| Sandra's guide pages |
| Halloween |
| Other pages on this site which might be useful Goo and gunk recipes Disgusting feely bags - try telling a spooky story including mention of entrails etc. and get the girls to feel in the appropriate bag when it's mentioned. Yuck! Halloween food Halloween songs |
| Atmosphere Fancy dress - try variations... * warn the girls beforehand to come in "Halloween-themed" fancy dress * pick a completely different theme - maybe Saints? After all, Halloween is followed by All Saints Day * get everyone to come dressed completely in one colour... then give prizes for the most unusual colour(s) * give the girls a chance to try face painting on each other to go with their costumes * let them come in non-fancy dress then provide a selection of materials and challenge them to dress one member of the patrol (or the whole patrol, depending how much stuff you have) * for a cheaper "make your own" provide lots of newspaper and a strictly rationed amount of string or sticky tape, with maybe a couple of black bin bags. Points for originality, how recognisable / appropriate the costume is, etc. Decoration - prepare decorations the night before. Maybe include mobiles (below), banners, "cobwebs" made from thread etc. Tell ghost stories Halloween versions of Christmas carols! Crafts Turnip lanterns! Go on, you know you want to! Let groups of two or three girls loose on a pumpkin or turnip. Some knife safety lessons would be worthwhile first though. If you need hints there are loads of sites with patterns on the web, so many I won't list any! Spooky mobiles - cut out Halloween figures (ghost, cat, witch, etc.) from black card and use black or invisible thread to hand them from pea sticks or a wire coathanger. If you search the web for "Halloween templates" you'll get loads of outlines in case you don't trust your own drawing! An example is on http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/halloween_templates.htm Masks - again just search the web for "Halloween masks" and you'll get more than you could possibly need. Big black spiders - use a large black bead (or a brown one from a beaded car seat painted black) and thread 4 black half pipe cleaners through the hole for legs. Add google eyes to the bead and there you go. Although if your guides are like mine they'll insist they need 8 eyes each because spiders don't just have two you know! For an edible spider use the dessicated coconut and condensed milk with some black food colouring and use liquorice laces for legs and shiny ball cake decorations for eyes. Very messy! Games apple bobbing - take a washing up bowl and enough apples for one each. Make sure the girls have their hair tied back and don't have any obvious cuts or infections which might get spread (use an individual bowl if they do) then they have to get their apple from the bowl using only their teeth. doughnuts on strings - tie strings across the room around head height, having first threaded ring doughnuts on the string. Girls have to eat the doughnut without using their hands. Beware very sticky faces and piles of sugar (and half doughnuts) on the floor! marshmallows in flour / boiled sweets in water - the full blown version is a small bowl of water containing boiled sweets and a bowl of flour with a marshmallow in it. Using only your mouth remove first the boiled sweet and then the marshmallow. This involves getting very messy and the taste of flour with the sweet is HORRIBLE! Some guides love it, others really hate it. peeling apples - maybe using the apples that were "bobbed" earlier. An old tradition says that if you peel an apple in one long piece then throw the peel over your left shoulder, the way the peel lands will spell the name (or initials) of your future husband. or try any party games, maybe with a "Halloween" spin: pass the parcel with forfeits in between the layers of paper. Walk round the circle like a cat, make a noise like a ghost, tell a ghost story, ask everyone in the circle "trick or treat"... Pumpkin bowling! If you can get hold of a plastic pumpkin (from novelty or "cheapie" shops) then hold a pumpkin bowling competition, using fizzy drink bottles as skittles. Food Try roasting nuts - the girls who's nut cracks first will be the first to marry! (or that's what the tradition says, anyway) Have coloured juice or even just water. Preferably green "witches brew" or red "blood". Or have a selection of colours added to various drinks and run a taste test. You could do this with any food - does strawberry yoghurt taste the same when it's blue?? More Halloween food ideas. |
| Other sites British traditions surrounding Halloween at http://traditions-uk.freeservers.com/halloween.html Activity Village Halloween pages http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/halloween!.htm - graphics, mazes, patterns etc. (needs Acrobat) General Halloween help on a budget - http://www.allthatwomenwant.com/halloween.htm |
| Alternatives If you don't feel comfortable with Halloween how about celebrating All Saints' Day instead? You could... * match symbols, names, dates & countries of the patron saints of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales * make stained glass windows from black sugar paper & coloured tissue paper (or acetate if you're feeling flush). They're very effective hung in windows * make up a quiz on some of the more well-known saints |