Hairy Fairy Tales

Host a Halloween party for your favorite scary fairy tale characters. You could dress as the Big Bad Wolf from The Little Red Riding Hood Story complete with grandma’s nightgown, nightcap and glasses. Or maybe you would be more comfortable dressing as the Wicked Witch of the East. Maybe guests would not recognize you with the crooked nose and cankerous mole. Have them also come as the best villain in fairy tales, whether it be the Goldilocks bear or Captain Hook from Peter Pan. It’s time to fire up your imagination.

Have your littlest guests play Pin the Nose on the Jack O’ Lantern. Get a large hanky or scarf ready on hand as a blindfold. Use double-sided sticky tape instead of tacks on the unattached nose on order to avoid injuring little fingers. Don’t post your Jack O’ Lantern picture too high up; make sure it is at arm level of your little participants.

Hide miniature pumpkins around the house, each one numbered corresponding to a prize the finder will receive once he redeems it. No two prizes should be the same. Make the hardest one to find be the biggest prize.

Play tag with a monster! Whoever is it gets to wear a monster mask until he tags another player. He then passes the mask over to the tagged player and ends his turn as the Monster.

Play fairy tale trivia with little ones. Write pre-made questions about the most popular fairy tales on to strips of paper. Make sure the answers are well documented to avoid confusion among the players. The child with most number of correct answers wins!

Let the children play Candy Goblin with your left over candies. Place all the candies on a large flat platter and give each participant a small plastic jar or container. With a stopwatch, time the event depending on how long you want it to be. When the time stops, the child with the most number of candies in his jar wins! Best of all, everyone gets to take home their own jar of candies!

Who said piñatas are for summer birthdays? Make a ghost piñata and hang it within easy reach of little people. Along with candy, stuff the piñata with confetti and glitter paper cutouts. Do not use actual glitter as these could cause injury if it gets into children’s eyes. Then stand back and watch the shower of surprise as the piñata bursts open.

Group everyone into one big circle. Ask them to make up a scary story using one line at a time. Get the game started by going first and saying the first line of a potentially scary story. And example would be, “It was a dark and stormy night.” Each person would go in turn until the story ends or when everyone is laughing too uncontrollably to go on. This game is great for older kids and adults.

Make sure everyone goes home with a party favor to last a lifetime. You could choose to make it yourself or to save you time, buy cheap and readily available store bought party favors.