On Halloween, the spirits separate (haha pun). Some love the spook, others fear it and reject it. Mostly on the grounds that you don't have to imitate everything the Americans do. Would you soften the Halloween opponents by explaining that the custom actually comes from Catholic Ireland and that the many Irish emigrants brought the custom to the USA? That Halloween has Roman, Celtic, and pre-Christian origins? Questionable.

In any case, since 1991, October 31, the eve of All Saints' Day, has been haunted here. Incidentally, this is said to be due to the fact that the 1991 carnival was canceled due to the Iraq war and the costume industry had to sell their costumes and made Halloween popular in Germany. So, whether you like Halloween or not, the custom has existed here in Germany for some time and the children love the haunted festival of ghosts and sweets. That's why we now have our StadtLandTour best Halloween tips for families!

Carve pumpkin

Not new, not original, but beautiful. Luminous pumpkins that are placed in front of the front door and in the garden are simply atmospheric. And carving is really fun. So, cut off the top, scrape out the seeds and pulp with a spoon and then carve out the creepy face. The best thing to do is to draw your face on with a black felt-tip pen before you start carving. Put the tea light in, put the lid on, it's nice!

Tip: Roast the pumpkin seeds in the oven with salt, a delicious snack between meals.

 

Throwing a Halloween party

Since the doorbell keeps ringing anyway, you can throw a scary party yourself and integrate the supply of sweets for the little tormentors at the door into the party. It doesn't take much for a spooky party. A few cobwebs are enough as decoration, if you have to spend time with the children in the cool October afternoon, you can make a few ghost garlands, bats or these great flip pictures here.

Hollowing out a watermelon, carving a scary face in it and filling it with fruit, giving chocolate kisses to faces with food coloring and some sausage fingers dipped in ketchup blood make great scary food. If you want, you can integrate the make-up of the little scary faces into the party. Then spooky music like Carmina Burana by Carl Orff or The Nightmare Before Christmas "This is Halloween". Scary beautiful! A fire bowl with bread on a stick and a couple of thermos flasks of hot cocoa will certainly please the guests and perhaps one or the other neighbors too.

 

Make a mummy face

If you don't have the time or inclination to carve pumpkins, the jam jar mummy is just the thing for you! Take a jam jar, wrap gauze bandage around it and open a slit for the mouth, stick on wobbly eyes and put in a tealight. And if there's any strawberry jam left, there's bound to be nice bloodstains on the bandage. The fast variant to creepy mood.

Memorize scary poem

Yes, Halloween can also serve educational purposes. Where Goethe's Erlkönig used to be learned by heart, today "Trick or Treats" is said. Here is a nice ghost poem that is recited at the neighbor's front door to get sweets. For example

Of course, this has to be accompanied by a lot of hissing and howling. And to get in the mood for Halloween, you can also recite the Erlkönig. It's creepy too.

Have a scary movie night with the family

First place: Coco - livelier than life!

The great film and our editors' favorite comes from the Pixar forge and is fun for parents and children alike. It's about the "Day of the Dead", the "Dia de Muertos", which is traditionally celebrated in Mexico. A holiday for the dead! That alone is great. Not a gray Sunday of the Dead like we do here, but a brightly colored holiday on which the deceased are commemorated with music and atmosphere.

The film is about the boy Miguel, who uncovers the curse of his musical grandparents and gets in touch with his deceased relatives. A film against forgetting and for remembering. Great music by Lee Unkirch. By the way, his song Remember Me was awarded the Oscar 2018 for best film song. You can listen to the song here.

 

Tell each other a scary story

All sit comfortably under blankets in a candle-decorated room. One begins with the first sentence of the scary story, in the style of: "I was home alone on Halloween when I heard a knock." Each additional player now adds a sentence until a nice and spooky scary story comes about. Anyone who has to do with smaller children will of course make the start softer.

Disgusting touch and taste game

Great fun for children's birthday parties and celebrations is always the good old feel and taste game. The children are blindfolded and, as the name suggests, have to feel or taste something. Requires courage and is therefore ideally suited for a Halloween party. It's best to tell an extra disgusting scary story beforehand, in which the elements appear, and off you go with the Schmeck experiment!

For example, cold noodles (worms), warm juice (blood), jelly (goo!), peeled grapes (eye), raisins (witch wart), etc. are suitable.

 

Make monster lanterns

Anyone who has already made lanterns for Halloween can breathe a sigh of relief to Saint Martin, because the lights can be used several times. The classic lantern craft works best the old paper mache way. To do this, blow up a balloon and stick newspaper snippets on it using wallpaper paste, at least 5 layers. Then stick a layer of colored paper on top and let it dry overnight.

Pop the balloon the next day, glue on monster eyes, cut out mouths or create a one-eyed Glotzkowski monster. Cut an opening at the top like a lid, attach string or wire to the edge and put LED light in.

 

The Worm Nest

A great Halloween party hit for children is the worm's nest. For this you have to boil spaghetti, preferably dyed black with food coloring – squid ink also works. Or just buy black noodles. Fill everything in a bowl, fill small gifts such as gummy bears & co in empty surprise egg shells and hide them in the nest.

Who dares to get in there? Alternatively, stir up a watery red jelly and hide the eggs underneath. This goes well with a nice scary story about blood soup.

 

Go on a Halloween night hike

It gets dark early at the end of October, so it can also be an early evening hike. Night hike sounds a lot cooler, of course. The advantage: the screaming and howling of the excited Halloween children is shifted outside and you are free of the constant ringing at the door for a moment. Go out in disguise, of course, and call out to howl loudly at regular intervals. If you like, you can let the children pull out small pieces of paper beforehand with tasks that they have to do during the hike.

For example: howling at the moon, complimenting a strange Halloween witch on her beautiful eyes, throwing a round of gummy bears (from a prepared extra bag), reciting a poem, singing a song out loud.