Works For Me Wednesday #8 - Halloween tips

With Halloween only a week away, I thought I'd share a couple of the things that help us to manage getting through the holiday relatively safely and sanely. At least so far... :)

This first one is something I'm doing for the first time after learning the hard way last year. Although we dress the girls warmly underneath their costumes so that (so far anyway) we haven't had to cover them up with heavy coats while trick-or-treating, last year I completely forgot about their hands. We went to a community pumpkin path outing last year and it was cold - very, very cold. And my poor little girls' hands were frozen and chapped. So this year I invested a total of $6.00 and bought some of those stretchy knit gloves (mittens for Becca) - with a Halloween theme. Even though they don't exactly match their costumes, they're still festive and will help keep their hands warm. And then they can keep wearing them during the fall and winter if they want to as well, or I'll pack them away for next year so they don't get lost and we can use them with their costumes again. Either way, I think it'll be worth it since fall has apparently decided to finally show its face - I was worried there for a little while about heatstroke rather than frostbite! :)

Another quick tip has to do with lighting the jack-o-lanterns. I know there are a lot of flame-free options out there now and here's what we've done for the past couple of years. I'd gotten some tiny flashlights free (with packages of batteries, I think) and used those one year. They worked pretty well and kept the pumpkins lit all evening. Then last year, I quite accidentally happened on an even better idea. You know those glow-in-the-dark bracelets that are being sold all over the place this time of year to help keep your kids safe while trick-or-treating in the dark? The ones that come in all different colors... Well last year we had an extra one so I stuck it in one of the jack-o-lanterns. And it worked great! It made the pumpkin glow, but without being too bright - just the perfect amount of light to make it appear mysterious... And those are cheap, waterproof (if necessary) and disposable so I don't have to worry about keeping track of them from year to year. I know we'll be using those again this year! If we ever get around to actually buying pumpkins to carve, that is. LOL

It works for me!

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