kids have clear vision. You still need to be sure to get nontoxic face makeup or makeup paint palettes. For kids with especially sensitive skin, less is definitely more, so you probably don’t want to use an all-over base. Some of the easier and most popular designs are vampires, blood dripping from lips, sunken cheeks, often dark circles under the eyes or exaggerated eye makeup all rounded off with fake fangs; tigers, cats or kittens complete with whiskers; witches with green skin and warts; skeletons or zombies with dark eyes sockets, blacked out areas under the cheekbones; scarecrows with stitches around makeup patches made to look like fabric; and for kids or adults another fun favorite is Day of the Dead face paint. They can lean toward gruesome or beautiful, but creativity finds a fun playground with this theme. A simple google search will provide hundreds of makeup ideas from simple to complex. Remember, if you don’t overdo it, face makeup is often more comfortable than masks. Just be sure to do a test sample on the wrist to check for allergic reaction or skin irritation.

 

Halloween Party Themes

There are always a lot of Halloween parties. Nowadays they range from kids' parties to adult fun spooktacular. Some interesting themes for parties are Witches Night Out, Hocus Pocus, Nightmare Before Christmas, Halloween Masquerade, The Walking Dead, Nightmare on [insert yours here] Street, Pirates, Monster Mash, Haunted Hooligans, Boo Bash, All Hallows Eve, Night of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Harry Potter, Superheroes, Horror Movies, Fangtasia, Killer Clowns, and Historical or Era Themes.

 

Fun Halloween Party Activities

These vary according to age groups, but some are fun for any age. You can try Pin the Fang on the Vampire, Murder Mystery, a Scavenger Hunt for Pirate Treasure, Halloween Bingo, Talent Show, Dance offs, Charades, Pumpkin Decorating Contests, Horror Movie Pictionary, or Halloween Story Game.

Have fun this Halloween season, even if all you do is hand out candy to the kiddies!