Share your Halloween preparation tips with Cadbury - £300 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

Preparing for any celebration (Halloween no exception!) can be easier when you have the knowledge of others to help you out. With this in mind, Cadbury would like to hear about the ways you prepare for Halloween - whether you have creative costume ideas, crafty Halloween decorating skills - really any way you get trick-or-treat ready come the 31st October.

Do you have any great costume ideas? Maybe you have tips for creating a fabulous spooky look indoors or for when trick or treaters come up to your door? What are your ways of ensuring everyone has fun when going out trick or treating on Halloween? Whatever your tips and tricks for preparing for Halloween, please share them below to be entered into a prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Thread closing 20th October.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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Love those glow in the dark chickenwire bodices. I tend to focus on the practical - making sure there's something quick on for tea so we can get out trick or treating fairly early and before ds, 3, gets too tired and overwhelmed. Means we can get back to receive a few trick or treaters before bed, too. DH is pumpkin carver extraordinaire. We normally spend some time a few days beforehand trying out designs on paper before he gets started. Hope we get plenty of visitors this year - we've moved to a quieter street ... 👻

I visit pound land and buy lots for a spooky table! We also go pumpkin in picking which is great fun :D

I'm always hunting for costumes months before Halloween as they're cheaper. This year we're all going to be superheros.

I’m a bit of a bah humbug when it comes to Halloween so pretty much make do with black clothes and some accessories from the £1 shop when it comes to costumes. Our only “must do” us pumpkin carving and we all go to the local farm to choose our pumpkin and decide on a design together (which has to be simple enough for an amateur carver like me!

I'm not very good at carving pumpkins and my little one is a little too young to use the tools anyway - painting faces on satsumas (or other oranges) is fun, easy and very safe! We also make cupcakes with black and orange food colouring.

It's pinterest for us... loads of ideas there! Milk bottle with glow sticks in and eyes drawn in marker pen is really east and can light the path to our door. We make hanging ghosts with polystyrene balls and a square of muslin cloth, bin bag spiders (stuff a bin bag and make black cardboard legs). We did an orange 'pumpkin' stuffed plastic bag one year with the sainsbury plastic bags one year!

I get the kids involved, in making diy spooky decorations, keeps them busy and gets them excited, then we have a kids house party, with games, small prizes and lots of goodies!

Pinterest is our go to!
Handmade costume, to get little one involved, get creative and save money.
Hubby has to decorate his office so Halloween prep starts early - last year he recreated a crime scene for it which took a lot of planning and crafts.

I put a bowl outside with sweets

We put up decorations around the house,inside and out-bubbling cauldrons, spiders, cobwebs etc and change the outside lightbulb to a spooky green colour.....the trick or treaters love it!

When did this become a thing here? I struggle to get into it.

Halloween baking. Decorated cupcakes, cakes and cookies in spooky shapes, toffee apples, gingerbread to share at work.

My 3 year old is really excited for hallowe’en this year. My mum has made him a vampire cloak and I’ve got the face paints ready to practice with. The day before we are going to bake spooky shaped biscuits which he can decorate, take to nursery and give to trick or treaters.

We don't really do much for Halloween- I've never seen the point or been interested in scary things. However, after Halloween all the shops heavily discount all halloween things, like others have said, and I buy whatever I do like then! I did buy a witch costume for my daughter a few sizes too big so if she ever fancies it she can dress up as a witch!

I love following YouTube tutorials to get the kids' faces painted like all sorts of spooky creatures

My two are 2 and 3. I'll carve a pumpkin, while they carve satsumas. We'll read 'Room on the broom' and with a bit of luck we won't get too many trick or treaters and DP and I will spend the evening eating sweets!

Plan your pumpkin carving in advance and don't go and buy and cut one too early (mouldy pumpkin in your house, yuk) or too late (pumpkin already mouldy at the shop, more yuk)

We made fruit into spooky faces by drawing on bananas, & oranges which were quite well received as being a bit different from the normal sweets & cakes (& healthier!)

Make longer hair into a bun & using black pipe cleaners make spiders legs poking out around it. Pop on a couple of eyes on the bun for a cute spider.

Get the children involved! Decorations don't have to be perfect! And they love Halloween baking - decorating cakes/biscuits etc..

We don't get many trick or treaters, so I arrange with some neighbours that ds can go round. At home we make cakes and biscuits in spooky decorations, and do pumpkin soup, monster frankfurters and black spaghetti

Carve your pumpkins early and freeze them!

I save black clyhing whch wuld be thrown out over the year to use as part of costumes for the night

£1 shop all the way!! Some great stuff and you really don’t have to spend a fortune! Love it

I was working last Halloween so I left my daughter and partner to be responsible for the trick or treaters. They put light up balloons on the tree outside, a trail of carved mini pumpkins down the path and taped a paper skeleton to the door! My daughter did save the pumpkin innards so we made a lovely pumpkin & caramel cake the next day (as well as a soup. There was a lot of pumpkin!)

Get the costumes prepared and stock up on sweets/chocolates for the trick or treaters!