Halloween Ideas For Treats, Crafts And More

Halloween is becoming increasingly popular in Australia and for good reasons.

It is a great opportunity to go around the neighbourhood with lots of kids from your local area and meet other families. It is fun and it contributes towards building community spirit. Yes, you do need to keep an eye on the sugar intake, but you also do a lot of walking!

About three years ago, one of my neighbours and I decided to go trick-or-treating with our kids who were dressed up in their spookiest best. On our way out, we were joined by another neighbour and her daughter. We had six kids and three adults walking around. We doorknocked a few houses and had a mild success, with about half of the houses being ‘Halloween’ ready. The kids had fun, but we wanted to up our game.

The following year, we decided to get more organised. We started by making Halloween Origami Slinky to give to our neighbours with a note:

‘Halloween is on 31/10 and our kids will be walking and trick-or-treating around the neighbourhood between 5 and 7 pm. If you wish to participate please hang this decoration on your fence or front door or anywhere visible’.

We did a letterbox drop-off with note + decoration. When Halloween came, we were amazed at how many people took our ’invitation’ on board and the doorknock was a big success. It also allowed us to be time-efficient, bypassing those who didn’t have decorations. The following year, my neighbour and I were nowhere nearly as organised, but to our surprise, lots of people in the area put their own decorations up and the number of kids walking around was significantly higher—in fact, at our own house, we ended up running out of lollies to give away! I am now confident to say, Halloween has definitely taken off in our neighbourhood.

If you’re looking for a simple decoration that tells your neighbours (and more important, the neighbourhood kids!) that your “down for halloween” this year, then there’s plenty of options online from Amazon. Some that we particularly like are these garlands. They’re hard to miss, easy to hang and great for setting the mood. And a lot quicker and less messy carving a pumpkin!

Halloween is also a good opportunity to get creative and if baking is your thing, why not do your own spooky treats? Here are some ideas and links for treats and crafts: