This post is sponsored by Crest. All opinions are my own. #CrestHalloween #CrestSmiles
Cheap and FREE Halloween Activities for the Family!
Halloween is almost here and this season brings about a lot of family friendly activities. Although I’m not someone who decorates my house for all the different seasons, I really enjoy participating in Halloween activities! As the weather gets cooler, our family tends to hibernate and these activities keep us moving and spending time with each other and those we love.
Here are some Halloween traditions that our family has taken on over the years. Many of these are super cheap or free!
Reading Halloween theme books with my kiddos.
These are the books I have picked up over the past couple years at Goodwill, in local Facebook buy/sell/swap groups, and especially during the post-holiday clearance for super cheap. I have a basket where I keep all of my holiday books all together and just pull them out as the each one approaches. We love reading books that relate to the season of life we are in. If you do, too, you may want to check out this list of Halloween Books for kids.
Visiting an apple orchard or pumpkin patch.
Just like when we go on family vacations, I don’t like to visit the same apple orchards or pumpkin patches every year with my family. We are pretty lucky that we have at least 5-6 within an hour drive from us so we can rotate different places. These places can get a bit pricey, but if you watch for any special discounted admission days or are able to visit during the week you may be able to save a little. Check your local area to see what apple orchards and pumpkin patches are available.
Painting or carving pumpkins
From the looks of it, we lean towards painting our pumpkins. lol! Isn’t it so neat to see how their ideas have changed over the years? Our Chick-fil-A has partnered with our local pumpkin patch for a pumpkin painting activity the last couple years which has been so nice! The boys get a free pumpkin, and we all get CFA for dinner! My boys aren’t huge fans of cleaning out the insides of the pumpkins so this is right up their alley. 🙂
Making “boo” baskets for our neighbors!
We do this every year, but for some reason, I always forget to take a picture! That’s when I’m thankful for the blogging community and my friends who let me share theirs! Check out what the Drug Store Divas put in their Boo Bags and get a free printable.
This is another idea that can get really expensive so let me share how I keep the cost down. Remember, how I said I hit up Goodwill and the holiday clearance for books? I do the same thing for the contents of my boo bags! When I pulled out my Halloween bin this year, I found some pretty awesome stuff – pencils with big erasers on the end, notepads, playing cards, activity books, puzzles, bubbles, tattoos, stickers, and more. I usually fill it with just a few pieces of candy in addition to these types of items and we are all set.
Attending trunk-or-treat events and non-scary days at the local haunted trail/house
I don’t know about your community, but ours has a ton of FREE trunk-or-treat events. We started going to them when the boys were younger, and we didn’t want them up late on Halloween night and just haven’t stopped. I love that the boys get to use their costumes multiple times, they are genearlly during the day so the temp is warmer, and it’s all in one location.
Our town does a haunted trail but the weekend before Halloween is the non-scary version. Even better, you can go through the trail for free with a canned food donation! We also have a neighboring community with a haunted house, and they do a “lights on” version the weekend before Halloween and have goodies for the kids.
By the time we do a few of these events, my boys could care less about going out on Halloween night. The weather in Central Illinois can go so many ways on Halloween so it doesn’t bother me! This allows them to be home and pass out candy which is fun, too!
You know what else I love about these events? We let the boys have a couple pieces and then it goes in the cabinet and most of it is passed out on Halloween night! Crest did a Halloween study that showed most people (73%) purposefully buy more Halloween candy than they needed for trick-or-treaters so they can eat the extra. Are you one of those people?
The only time I buy candy is if it’s SUPER cheap (like under $1) or it’s FREE after rebate.
Eating Halloween-themed food
What fun would a holiday be without themed food? This is one of our kiddos favorite activities!
You can certainly make your own Halloween themed food at home using cookie cutters, but there are also restaurants that have some great deals this time of year. Some things we have done over the years – Jack-o-Lantern pizza, Scary Face Pancakes, and Trick-or-Treat Doughnuts.
And, of course, after eating all the yummy themed food and Halloween candy, we make sure our whole family brushes well with Crest Toothpaste! (Yes, parents, that means us, too! Only 48% of adults enforce a stricter teeth brushing/flossing routine on Halloween for themselves, but 70% enforce it for their kids.)
What kind of parameters do you set around candy eating? brushing and flossing? Do you swap candy for toys or money?
In that same survey by Crest I mentioned earlier, they found that 72.7% of mothers limit their children to a maximum of 10 pieces of candy on Halloween. Fathers set their child’s candy limit a bit higher, with over 60% setting limits between 11 – 31+.
Another fun stat? Kids looking to swap their candy for cold, hard cash or toys will have a better chance with dad. 23.59% of dads said they would offer to buy back their kids’s candy as away to limit their children’s candy consumption. Only 8.95% used this tactic. Dads are also more likely to trade candy for toys or other small gifts. 38.53% of dads use this tactic whereas only 14.48% of moms would.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOw6HsDSlGw
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