KiddingAroundToronto.com's Top Ten Tips for a 'Spook'tacular Halloween

Toronto, Canada, October 10, 2006 --(PR.com)-- KiddingAroundToronto.com offers their top ten tips for a ‘Spook’tacular Halloween. Every holiday provides the opportunity for fun family time, especially where costumes and candy are involved. They are giving you permission to use their suggestions as long as credit is given to www.KiddingAroundToronto.com. Their Top Ten List can also be found in their Imagination Station this month, where parents can visit to find new activity suggestions for kids and babies each month.

1. Halloween Events: There are many spooky Halloween kids’ activities taking place in Toronto and the GTA over the month of October. Plan a fun event by visiting the events calendar at KiddingAroundToronto.com with over 30 Halloween events to choose from.

2. Halloween Safety: Discuss Halloween safety with your children to ensure a successful evening. Make sure you deal with subjects including: Trick-or-treating with a few friends or a parent; planning out your route; stranger safety; being cautious of jack-o-lanterns and sorting wrapped versus unwrapped candies.

3. Dress-up Time: There are an abundance of Halloween costumes for sale in stores ranging from grocery and drugstores to costume stores. They are generally more reasonably priced in October than the rest of the year. It is the perfect time to expand your child’s dress-up trunk.

4. Mask-making: Help children make their own Halloween masks. Let them decorate the underside of a paper plate. Cut out eyes and a mouth with scissors. Then tie one string to each side, and the two strings together at the back of their head for a perfect Halloween fit.

5. Home-Made Haunted House: Make your own haunted house effects. Take three bowls and fill one with shelled hard-boiled eggs for eyes (keep wet), one with spaghetti for snakes (keep wet) and one with jello for brains. Then blindfold older children and guide them through each bowl with ghoulish descriptions.

6. Last-Minute Costumes: It is always good to have a few last-minute costumes in mind in case you find yourself in need at the last-minute … a) A Domino – Dress your child in black and cut out big white dots for their top and bottom half; b) A Baby – Make a diaper out of a sheet and put a bow in your child’s hair; c) A Tree – Dress your child in brown and attach leaves to a hat; d) A Cat – Dress your child in a solid colour, attach ears to a head band, a long tail and whiskers with an eye pencil; e) A Bumble Bee – Dress your child in
a dark colour, attach yellow stripes across and make black wings out of Bristol Board to attach to their jacket.

7. Pumpkin Decorating: Let your child decorate pumpkins with markers or paints for Halloween.

8. Baking Fun: Make ‘spooktacular’ cookies for Halloween. Take tea biscuits and spread orange icing on top (or pre-made vanilla icing with food colouring added). Then let the children decorate the icing with black candies.

9. Punch: Make a special Halloween drink. Mix together cranberry juice and gingerale for a sparkling red delight.

10. Party Games: Play pass the parcel Halloween style. Make enough Halloween goody bags for everyone and wrap them up in layers and layers of newspaper. Pass the parcel and let the person who receives it when the music stops unravel a layer. After the last layer of paper comes off, let everyone have a goody bag to complete the excitement.

KiddingAroundToronto.com is a free comprehensive parenting website offering a detailed calendar of local events and activities, feature articles, reviews, activity suggestions, a chat zone, a directory, contests and coupons. Visit http://www.kiddingaroundtoronto.com and join in the fun.

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