3 Easy Steps to Getting Halloween Right
1. Get the best costume Halloween whimsy permits.
If you’re in it to get the biggest BOO! for your buck, the easy approach can be the most fun. Nothing says “shock the shinola out of your friends and family!” better than popping in some customizable fangs. You can saunter into work in your every-day grey business suit and still scare the crab apples out of your co-workers with nothing more than intense eye contact and a slow revealing grin. In fact, the more otherwise “normal” you look, the more interesting the effect.
Whimsy and visual puns are my personal favorite. I love costumes that make me guess. One Halloween in particular, our son had me wondering all night when he left the house for a party with a knife and fork in the front pocket of his shirt. He told me the next day he had gone as a cutlery drawer.
What’s the best punny costume idea you’ve come across? (Full disclosure: I WILL steal your idea for some year down the road.)
2. Get the best loot to give away, and by “best,” I mean the stuff that you yourself will enjoy eating for the next week or two.
Hershey’s Candy Assortment 100 Pieces
You may be more altruistic in this department than I am, so if you really want what seems to be most popular with the masses over at Amazon, the collection above is their #1 best seller.
At our house, we go for the quintessential Canadian snack food carbs:
Oh. My.
I’ve missed you, my little crunchy real cheddar cheese nuggets of salty heaven!
We can get these at our local grocery store in the Halloween mini-pack format of 20 to a box. Since we live in a neighborhood populated mostly with empty nesters, we don’t expect a swarm on the 31st, but we’re going to pick up five or six boxes anyway, just to be safe.
They’re for the children.
3. Get the best entertainment lined up for a night of non-stop interruptions.
Free Halloween coloring pages to print out… (Don’t laugh. Rick likes to color.)
- Free and Printable Halloween Coloring Pages
- Holiday Crafts & Creations
- Free Halloween Coloring Pages
…or an inexpensive coloring book.
Entertainment doesn’t stop with coloring books.
Maybe a thematically appropriate sweet tooth puzzle is just the thing for older kids. (Inner kids count: Rick likes puzzles too.)
Here’s a candy wrapper-themed 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle from White Mountain Puzzles (did this one last Christmas, good one):
…or if you want to go straight to the Junior Mints, Dots, and Tootsie Rolls:
And when you’ve had enough candy and are ready to move on to beer, you can cheers the parents accompanying the midgi-goblins with this:
”Cheers” 1000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle
… and of course, queue up a suite, throw-back Disney flick where you won’t miss any plot twists while you pause to answer the doorbell, and you’re all set!
The Sweet Life on Deck (full episode)
Have a punny Halloween (and don’t forget to floss)!