Fuel up for Halloween!

{This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.}
When you’re a kid, Halloween is truly awesome.  As an adult, it ain’t so bad either.  I love dressing up my munchkins in coordinating outfits, photographing the heck out of their cuteness, then getting together with all of the neighborhood kids in the door-to-door quest to collect enough candy to last until the next Halloween.

We always know it’s time to stop when the kids declare their pumpkins are so full of candy they are too heavy to carry.  Poor things.

With just over a week left until Halloween, the count-down is officially ON at our house.  The kids are strategizing daily about how best to negotiate the evening.  What time should we leave? Who should we bring with us? Which streets do we hit up first?  How early can we eat dinner so we can get to the important task of trick or treating?

Yeah, it’s gotta be done right.

Fortunately, I’ve got a grand plan to make sure that everything goes off on Halloween night without a hitch.

Step 1: Get costumes.  I’ve dropped the ball on this in years’ past, so now I always try to get this taken care of by the end of September.  If you’re still waiting around for inspiration to strike, however, check out this post with cute ideas for sibling-themed costumes.  Last year my guys were a Pirate and a Parrot.  This year, all three boys are Ninjas.  Yep, even James.

Step 2: Have everything for an easy dinner on-hand.  This year, we’ll be making Hot Pockets that I was able to grab at Walmart when I was getting candy to hand out on Halloween.

They literally take just a few minutes to heat up in the microwave, then dinner is on.  I don’t want to be bickering with the kids over eating their dinner, and I know they’ll always go for a Hot Pocket, especially one with Pepperoni and Cheese.  Plus, that means no clean up for me.  You can even skip the plate if you want – the sleeve makes the Hot Pocket super-portable!

Step 3: Get dressed up!  Always leave plenty of time for this.  As is my experience, once you get one kid dressed and move on to the next, the first one has to go potty, then vice versa.  It can be quite comical or maddening, depending on how much time you’ve set aside for getting ready.  So, always plan on 15 more minutes that you thought it would take.  Or put everyone in diapers. 😉  (See #4)

Step 4: Get the supplies.  Do you need flashlights? Water? Diapers? Pumpkins for the candy?  And, of course a camera!

Step 5: Set up the candy-giving station.  Are you leaving someone behind to hand out candy or do you have a bowl to leave on the doorstep?  We always do the latter, and I think the bigger neighborhood kids in our area know it! 🙂

Step 6: Hit the road, Jack(o-lantern).  Meet up with your pals and let the good times roll…

We hope you have a safe and super Halloween filled with Hot Pockets, candy and FUN!

Follow the hashtags #Treats4All & #CollectiveBias to share how you plan to make this Halloween your best!
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.