Preparing for Halloween!

Hello All!  Elizabeth here with a few tips to help you and your child prepare for a wonderful Halloween experience. 

Halloween is an exciting time. With excitement comes unpredictability.  I don’t know about you, but that’s not my favorite thing in the world.  I like to anticipate how my costume will work, the routine of trick-or-treating, and set realistic expectations for Halloween-themed events.

I recommend practicing wearing a costume for a few minutes at a time.  Increase wearing time over a few days so that your child feels comfortable and you have time to make any adjustments (like removing itchy tags, etc.) before the big event.  This is especially true if the costume includes a mask.

You may want to practice dressing up to so that your child feels comfortable seeing you in costume and understands that familiar people will look different on Halloween.

In my experience, grandparents and neighbors would love to help your child practice the trick-or-treating routine.  Depending on your child’s comfort separating from you, you can help her walk to the door, knock, say ‘trick-or-treat’, accept a treat, say ‘thank you’, and walk away.  Sometimes, the concept of accepting whatever is dropped into the treat bag can be tough. Perhaps letting her know ahead of time that she can trade their loot for a prize at the end or swap for favorite candy with siblings or friends can make it easier to accept a non-preferred option. 

Let’s return to the unpredictable aspects of Halloween.  Halloween is full of surprises.  Some fun and spooky and some just plain scary.  More on that in a moment.  Give your child a rough outline of the events he can expect. If attending a school carnival, talk about what kinds of games and activities there will be and estimate how long you will be there.  Perhaps you’re going trick-or-treating in a different neighborhood, you could drive by in advance, or go for an evening walk to get used to how cold it will be and estimate how many houses you will go to.

Halloween is also a great time to work on language skills. Describing the way houses, characters, and decorations look is encouraged.  Describing the emotions they evoke is even better!  I love to take this as an opportunity to discuss things that are ‘spooky’ versus things that are ‘scary’.  To me, ‘spooky’ includes things like fake spiders and ghosts hanging from trees. Flickering lights and Halloween music are ‘spooky’ to me.  ‘Spooky’ things might be creepy, but fun, and do not make me feel threatened or afraid.  ‘Scary’ can be a different story.  I put haunted houses, life-like animatronic skeletons, and people who are still until you approach and then pounce, in the ‘scary’ category.

Giving your child the language to tell you if she thought something was ‘spooky’ or ‘scary’ before Halloween night can certainly help you avoid a situation where she might feel genuinely afraid and unsafe.  Those kind of feelings tend to linger and can taint memories and future Halloween experiences.  Talk with your child about what to say if she scared.  Reassure her that you are there and she is safe.

Reading books about Halloween is also a fun way to prepare and gives you and your child a chance to connect leading up to this fun holiday.