Trick or treat, Super Dads! Hope your fall is off to a nice start. This is my favorite time of year, and below are some spooky and fun ideas to help entertain your family and create special yearly traditions.
Decorate with the family!
Create your own haunted garage or front porch for Halloween! We usually set a budget and then make our own decorations out of paper and recycled boxes. Our first year, we kept it simple with orange and purple string lights, a few pumpkins, and skeleton cutouts. On November 1 each year, we buy close-out displays or decorations. Every year our house gets a bit more festive!
“Boo” your neighbors!
It’s best to begin this tradition a couple weeks prior to Halloween. Start by picking up some special treats, small toys, and Halloween buckets. We usually create two buckets and “boo” two neighbors. Next, go online and search “you’ve been booed template.” Print out two templates; most include both the instructions and an “I have been booed” poster. Put the templates in the buckets along with the treats.
Take a bucket to a neighbor’s house, place on the doorstep, ring the doorbell, and run away to hide. Once your neighbor gets the bucket, repeat with another neighbor. Now, it’s their turn to “boo” two new neighbors who haven’t been booed yet. Don’t forget to put the “I’ve been booed” sign on your door or window so others know. Happy booing!
Check out local events!
Local pumpkin patches and free trick-or-treat or trunk-or-treat events are usually around every corner this time of year. Because we live in the West Valley, we usually visit Tolmachoff Farms for the pumpkin patch (our friends in the East Valley recommend Schnepf Farms). For trick-or-treat or trunk-or-treat, we visit our local shopping center, local school and/or our local church.
Visit a farmers’ market or food truck event!
One of my other favorites is going out to the farmers’ markets and food truck roundups around town. We follow PS I Love AZ and check out a lot of their events, but we’ve also visited Arrowhead Farmers Market in Glendale, Uptown Farmers Market in Phoenix and we’ve heard great reviews of the Gilbert Farmers Market!
Make some treats!
Our kids love making simple treats. One of our favorite fall traditions is creating chocolate covered fruit. The recipe is pretty simple: pick out your favorite fruits (apples, bananas, strawberries, etc.), a small tub of melting chocolate, and festive sprinkles. Follow the melting chocolate instructions to heat, dip your fruit, then lightly dust in sprinkles. Yum!
Take a road trip!
We love to take road trips up north to take in the cooler weather and see the leaves changing colors. Some years it’s Williams or Flagstaff; other years we visit Mortimer Farms in Dewey-Humboldt to pick fresh produce and enjoy fun on the farm!
May your fall be fun, spooky, and full of wonderful family traditions! Until next time… up, up, and away!
