Kids of all ages are looking forward to Halloween – it’s hard to say who has more fun with it – little kids or older ones (or the adults!). It’s the time when they can play tricks on other kids and  older people and they also get a chance to ask for candies and other treats from the different houses they visit while dressed up as their favorite character du jour.  DuringHalloween Season, you will often see lawns decorated with pumpkins and spooky props including monsters, vampires and coffins. Some people even use lighting and sound effects to help make their yards extra scary.

If you would like to put pumpkins on your lawn, you might be looking for designs for pumpkin painting.  Decorating pumpkins with paint is not that hard (I think it’s easier than carving!). When the Halloween season is near, you can start looking for excellent decorating ideas. You can decorate the pumpkins together with your family and closest friends.

First and foremost, you have to shop for a pumpkin that preferably has a relatively flat bottom surface. It doesn’t have to be really flat; even only a slightly flat surface on one side will do, depending on the decoration you want to paint on it. You will need to keep this in mind especially if you have smaller kids joining the painting session, but if everyone is a little bit older, usually most any pumpkin will do.

Once you’ve purchased the pumpkins, drop by your local discount or craft store. Acrylic paints are more suitable for pumpkin painting. You should get several different colors especially if you have kids helping out so that they can create their own crazy designs and color mixes.

Before you start the painting session, you first must determine the design. You can create scary designs or even funny designs. You can find a lot of designs on the Web even if you log on for just several minutes. You just have to type the words ‘pumpkin painting’ and many results will be displayed on the screen.

You can even paint silly or famous celebrity faces your pumpkins. While this is more difficult because you have to concentrate a little more on the details – give it a go and see what you come up with.  Sometimes, the goofier, the better!  Then you can put wigs and ties on that the pumpkins to accentuate the face.  (Hair is a great way to cover up any “boo boos”).  To make a good celebrity face design on the pumpkins, you simply have to put the distinguishing feature of the celebrity and exaggerate it a bit.

You can also make other designs besides faces – you can make monster designs, animal designs and many others. Pick something that you’re interested in so that it will be a lot easier to paint on the pumpkin (your creativity will come to you easier if it’s something you like).

Aside from the acrylic paints, you will need to have several different sizes of paint brushes and small containers where you can mix different colors. Sit someplace comfortable and be sure to spread lots of newspapers around. Put the paints, brushes, and other materials over the newspaper where everyone can reach them easily. Give each family member a pumpkin and then have some fun!

This can be an exciting activity for the whole family and friends for the upcoming Halloween. You can even put lights inside the pumpkin heads if you’ve carved them out, to make the design more visible at night. Do your pumpkin painting a day or two before Halloween. This way, you’ll have time to prepare for your costumes, treats, candies, and other things that you will use for this very special occasion. Enjoy pumpkin painting with your family and friends.  This year’s Halloween will surely be extra memorable – and don’t forget to take pictures of your creations!

Step right up!  Who can hit the Pumpkin?!

What you will need:

• Plastic Pumpkin or Ghost Trick or Treat Bucket
• Miniature Candy Bars or other small, individually wrapped candies

How to play:

• Give each child 3 to 5 pieces of candy and have them toss them into the bucket
• Kids get to keep the candies that go into the bucket

Variations:

• The older the kids, the further from the bucket!
• Play this one in the dark with scary music and a glo-in-the-dark bucket
• Attack a piece of thin fishing line to the bucket and have someone hide behind a piece of furniture to “mysteriously” move the bucket every now and then
• Use Ping-Pong balls colored like Eyeballs instead of candy – they bounce and will make it more difficult!  Award candies for getting a ball to stay in the bucket

Make sure to have “consolation” candies on hand for those who miss!

These are just a few of my favorite things about the Halloween Season:

• crisp, cool air and clear blue skies contrasted against blazing Autumn colors on the trees
• picking a pumpkin straight from a farmer’s field
• the Harvest Moon
• purchasing bags of candy while the good stuff is available and then trying not to eat it
• decorating the front porch with a jack-o-lantern and chrysanthemums
• watching the original “Halloween” on DVD for the umpteenth time
• seeing luminaries light up the pathway across the street
• receiving an invitation to a Halloween party
• driving around town to check out everyone’s Halloween decorations and voting on the best one
• making caramel apples (and eating more of the caramels than melting them for the apples)
• helping my kids with their Halloween costumes
• answering the door and seeing toddlers dressed as bugs and fairy princesses
• helping my kids check their trick or treat bags to see what they’ve brought home – hoping they’ve got something they’ll want to share with me.

What are some of your favorite Halloween memories and traditions?

This is a great game for your Halloween party because you can never tell where the little Pumpkins will roll!

For a Kids Halloween Party, get the miniature pumpkins to fit their little hands.  For adults, I’d go with the small pie pumpkins or you might lose a lamp or two!

What you will need:

• 3 small Pumpkins
• 10 empty 2 liter bottles – labels removed
• White spray paint
• Black permanent marker
• Sand or gravel (to weight the bottles)

Preparing the “Pins”

• Rinse out the bottles and remove labels
• Spray paint the bottles with the white paint
• Draw Ghostly faces on the bottles with the permanent marker
• Put a cup or 2 of sand or gravel in each bottle so they’ll stand without falling over

How To Play

• Arrange “Pins” in a Bowling Alley Formation -
  • Back row has 4 pins
  • Next row has 3 pins
  • Next row has 2 pins
  • One pin in front
• Roll the Pumpkin Bowling Balls at the Pins and try for a Strike!

Variations:

• If you have more time, paint the “Pins” to resemble different monsters – zombies, vampires, ghouls, etc.
• Paint the bottles with a Glo Paint and play in the dark!

Let the fun begin!

Award prizes for strikes and spares, or give them a prize if they manage to just knock down one “Pin”!