You’ve got the costumes ready, the treats by the door ready to go and you’re ready to get spooky. While the trick-or-treaters start arriving at your house, it is great to know your own kids are safe as they are out on their own lolly collecting adventures.
So you can make the most of the fun, Monty the Monkey has put together a list of guidelines to keep your Halloween hassle-free – plus scroll below to see how you can join Monty at your local Westfield for some not-so-spooky fun for the little ones. Perfect if dress up in your house is more Princess and PJ Masks than Zombie and Goul.
Make sure your costumes are comfortable
Nothing ruins a great night like a mask that digs in, a costume you can’t play in or uncomfortable shoes. Get your child to try on their costume beforehand and check that it isn’t going to be annoying. Worse comes to worst, you can always cut some holes in an old sheet for a classic (and comfortable) ghost costume – no effort required!
Stay in a group
If you aren’t going with your child, make sure they aren’t going alone. It is not only more fun in a group, it is safer too!
Remember the road rules
The fun of Halloween plus all that sugar can be very exciting – but you still have to remember the road rules, look both ways stay on the look out for cars!
Get mum or dad to check out any suspicious lollies
Though it is tempting to eat all the lollies as soon as they have them, make sure your kids know to check with you about any funny lollies if they are unsure. Lolly tampering is statistically very rare – but it never hurts to be careful!
Plan your route
If your child is old enough to be trick-or-treating on their own, it pays to get a route sussed out before-hand. This way you know roughly where they are and that they haven’t gone too far from home.
Keep to the Halloween-friendly houses
Having made sure your child knows the areas to stick to, it also pays to make sure they know which houses to leave alone. If someone isn’t home or doesn’t want to participate, the lights will be off and there’ll be no decorations.
This works both ways though so if you’re getting into the spirit, put out some decorations to mark your house as Halloween friendly. To make decorating easy, I, Monty, have put together an easy guide for making some fun creepy crafts to mark your house as trick-or-treat friendly!
Join in all the not-too-spooky fun at Westfield:
At Westfield’s dedicated Halloween zone, your child can meet Monty the Monkey and his Halloween friends, get ready for trick-or-treating with freaky face painting, make their own friendy ghost, or get cosy with some spooky story-telling and colouring-in.
It’s a fun, safe, and not-too-spooky environment to enjoy – and My Little Ponies Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle will be at Westfield St Lukes on Halloween from 2:30 till 5:30!
Westfield Albany
October 25 – October 31, 10am-12pm
Freaky face-painting and photo station
Westfield Riccarton
Tuesday, October 30, 10am – 12pm
Make a friendly Halloween ghost
Westfield Manukau
Wednesday, October 31, 10am – 12pm
Spooky colouring-in and story-telling!
Westfield St Lukes
Wednesday, October 31, 2pm – 5pm (featuring My Little Ponies Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle)
Meet cool characters and get your face painted ready for trick or treat!
Mini Mummies and Mini Zombies
What you’ll need
• 1 toilet paper roll (empty)
• 1 tin can (empty and rinsed)
• 1 packet googly eyes
• 1 packet white bandaging
• 1 packet black felt
• 1 tube black paint, 1x tube green paint
• black vivid marker
• scissors, glue
How to make a Mini Mummy
1 Paint your toilet roll black.
2 Once the paint is dry, stick two googly eyes approx a quarter from the top of the toilet roll.
3 Wrap white bandaging around the roll until all but the googly eyes are covered.
4 Firmly tie bandage at the ends to keep it in place. Hide it in a scary corner!
How to make a Mini Zombie
1 Paint your tin can green.
2 Once paint is dry, stick two googly eyes approx one-third from top of can.
3 Cut black felt into jagged edges to look like zombie hair and glue around top of can.
4 Draw your zombie’s mouth with a black marker. Find a spooky spot!
