Halloween is coming up, and it’s one of the most fun holidays for kids all year. The expectation of candy, spooky aesthetics, and Halloween parties is a lot to live up to! The last thing you want is to give your children a disappointing holiday, so stay on top of potential activities! Here’s how you can find and organize the best Halloween activities for your kids and create lovely memories with them.

1. Follow Public Event Calendars

Your local town or city will have several fun activities planned in the weeks leading up to the 31st. You’ll most likely find pertinent information about them on the town’s websites and public online calendars. Many venues and locations will have a shared virtual calendar on a certain platform, like Google Calendar. Do your best to keep up with any changes to the fall itinerary by adding it to your calendar collection. 

That way, it’s easier to switch between your schedule and the town plans conveniently on any device with said platform. You can set up notifications so that, if any details change, the program will let you know. On top of that, you can see these changes easily if you’re watching the calendar whenever you get the chance. By doing so, there’s no need to seek out event announcements through flyers or word-of-mouth — you’ll see them online immediately.

2. Add Events of Interest to Your Calendar and RSVP

With access to shared calendars, you can move things around as long as you don’t edit the event itself. Most shared calendars can only be edited by hosts, but be careful not to make changes if you can. What you can do is RSVP to the event which will inform the host of your intention to attend. It will also usually set up an alert in your calendar for you as if you scheduled it yourself.

You are now able to see that event, copied to your personal calendar, in the context of your overall schedule. You no longer have to switch between separate calendars to make sure all of the pieces fit. It can also do a lot for your prioritization skills because these events are right next to work plans. Moving things around to fit in is much easier this way.

3. Subscribe to Venue Mailing Lists and Social Media Pages

Social platforms are an incredible boon for finding these events because the venue naturally wants people to come. They facilitate connections between people and organizations that never would have interacted as much without them. Venue pages will post about things of interest to their followers and promote all of their events on social media. If you follow said venue as well as general town accounts, you’re going to see everything they post about. 

Although they are not as interactive, the same goes for venue and town mailing lists. All you have to do is sign up for the list on their website, and you’ll get announcements via email. Even if you can’t find much to do on your own, you’ll get notified and reminded of their message. Both of these solutions take a lot off of your hands, so you don’t have to plan too much yourself.

4. Schedule and Prepare Family Events in Advance

When it comes to creating your own events, you might have to get creative in how you prepare for them. Candy, as well as supplies for activities like pumpkin carving, will fly from shelves at a certain point. For a truly high-quality celebration, it can make a big difference if you schedule it and gather supplies long before. You can use your calendar app to do this by planning the date and time as well as any preparations.

Having a concrete event plan means you can get your kids excited and give them something to expect. It also helps to solidify the events in your priorities and prevent them from being forgotten. They are, at this point, no longer plans — they are appointments that it is necessary to maintain and prepare for. This is particularly useful if you have trouble deciding what to do because it requires you to accept the event idea.

5. Discuss Them With Other Parents

No matter how much you put into finding the best activities, you never know what someone else has heard about. Talk to other parents about where they are taking their children, how they are celebrating at home, etc. It can be really helpful to share this information and learn about new activities to look into. For example, your friend could be doing a little family activity that you think is a great idea.

The social aspect of holidays should not be understated and, by sharing ideas, you can plan to do them together. While it’s fun to make costumes as a family, imagine your children’s excitement having their friends around as well. The same goes for public events because they’re generally just more fun for children if they are with friends. Additionally, you both don’t need to be there and you can use that time for other responsibilities if needed.

6. Collaborate via Your Calendar Apps

For the planning of slightly bigger events, try collaborating via shared events in your calendar app like those mentioned earlier. Set up one event with all of the information and send invitations to it to people you want to attend. As the event host, you can make any changes you need, keep track of RSVPs, and take suggestions. Together with everyone else, you can collectively plan an event via that single calendar post.

Say, for instance, that a certain number of children can’t attend because of a soccer game. Instead of managing several texts and email chains about the topic, they can let you know right on the calendar. Particular platforms will even allow for suggested time changes that you can accept, decline, or consider. Once that’s all set, and the supplies are stocked, your event is ready to go!

7. Schedule Time Blocks for Weekends and Special Days

Your work schedule will, without a doubt, be tough to figure out during all of this. But remember that this time of life, and these memories, are very important for young minds. While it’s ideal to balance work and play, make sure that these moments of play are prioritized for you. Even if your children can do an activity without you, it means a lot more if you’re by their side.

It may be best to schedule time blocks on weekends and special days to prevent work from bleeding in. If even that isn’t possible, you can try creating time blocks for periods of a few hours at a time. Maybe you have something planned on Saturday afternoon, and your manager wants to schedule you for a shift. Block out that time and tell them you can only work until then — you’ll be unavailable afterward.

These tips will help you make the most of holidays with your children and give them an experience to remember. Once you’ve learned how to organize events on your calendar, it will all come a little easier. Don’t wait to get started because you have the tools and the planning skills to make it work — and you only have a few weeks left. Enjoy the fall season and quality time with your family.

[Related: How to Make Time for Fun Fall Activities]

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Mikhail Nilov; Pexels; Thank you!