Have A Howl On Halloween!

Before I fill you in on the launch of the Irish Book Awards this week there is much more important business to attend to first, Fun Ideas for Halloween!!!

I have always loved Halloween and have such fond memories of those simple games I played as a kid. So create a magical moment with the kids this week with these 5 spooktacularly fun Halloween party games.

Marshan Mountain

This requires a steady hand but be warned you could end up with flour on your face. Make a small mountain of plain baking flower on a big piece of newspaper. On the tippy top carefully place a marshmallow. With an ice-lolly stick or small blunt knife slice off a piece of the flour and keep slicing until the marshmallow mountain collapses and the marshmallow falls down. Whoever makes the marshmallow fall has to go fetch it with their mouth without using their hands. Be ready with the cameras as the kids retrieve the marshmallow with a generous helping of flour on their face.

Spooky Tag Tale

I play this with the kids all the time in the car and they love it. Get all the kids to sit in a circle with a pumpkin in the middle and the lights down low to set the atmosphere. Stick a torch under your chin and start off with a story. “Once upon a time there was a big smelly, stinkey, spookey….”hand the torch to one of the kids in the circle then continue on with the story from where you left off. “….horrible witch who had a bushy broom and a wart on her...” before finishing the sentence the child passes the torch on to the next child to carry on with the story, and so on. You will be amazed at what wacky stories come out and the kids will have great fun.

Apple Nibble

I always remember this as it was the hardest one and you really have to end up finding a clever way to win. Hang an apple from the door frame with a piece of string. Whoever can manage to take a bite of the apple without using their hands is the winner. Easy peasy, (not really but great fun!).

Stick it to the Witch

Based on 'pin the tail to the donkey' this is 'stick the wart on the witch's nose'. It's really easy, get or draw a picture of a witch and put it on the wall. The kids are blindfolded and spin around 3 times and then have to stick a piece of blu-tac on the witch's nose. Whoever gets it closest wins a prize.

Ear Nuts

I learned this little trick from my gorgeous god daughter. Get a regular Halloween monkey nut. Take one end and squeeze so the end of the shell splits a little bit. Then push the split end of the nut onto the bottom of your earlobe on your ear and let go. The small split catches the end of your ear to make a beautiful ear-ring!

Well I hope you all have lots of fun and stay safe this Halloween and have a magical night to remember. Of course if you have any games that you love in your house please let me know so I can share them.

Till next time, lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Benji. 

Magical Moments on the Beach

Well when I started writing this blog on Monday the weather was OK and looking good but the drizzle is back so while trying to keep the faith I am still hoping that you will all get a chance to get out and about this weekend in some nice weather.

So, with this in mind I thought I would suggest a couple of fun things to do on the beach.  Don’t worry if you don’t get to the beach because if you improvise slightly you can play all these games in the park, back garden or pretty much anywhere.

OK we all know the standard games that are great fun for the beach.  Football, building sandcastles and digging holes. But here are a couple of extra ones that I have played with the kids that are great fun and I have included a couple of short videos so you can get the idea. 

As always we love to hear your ideas and thoughts so keep them coming so I can share them with all the other Mums and dads and generate hugs and kisses through Magical Moments.

So here are my suggestions with instructions:

1. Beach Busy Dizzy Whizzy

• Bury a packet of crisps, shell or other item that could be considered treasure and mark it with an 'X'.
• Get a stick and draw a spiral in the stand. Start at the X in the sand and work your way out, the bigger the spiral the better. When you think the spiral is big enough continue on with your line and loop and bend it around the beach. When you have finished the end of your line is the start line for the kids.
• Bring the kids to the start of the line and tell them there is some treasure buried at the end of the line but they have to follow the line and stay on it or the treasure will disappear. Add some more excitement by telling them that the treasure keeps moving around and they have to hurry before it disappears.
• Let them off and have great fun watching them follow the line and get dizzy as the end up in the middle of the spiral with a bump and find their reward.

Check out this vid of my kids doing it, I forgot to put the treasure in but they love this game:

2. Beach Ball Bulls Eye

Ok this is really simple but great fun.

• Draw a bulls eye target on the sand the centre circle is 100 points the middle 50 pts and the outside is 25 points. 
• Build a big cone of sand about 5 meters away from the target and place a football on the top. 
• The kids get 3 goes to kick the ball off the cone onto the target to get their points. 

3. Beach Cone Dibble Dribble

Develop those soccer skills with this fun beach game

• Make 6 or 7 big cones out of the sad about 2 meters apart 
• Set the timer on your watch and see who can dribble a football in and out of the sand cones to the end and back fastest time wins. 
• You can add on 2 second penalty for hitting a cone or going the wrong way through the cones. 

Here is Harry doing it

4. Olympic Beach Long Jump

• Make a line in the sand. 
• Flatten the sand after the line so you can mark where the kiddies land. 
• Longest run and jump wins.

5. Beach Buggy Buildathon

Let your design skills run riot with this

• Dig two rectangular holes to fit two people in the front and two in the back you can go that extra mile and dig a step in the hole so the kids have a back rest to lean on and a foot well for their feet. 
• Add the steering wheel using a bucket decorate the bonnet with seashells and add those go fast stripes using seaweed don’t forget the gear stick using your spade. 
• When it’s all done see where the kids take you on your beach buggy journey.

6. Beach Hopscotch

I presume this needs no description but just in case all you need is a shell and your hopscotch mat drawn on the sand.

• Draw your hopscotch boxes from 1 to 10 on the sand. 
• Throw your shell on box no 1 and hopscotch to the top and back without touching box no 1 with your feet. 
• On the way back standing on one leg you have to pick up our shell without falling over and hopscotch back to base. 
• On your next go have to throw your shell into box No 2 and do the same again. 
• The person to get the shell in all 10 boxes and hopscotch to the top and back each time without falling over is the winner.

I hope you have fun on the beach and if you've had any magical moments of your own that you'd like to share, (from the beach or anywhere), just post them below, or on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/AdamsCloud, or you can email them to me directly at benjisblog@adamscloud.com.  Bye for now.

Lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Benji.