Halloween ideas with your kid

Ages 2 to 5

• Pick a pumpkin at a patch, just the two of you. Let them choose, even the lopsided one.Plan it
• Paint a pumpkin instead of carving it. No knives, so they get to do the whole thing.Plan it
• A daytime walk to rate every decorated house on your street.Plan it
• Make one costume piece together out of a cardboard box. A robot head counts.Plan it
• Read a Halloween book by flashlight, inside a blanket fort.Plan it
• Practice trick-or-treating at your own front door, knocking and all.Plan it

Ages 6 to 9

• Carve the pumpkin together. You run the knife, they draw the face and scoop the guts.Plan it
• Build their costume with them from what's in the garage instead of buying one.Plan it
• A flashlight walk after dark, a little spooky, holding hands for as long as they want.Plan it
• A corn maze where they're in charge of the map.Plan it
• Their first scary movie night, picked for their age from the list below.Plan it
• Plan the trick-or-treat route together on a map, with the good houses marked.Plan it

10 and up

• A haunted house or a haunted hayride you'd both be a little scared of.Plan it
• A scary movie with the lights off and real popcorn. They pick from your shortlist.Plan it
• A carving contest: one pumpkin each, an hour on the clock, and a neighbor judges.Plan it
• Make the front yard scary together for the trick-or-treaters.Plan it
• Ghost stories around a fire pit, or the grill, with s'mores.Plan it

On Halloween night

• Take one kid out on your own for the first few houses, before the others catch up.Plan it
• Hand out candy at the door together and let them run the bowl.Plan it
• After the little ones are down, sort and trade candy with the oldest at the kitchen table.Plan it

First scary movie, by age

Under 6

Not scary yet, just Halloween. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown or Room on the Broom. Both run about half an hour, which is the right length for a first one.

6 to 8

Spooky with jokes. Hotel Transylvania or Monsters, Inc., and The Nightmare Before Christmas if they're fine with a little dark. Leave a lamp on for the first one.

9 to 11

A little scary for real. Coraline, Goosebumps or Monster House. Sit right next to them and don't be shy about pausing.

12 and up

Ghostbusters or Gremlins. Both came out in 1984, just before PG-13 existed, so they're rougher than the PG on the box. Watch the first ten minutes yourself if you're not sure.