Take a Break: Halloween 2011 Tricks or Treats

So this year, have tricks and treats for your visitors Halloween night. If you live in a house with a lawn, have a volunteer pretend to be a statue (such as a witch or monster) and have them come to life as the children approach. In Vermont, many people make odd looking people using stuffed leaves. Older teens have been known to sit in a chair, looking very much like the “leaf people,” only to come to life when trick or treaters pass them by. Makes for a wonderful scream. Hiding under a pile of leaves, or even laying flat to the ground can create a good scare.

For those in apartments, there may be a number of restrictions on what you can put on your door, but the skies the limit once you open it. There is the classic “hand in bowl,” so when the kids go to select their candy, a hand grabs them. This is done by placing a bowl, with a hole in the bottom large enough to fit a hand through (cheap bowls from the Dollar Store are perfect), on a table. This can be a thick piece of cardboard on two saw horses, which also has a hole that the candy bowl rests on. A person sits under the table, which is covered by a cloth, and grabs people as they come to collect their candy. Watch the video to see how one family set their “hand in bowl” outside with a sign that encourages trick or treaters to “take one.”

If you have the time to rig it up, as the door opens, a spider drops down in front of the kids.

For more ideas, check out Halloween Pranks.

Of course it wouldn’t be Halloween with out some special candies and other goodies. One of the best selection of things to make comes from Our Best Bites. This year they feature a mad scientist potion drink, which is Kool Aid mixed with a little bit of dry ice. Their “easy Halloween Party Food” section has lots of wonderful ideas. Keep in mind that for trick or treating wrapped store bought candy is the best.

Of course if you don’t want to celebrate with food, consider classic cartoons as your treat:

• Donald Duck Trick or Treat (1952 Cartoon)

• Betty Boop 1933 Banned Cartoons Halloween Party

• The Skeleton Dance-Silly Symphonies Walt Disney 1929

No matter how you celebrate it, Halloween has something for everyone. Don’t forget that the “take a breaks” for October have all been related to Halloween, so if this doesn’t inspire you, try one of the other weeks from this year or last.