Halloween Archives - Sunwashed Linen

Tag: Halloween

A Kids Halloween Carnival

Posted on October 27, 2023October 25, 2023 by Lauren Lane

Around Halloween, my sister and I plan a cousin Halloween carnival. It started during COVID. We weren’t comfortable with the kids going trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, and we both had small little babies at the time. But we wanted the kids to be able to celebrate and have something fun to do for Halloween. And thus, the Cousin Halloween Carnival was born. I think my sister and I look forward to it as much as the kids.

The games change as the kids get older, but it’s been a fun way for the kids to get another wear out of their costumes and celebrate the holiday together.

Here’s a look at their first Cousin Halloween carnival…

I mean….those littles are so dang cute.

I’m sharing some of the games that we’ve done in the past with the kids today!

Zombie’s Laboratory

One game that we added last year was lovingly referred to as “Spooky Feels” primarily because we couldn’t remember what it was called from our elementary school days when we remember it at the school carnival. You could call it a bit of a haunted laboratory of sorts.

Here are the items we used as the different body parts that the lab had dissected…

Guts/intestines: Cold cooked spaghetti with olive oil
Teeth: Candy corn or popcorn kernels
Ears: Dried apricots
Eyeballs: Peeled grapes

Heart: Boiled tomato peeled
Brains: Boiled cauliflower head
Fingers: Cocktail sausages

I vividly remember as a kid that the ‘eyeballs’ felt so darn realistic, that the mere thought of it sent me over the edge. The kids absolutely loved this game….although, they were a bunch of cheaters trying to see in the back what they were actually feeling.

Mummy Wrap

Each child picks an adult to be their wrapper. The adult is given a roll of toilet paper, and it’s a race to see who can wrap their kid the fastest and best. Other plus side is that breaking out of a roll of toilet paper is a ton of fun!

Gone Fishin’ for Treats

The kids get to “cast their lines” into the sea. When they feel a tug on the string, bring it back up to see what treat you got from the ocean!

Cake Walk

I remember so clearly in my mind doing the cake walk at our elementary school Halloween carnival as a kid.

We cut out pumpkins and tape them to the ground, and the cake walk is just a good old round of musical chairs until there is one winner that earns themselves…a cupcake. 🙂

Spooks Hunt

During the days of COVID when we weren’t comfortable trick-or-treating with the babies, the kids did a Halloween Easter egg hunt for candy. They loooooved it. I don’t know any kid that doesn’t love a good old fashioned egg hunt.

Happy hauntings, ghouls and boys!

Halloween 2022

Posted on November 4, 2022November 1, 2022 by Lauren Lane

I love Halloween with little kids. When Nathan and I first moved into our neighborhood, we were the youngest people in the neighborhood by at least ten, but probably close to 15 years. Our very first Halloween, I was so excited to have trick-or-treaters in a real neighborhood! And we had about 5 total trick-or-treaters. But slowly, our neighborhood has turned over in the past five years. Younger families have moved in that have kids around our age or are in elementary school, and it’s so fun seeing the neighborhood alive with kids on Halloween night running from house to house!

We started our Halloween at the boys’ daycare trunk-or-treat. They were so excited to wear their costumes for the first time and see their friends from school!

Let’s Look At…How We Choose Halloween Costumes

Posted on October 12, 2022October 5, 2022 by Lauren Lane

It’s Let’s Look day with Shay @ Mix and Match Mama and Erika @ A Little Bit of Everything! If you’re new here, it’s one day a month that we share a little peak into some aspect of our lives. So far this year, I’ve shared:

In February, I shared what we ate in a week.
For March, I shared a look back at college life.
April, we looked at how we plan date night
For May, I shared the things I love about my hometown, Kansas City
In June, we shared our go-to summer lunches
July I shared how I keep a healthy
For August, I shared how a do every day tidying up
And in September, we shared our closet organization

There are two types of people in this world. Those that LOVE dressing up in costumes, brainstorming ideas of things they/their kids can be, and putting it all together. Then there are those that can feel the creative muscle needing to be flexed, kind of grimace at the prospect of trying to pick the *perfect* costume, and then wonder why Halloween costumes are so stinking expensive. But in the end, look at the finished result and are like, “Wow. That was so much fun.” I am the second type.

Coming up with Halloween costumes for children is as much as I can take in using my creativity. We are not a dress-up family. The kids will look adorable, get all of the treats, and I will soundly scrounge through their takings when they go to bed at night and pick myself out a Reese’s or Butterfinger to enjoy.

We have only done Halloween a few times, so we’re going to do a Halloween parade of costumes over the years. 🙂

Harrison’s very first Halloween, I wanted a costume that was “homemade” but also easy….because we all know, creativity and crafts are not my strong suit. Thus, Waldo from Where’s Waldo was born. And I thought he was a particularly cute Waldo.

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Let’s Look…Favorite Traditions

Posted on December 8, 2021December 6, 2021 by Lauren Lane

It’s the time of each month where I link with other blogs to share a little peek into some small aspect of our lives. I can’t believe this is our last link up of the year! This year, we’ve shared…

In January, we looked at our coffee stations.
February, we looked at our love languages
In March, we shared our perfect night in
April, we looked at our fridge and pantry staples
In May, we looked at our backyard organization
For June, we shared our summer bucket list
July, I shared the most horrendous bathroom organization tour ever
For August, I shared my favorite phone apps and phone case
September, I shared how I meal plan, including my favorite meal planning notepad
October, I shared a truly uninspiring look at our unfinished basement. I mean our holiday storage.
And in November, I shared our holiday meal menu.

This month, we’re sharing our favorite traditions.

I’ve written about some of our traditions in the past. For example, for Halloween, we celebrate with the cousins doing a Halloween carnival!

My sister and I have a couple of games that we remember from the school carnivals we would go to around Halloween that we always had so much fun with. We do fishing for prizes, a Halloween egg hunt, and a “cake” walk.

Halloween 2021

Posted on November 9, 2021November 8, 2021 by Lauren Lane

Well, sometimes even though you have two days off work, you don’t get around to sitting down and writing instead of checking things off to-do lists. So, I’m sorry I disappeared last week! We’re still enjoying Halloween and fall over here, but I love that so many friends are starting to deck the halls!

This is my own little scrapbook of my boys’ life, so we’re going to stick with Halloween for a minute and I wanted to share some pictures from the holiday. We had so much fun trick-or-treating!

Friday afternoon, the boys had their Halloween parties at daycare.