Halloween With Small Children

Written By Ashley Mitchell

With Halloween upon us, it’s time to decorate! Sometimes, Halloween can be frightening for small children, but I have found there are plenty of ways to make scary decorations look cute. Here are a few ideas to help you create a Halloween experience your small children can enjoy!

I always suggest incorporating both outside and inside decorations for a more fun flow. Starting in October, I love to display lifesize skeletons on my front porch. To make this decoration kid-friendly, I suggest posing the skeletons in cute ways. For example, I have one skeleton waving hello and the other lounging back with its legs crossed. You can even add accessories such as a hat, wig, or sunglasses to make the decoration come to life. These small tricks take the spooky out of the bag of bones and add a real statement.


For each outside space, make sure to add festive touches. Another way to showcase spooky critters in a creative way is to hang decorations from the branches of trees. A flock of bats dangling from an invisible fishing line makes a great display while staying kid-friendly. This is an inexpensive trick to set the Halloween scene in your yard.

Next, make sure to dress up the front door. I like to welcome guests with a Halloween themed rug, pumpkins, fall flowers and a few cute festive signs. Jack-o-lanterns are always kid-friendly and can create a fun family activity if you want to carve a unique design together. In order to showcase your decorations after the sun goes down, it’s important to think about lighting. I suggest putting electric lights on timers in outdoor jack-o-lanterns so they turn on and off at appropriate times.

Finally, the welcoming spooky theme should continue inside your home. Cute pillowcases, stuffed witches boots, festive centerpieces, fall candles, and autumn colored flowers really bring the outside in. If there is an eye-catching area in your living room, such as a fireplace mantel, make sure to take advantage of this space by adding cute Halloween signs with words such as “Boo” and “Beware”. All of these decorations add a subtle hint of fun to scarier elements that normally are associated with Halloween.

Here are some of my favorite decorations and where to find them.

Ashley Mitchell
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