Idea Bag

10 Halloween Ideas Shared by PTO and PTA Leaders

by Rose Hamilton

02/07/2016

We’ve collected many fun Halloween ideas on both Facebook and Pinterest recently. If your PTO or PTA is planning a school event this year, check these out:

Try a trunk-or-treat event and run a contest for the most creative display. There are some amazing trunk-or-treat examples on Pinterest.

Hold a storybook parade. Children dress as their favorite character from a book.

Sponsor a visit to local farm that sells pumpkins. Children can often visit the pumpkin patch, select a pumpkin, and bring it home with them.

Host a scary story night with volunteer readers who love to dress up.

Try a mix of activities for different age groups at your Halloween event. For instance, hold simple games for younger children in the school gym and host a haunted house in the auditorium for the older kids.

Hold a movie-and-craft night. Show a Halloween movie in the cafeteria and set up several craft stations so kids can work on simple projects while viewing the movie. Include a bake sale or provide refreshments for the evening.

Hold a schoolwide pumpkin decorating contest. Kids are encouraged to decorate, not carve, the pumpkins. Select a winning pumpkin from each grade and award the artist a small prize.

Decorate classroom doors with Halloween colors and images of ghosts and pumpkins. Orange and black crepe paper will add a special touch.

Try a series of different games at classroom parties like these: Halloween Bingo: Replace numbers with pictures of monsters, witches, bats, and black cats. Halloween Bowling: Use a small pumpkin as bowling ball and white paper towel rolls (decorated with black-construction-paper "eyes"to appear ghostlike) as pins. Pin-the-Tie-on-the-Skeleton: Using a life-size paper or cardboard skeleton, have children attempt to attach a colorful bow tie to it while blindfolded.

Help students send Halloween grams with silly jokes in place of candy.

This one's a bonus: Consider holding a school party on the weekend after Halloween. One group shared this idea noting that they purchase candy and supplies after the official holiday, saving a bundle because of sale prices.