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MNHQ

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

294 replies

JustineBMumsnet · 06/10/2017 17:54

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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freefan · 18/10/2017 22:48

I have just discovered how to make jelly worms.. get a pint glass and fill with plastic straws, stand them up in the glass and fill with cooled jelly mix and leave to set.
hey presto jelly worms that can then be added to different coloured cooled jelly for a great effect when solid and turned out.

KichenDancefloor · 18/10/2017 22:48

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
We’re not pagan, American or into mass commercialisation so... meh Hmm

rhinosuze · 18/10/2017 23:12

Mine's too young yet for Halloween thankfully as I'm not a fan. I hate the idea of trick or treating and never did it myself

Maybe by the time she is asked to Halloween parties ill get into it

lhlee62 · 18/10/2017 23:14

I only use cartoon decorations as my kids are only 3 and 5 and they don't like anything too scary. I don't let them go trick or treating yet so we visit family and get sweets from them instead.

xcxcsophiexcxc · 18/10/2017 23:40

I'm such a bore , I'm not very artsy So I always just buy my costumes from the supermarkets! I bought my son a vampire suit this year from Tesco x

StealthNinjaMum · 18/10/2017 23:47

We love Halloween and over the years I've bought loads of decorations to decorate the house but now dd1 is 9 she is able to make her own decorations. Last year she got some thick white wool and I helped her to drape it from light fittings and bannisters to look like cobwebs and she stuck on home made spiders everywhere. She also got groups of 3 sticks, tied them together in the middle, and wound the wool around them to look like spiders webs. (I''m not describing this very well but they looked fantastic.)

voyager50 · 19/10/2017 00:16

We aren't fans of Halloween in our house so don't do anything except buy in a few mini chocolate bars, sweets and healthier snacks for any trick or treaters.

KJ1986UK · 19/10/2017 03:26

I'll be at work on the night but I'm planning on going in dressed as Freddy Krueger so we'll see how that goes down.

pockledigg · 19/10/2017 03:41

Microwave a swede (whole, but pierced) until it's soft. Mash it up with tomato puree-instant 'gore'. Put it in a bowl with a 'prize' mixed in (something wrapped, obviously). Get the little ones to dip their hands into the gore to get the prize-works brilliantly. You can get a similar effect with cold porridge.......Cheap and hours of fun!

angiehoggett · 19/10/2017 07:49

buy a nice sparkly white dress for a zombie bride and you can use it again for parties!

Lasplin84 · 19/10/2017 08:13

I make little pumpkin shaped marzipan sweets for the children that come trick or treating. I make them the night before so they are all ready.

I decorate the front of my house with lit pumpkins so the children know that they can trick or treat at our house.

lizd31 · 19/10/2017 08:21

You can make a great jelly fish outfit from bubble wrap, it's something different

phillie1 · 19/10/2017 08:31

Pumpkin carving and face paints, and spider cakes are tradition in our house

shroney · 19/10/2017 08:44

I have a big box of stuff that I add to every year when the supermarkets reduce all their stock and kids are happy to rummage through and use whatever is there. I picked up some fluorescent wigs one year which were a big hit.

becky004 · 19/10/2017 09:00

We make our own costumes and buy fake blood and spooky make up to make everyone look even more scary.

vonniebab2 · 19/10/2017 09:16

Stock up on plenty of goodies, we love to carve out the pumpkins, on the night we sort all the halloween clothes out and decide what the children will wear plenty of hairspray and make up we love halloween!

beckyinman · 19/10/2017 09:23

There are loads of things around the house that can be turned into scary looking make up - PVA glue a toilet paper can be applied to the skin to look like creepy scars, rice krispies are excellent for witchy warts

ameswright2906 · 19/10/2017 09:55

We only went trick or treating for the first time last year as my eldest were 4 and 3. This year, it will be so much more exciting because they are a little bit older. We make sure they have their trick or treat buckets and we only go to the houses with pumpkins outside because we don't want them to be disappointed if nobody comes to the door. We will be going earlier this year because we went at 7.30pm last year and loads of houses had ran out of sweets. Our 2 year old will be staying in the puschair because she gets scared of scary masks and decorations!

liz1970 · 19/10/2017 10:02

face paints are good, you can be what you want to be then!

AR2012 · 19/10/2017 10:07

you tube for makeup tips for sfx helps greatly.

Dormouse1940 · 19/10/2017 10:16

I really don't get this hype about Halloween, which seems to increasing every year... We're not Americans, when did it become such a big deal?!

When I was a kid I loved dressing up and carving a pumpkin but that was about it. Nowadays the shops are filled with plastic tat from August- there's a house nearby that has had it's windows filled with cheap 'spooky' junk for well over a month now.

Am I just an out-of-touch, miserable old fart?

Fortunately, DS is too young to really understand Halloween just yet, so we can avoid it (for now).

And this year I will have a bowl of sweets for trick or treaters, rather than just turn the lights out and pretend not to be in like I have for the last couple of years!

mo3733 · 19/10/2017 10:28

i love to decorate the house for halloween and we all dress up and trick and treat

Ranita · 19/10/2017 10:48

My kids love trick or treating. There is an unwritten rule in our area, you can only knock on doors where there is a pumpkin outside.If a home is not decorated you just walk on by! Makes for happy neighbours.

finleypop · 19/10/2017 11:07

To carve a great pumpkin, pin a template on the pumpkin, then use another pin or a sharp knife tip to pierce out the pattern, it makes cutting accurately much easier

MillyVanilli222 · 19/10/2017 11:13

Baking is our favourite Halloween prep activity! As a family, we'll make and decorate cupcakes - spiderwebs are always a favourite. Plus, you get to eat the tasty creations afterwards!