On the 31st of October, parents all over the world will escorts their little ones through the streets as they hunt down as many sweets & treats they can possibly get their hands on. All of this in celebration of the spookiest night of the year; Halloween.

Dressed up both naughty and nice, from witches, werewolves, pumpkins and princesses, the concept of dressing up and eating buckets of sugar is often too exciting for children to contain.

The tradition of trick-or-treating dates back over 2,000 years ago, when the Celts living in what is now the United Kingdom and northern France believed that the dead returned to the earth. Back then, Halloween would be marked by bonfires and sacrifices to pay homage to the deceased.

Of course, a lot has changed since then. Today, parents and their children walk from door-to-door, knocking on neighbours houses in hope of taking home more sweets than can possibly be eaten.

Although for children this is exciting enough, not all parents share the same enthusiasm. In hope of inspiring parents, we’ve put together a couple of ideas that will ensure you and your little ones have even more fun this Halloween…

Trick-or-Treat Treasure Hunt

Your 12 doors down and already wanting to head towards home, but everyone else still has their eyes on the creepy house at the end of the road!

Instead of walking from one door to the other, turn your trick-or-treat venture into a treasure hunt by simply making a list of challenges the kids can complete throughout the night. For example:

– Look for a house with a black door
– Guess how many tricks/treats you will get
– Go to every house with a pumpkin in the window

Adding little challenges like this will make it more enjoyable for your little ones, but also make it more fun for you having to get involved and help them complete their challenges.

Map Out Your Trip

Be creative before leaving the house and make a map or cards with instructions of where to go while out and about. You can print them out and give each child one to keep hold of while making their way around.

Also, try putting together some card that can be put in envelopes and then opened at each stopping point. For example, Go to house number 5… If you get a treat open envelope ‘A’ and if no-one is home open envelope ‘B’.

From there on, each envelope will hold the answer to your next move!

By adding some mystery and challenges for your children to get involved in, everyone will be sure to have more fun wondering around the spooky streets and hopefully, find more treats than tricks!