Family Features - By the time Halloween rolls around, many families are deep into the hustle and bustle of the school year. The holiday provides a great opportunity to focus on family and spend some quality time together.
These family-friendly activities can help you create some special spooky memories this Halloween with your friends and loved ones:
• Visit local attractions. Many communities offer seasonal events or destinations where you can find all kinds of family fun while enjoying a refreshing Autumn afternoon. Some popular examples include pumpkin patches and haunted houses. You might also find other attractions such as hayrides and petting zoos. Or, go to the Santa Monica Family YMCA Halloween Festivities on Friday, October 25 from 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m.
• Decorate pumpkins. Designing the perfect jack-o’-lantern or pumpkin creation can be fun for the whole family. Toddlers and younger children can express their creativity through painting, stickers, and accessory kits, while older children and young adults may find carving kits to be more their style. Consider the options from Pumpkin Masters, which creates new products every year so you can always find something fresh each Halloween.
• Go trick-or-treating together. Participating in this age-old tradition as a family can make for a fun evening of joy and laughter. You can also incorporate numerous teachable moments, including reminders about safety around strangers and when crossing the street, practicing manners like please and thank you, or taking turns ringing doorbells with friends or siblings. Find more ideas to inspire quality time with family this Halloween at pumpkinmasters.com
• Recycle Your Pumpkin. Once the holiday fun is done, you may wonder what to do with your leftover pumpkin (and the insides, too). Consider these ideas:
• Bake the seeds. Whether you eat them yourself or share them with local wildlife, roasted pumpkin seeds provide a tasty treat. They’re delicious with a light coating of olive oil and salt, or you can get creative with seasonings
and spices.
• Compost it. Pumpkins generate organic waste, so adding them to a compost bin (or burying them) can be quite beneficial for the soil. Either option returns organic matter to the Earth, rather than heaping it into a landfill where it’s just adding to accumulating food waste.
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