“So,” wrote my friend Joy about the Halloween party we’re
co-hosting. “What activities should we do?”
“Oh,” I emailed back, “weren’t we just going to give them sugar,
then grab a beer and sit back and watch them trash the house?”
Just call me Martha Stewart. Of course, the party’s at Joy’s house,
so I suppose I can see why she might not go for my original
concept. That and, once again, I’ve neglected to notice that our
children are, in fact, capable of activities (and not just the one
wild endless frenzy of activity that has characterized their play
since they learned to walk a few long months ago).
So Aaron called his sister the teacher. Joy did some online
research and ordered 200 plastic balls. And I made a test batch
(ahem) of pumpkin
buttons, which we’ll be serving along with cheddar
and scallion bites. Here are the activities we’ve got
in mind (if you’ve got suggestions, please leave them in the
comments!):
Ball Pit! Fill inflatable kiddy pool with 200
balls, add toddlers, stir.
Touchy-Feely Bags! Fill bags with things that are
hard (block), soft (rubber ball in a sock), squishy (wet washcloth
tied in a sandwich bag), bristly (nailbrush) and crinkly (tin foil
ball) and let kids stick their hands in and feel around without
looking.
Bucket Brigade! Everyone gets one of the 10,000 empty
yogurt containers we’ve apparently been hoarding for just this
occasion. We stand in a line and dump a handful of raw pasta from
one container to the next. “No no,” we shout as we play, “not for
eating!” Hmm…Maybe there’s something else we can use?
Streamers! This involves streamers! And trashing
the house.
Bubble Wrap! We put down lots, and we jump on
it!
Drum Circle! You know.
Monster Mash! In which we distribute lentil-filled
sock-covered water bottles to shake and my dignified husband leads
a musical interlude that involves arm-waving and roaring.
Mittens and No-Snowballs! In which we all put on mittens
and try to transfer the balls from the ball pit to a big sack!
Recipe:
Vegan Pumpkin Buttons
Read More from Fit Pregnancy:
Cheddar
and Scallion Bites
Pumpkin-Spinach
Ravioli
Baby's
First Halloween
