Top 7 Halloween Tips For Parents

Halloween can either be fun and exciting or become a Halloween Horror night. Getting as much candy as you can seems to be the goal of the night. Although fun, it can often leave our families feeling empty even when our bags are full. Here are some tips to make Halloween more joyful and satisfying.

Make sure your child eats a healthy meal. Consuming massive doses of sugar without eating a healthy meal prior to trick or treating is a prescription for disaster.

Make Halloween a family holiday. Instead of allowing your children go off with friends, go trick or treating as a family. (You can invite friends to go along.) This allows older children to still be able to trick or treat without feeling guilty! Let older children paint the faces of younger children. What a great way for them to bond!

Create memories. Your kids won't remember or even care about the candy 5 years from now. But they will remember memories that were silly or bonding. One family decided to have different family members dress up like one of the seven dwarfs. They will be laughing about this for years to come. As you go through the day, ask yourself, "Is this fun or is this stressful?" If your answer is stressful, stop what you are doing and find a way to make it more fun. For example, if your child gets fussy, maybe it's time to go home rather than try to work through it.

Don't let your need for perfection ruin your holiday. Is having that last curl be perfect worth the tension perfection creates? Lighten up! This is suppose to be fun!

Emphasize connection vs. consumerism. Talk with your kids about connecting with their neighbors as they go trick or treating. Rehearse with your children BEFORE you leave for Halloween. Have them practice saying "Thank you!" "Are you having fun to night?" Or "What was the funniest Halloween costume you have seen tonight?" before launching off to the next house.

Don't bicker for days after Halloween with your children about eating candy. Instead, donate extra candy to our troops at Operation Shoebox. This will help your kids feel like they are making a contribution to making someone's life a little more bright.