With the October half-term and Halloween approaching, here are some ideas for parents looking for safe, fun, spooky activities for children.
With Halloween on the horizon, many parents are getting nervous – and not at the prospect of ghosts, zombies and wicked witches.
It’s the headache of finding Halloween activities for children which are safe, well-organised and good value for money.
Children love dressing up in horror costumes and taking part in spooky scenarios, and a huge industry has grown around Halloween-themed outfits, accessories and food and drink.
But these days many parents have reservations about letting them go trick-or-treating. There are obvious safety concerns about children wandering the streets after dark, knocking on the doors of strangers; there is also the possibility that youthful pranks and high spirits could go too far, getting them into trouble with their neighbours, or even on the wrong side of the law. Health-conscious parents are also understandably reluctant to give their kids free rein to collect and eat as many sweets as possible!
Fortunately there are plenty of alternatives to trick-or-treating. Throughout the October half-term week, there is a wide choice of Halloween activities for kids in the Bristol and North Somerset area, whether you are looking for a typical Halloween horror night or something less traditional, such as a Halloween-themed trampoline party.
One idea is to check out local theme parks and visitor attractions. Most of them are keen to end the summer season with a bang, and some lay on a whole half-term week of Halloween activities and Fright Nights. Children are invited to come along in their scariest Halloween costumes and enjoy themed rides, entertainment and decorations.
Zoos and nature centres have also entered into the Halloween spirit, with special children’s sessions focusing on real-life spiders and snakes, along with activities such as Halloween games and pumpkin decorating.
Another increasingly popular option is the Halloween trampoline! Bristol’s AirHop trampoline park, one of the largest in the world, is offering ‘Scare-Hop’ Halloween activities from October 14 -31. The park is decorated for Halloween, with kids encouraged to come along in their Halloween costumes, so long as their fancy dress does not restrict their vision or movement when they are bouncing. There is a daily competition for the best-dressed customer, who will win a ‘golden ticket’ and a mystery prize. Special limited-edition trampoline socks are on sale, decorated with spooky skeleton toes which glow under ultra-violet light. There will also be Halloween face painting, supervised trick or treating, and a scavenger hunt.
Parents can even book a children’s Halloween trampoline party at AirHop, with the party rooms decorated for Halloween and special themed games. There is also a karaoke room where kids can sing along and dance to classic Halloween songs such as The Time Warp.
Another option for Halloween entertainment during the half-term break is National Trust properties. Many historic buildings lend themselves perfectly to ghostly activities: in fact, some are reputed to be genuinely haunted. Some National Trust properties lay on special Halloween activities such as spooky walks, storytelling and pumpkin carving, but even without them, many of the buildings are so atmospheric and their histories so blood-curdling, visiting them feels like a Halloween outing anyway.
With such a variety of events going on during the October half term, you can probably find something different to do with the kids every day. Parents can plan a combination of events and entertainment; indoor and outdoor, active and less energetic, educational and artistic. Will they be bored? Not a ghost of a chance…
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