This year we celebrated Halloween at home. And we had a pretty great time. The kids declared it their best Halloween ever. And I took that as a huge win.

We had several costumes this year in the house: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Aurora which later became Elsa (costume we already had), Mickey Skeleton which later became Baby Yoda which later became Thomas the Train (costume we already had), Prince Philip which later became Bumblebee (costume we already had). If you are keeping track 3 out of 4 kids decided last minute to wear a costume we already had. And honestly I was fine with it. They all got to wear their costumes multiple times because that is the beauty of doing homeschool. It was fun to teach a variety of characters in October.

On Halloween Eve we ventured out to Downtown Mesa for the Pumpkin Scavenger Hunt. On Main Street multiple businesses and empty store fronts had different themed pumpkin displays. In addition to these we were on the look out for the tiny mice that were dressed up in Halloween costumes.

It was a fun way to get outside and masks were encouraged if you were unable to stay physically distanced from others. We went on Friday morning and there was hardly anyone there. It took us about 45 minutes and was a good way to get the kids moving in the morning and something totally different to do.

Friday also included these Witches Cauldron Cookies, a FaceTime call with the kids friends, and a drive thru trip to Swig to get the kids a soda treat.

On Halloween the kids woke up so excited! Earlier in the week I had made a skeleton on poster board and cut out the pieces. While they were eating breakfast I hid the “bones” around the house. After the kids were done eating they went on a bone hunt which took about 30 minutes. It took about 5 minutes to put the skeleton together and once completed I taped it to the wall so they could admire their work.

We had some outdoor plasma car fun later in the morning, followed by lunch, and naps for the younger ones. In the afternoon there was a scavenger hunt around the house that led to a dollar store reward for each kiddo, Charlie Brown and The Great Pumpkin, and homemade pizza for dinner.

Once dinner was done and costumes were put on for several of the kids. We had a few that opted to wear pajamas instead and that was totally fine. They bobbed for apples, a totally new to them experience. I remember bobbing for apples when I was in elementary school at the Harvest Festival and I inwardly cringed now because all I can think about is the germs that were floating around in that water.

We set up candy in two rooms of the house, gave the kids glow sticks, turned off the lights, put Halloween music and started our rotating color lights to flash on the ceiling and let the kids go “Trick or Treating”. After the that I put loads of post it notes on the floor and we played freeze dance. When the music stopped they needed to land on a post it and bring it to me to get another candy to add to their bucket. They loved this game! We played a candy toss into a bowl and also had a 20 minute dance party with the flashing lights and glow sticks.

After all that fun they were so tired and fell asleep so quickly. The next night we watched The Grinch because this year we are moving right into the Christmas movies. After the movie all the kids made beds on the floor in our bedroom and we had a family sleepover.

It was a fantastic weekend even if it was totally different from what we normally do :).